Evenepoel remains intractable against the clock and cuts Pogacar; Lipowitz says goodbye to the Tour

The Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) won this Tuesday the sixteenth stage of the Tour de France 2026, a 26.1 kilometer individual time trial between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains, with a time of 32:19 and 28 seconds ahead of the race leader, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), second, and 1:04 with respect to the Danish Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), third.

The current Olympic and world champion of the specialty thus achieved his second consecutive victory, after also winning on Sunday in Plateau de Solaison, putting together an exhibition from start to finish on a demanding route, with a long initial climb to the Côte de Larringes (9.6 km at 4.2%), a false flat section and a long final descent to Thonon-les-Bains.

Evenepoel set the best time in the three intermediate points and at the finish line, always ahead of a Pogacar who was once again the only one capable of getting close to his times but who, for the second consecutive stage, gave up time to a Belgian who is still far away in the general classification but who is the great threat to the yellow jersey that the Slovenian will defend until Sunday, in Paris.

The climb to Larringes has already begun to select the best specialists. Evenepoel crowned the second timed point with 15:42, leading Pogacar by 14 seconds and Skjelmose and the German Florian Lipowitz by almost a minute, while Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro gave up just over a minute. From there, the Belgian further widened the gap in the favorable terrain until completing an almost perfect time trial.

During a good part of the day, changes occurred in the ‘hot seat’. The Italian Mattia Cattaneo provisionally took the lead after improving all previous times, before being relieved by Bruno Armirail and later by Joshua Tarling, although the arrival of the big favorites ended up leaving all of them with no options. Evenepoel shattered the best time in the last third of the route and no one could come close to his time.

The great unfortunate of the day was Florian Lipowitz. The German, fifth in the general classification at the beginning of the day, suffered a hard fall shortly after the third intermediate point, where he was provisional second, just 3 seconds off the best time. He lost the front wheel, hit a curb and ended up against a protected fence, lying on the asphalt for several minutes before abandoning the race permanently, a withdrawal that completely rearranged the fight for the places of honor.

In the stage classification, after Evenepoel, Pogacar and Skjelmose finished Paul Seixas (+1:16), Isaac del Toro (+1:21), Thymen Arensman (+1:41), Cattaneo (+1:46), Armirail (+1:55), the Spanish Pablo Castrillo (Movistar Team), brilliant ninth at 1:59, and Tarling (+2:02). Tom Pidcock, twelfth, and Juan Ayuso, sixteenth at 2:29, also stood out, enough to minimize damage among the men in the general standings.

Despite losing 28 seconds, Pogacar maintains a solid advantage at the front of the Tour with 4:32 over Evenepoel, who closes the gap after his exhibition. Isaac del Toro continues third, although already 6:51 behind, with Paul Seixas fourth at 7:11. Lipowitz’s retirement allows Ayuso to move up to fifth place, at 9:22, followed by Skjelmose (10:14), Lenny Martinez (12:50) and Tom Pidcock (12:58), while the fight to complete the podium is now completely open between Del Toro, Seixas, Ayuso and Skjelmose.

Among the Spaniards, in addition to Ayuso’s rise in the general classification, the performance of Castrillo stood out, ninth in the stage and twenty-fifth overall, while the rest of the national representatives opted for a conservative time trial thinking about the high mountains that will decide the race.

The seventeenth stage, between Chambéry and Voiron (174.7 kilometers), will offer an apparent respite this Wednesday. The route includes several third and fourth category climbs that could wear out the sprinters, although, except for a well-organized escape or an unexpected tightening of the pace, it points to a resolution to the sprint before the big mountain.