After mass sprints in previous editions, Wout van Aert had already checked a mountain stage from his duties in this Tour, but a time trial was still at the top of his wish list. Especially with Tokyo in mind.
In surprisingly warm conditions, Van Aert was able to learn lessons from Stefan Küng’s overestimation of himself. The European champion had started as a jet fighter, but eventually collapsed.
Kasper Asgreen laughed into his fist, because the Dane had ended up like a torpedo and was waiting for Van Aert in the hot seat.
But the Dane also quickly knew what kind of stuff the Belgian all-rounder is made of. Van Aert already put the Swiss and the Dane at a clear disadvantage after 7 kilometers and had a reassuring margin after 20 kilometers.
The textbook example of aerodynamics rushed unstoppably to the time trial victory, because the classification men also boxed in a different weight class today.
It was, of course, team mate Jonas Vingegaard who once again produced an astonishing chrono and posed the greatest danger, although he eventually finished at a respectable distance from Van Aert.
Tadej Pogacar’s wings were also cut, but the Slovenian does win his second Tour de France in a row. In his neck, nothing changed in the top 10 of the general classification.
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