Jonas Vingegaard, the two-time Tour de France champion, faced a significant setback during stage 5 of the 2025 Tour, a 33km individual time trial in Caen.
The Danish rider lost critical time to his main rivals, Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, in a stage that reshaped the general classification. Vingegaard completed the flat course in 38 minutes and 3 seconds, finishing 1 minute 21 seconds behind stage winner Remco Evenepoel and 1 minute 5 seconds behind Pogacar, who secured second place.
This result saw Vingegaard drop to fourth overall, now trailing Pogacar, the new yellow jersey holder, by 1 minute 13 seconds.
“My legs were not feeling so good. I was fighting with my bike and my legs today,” Vingegaard told reporters. “I was a bit surprised about my legs but that’s racing. One minute seems like quite a lot but in the last few years, the Tour has been won for more than that.”
Vingegaard’s race director Grischa Niermann was unable to understand the Dane’s struggles. “I don’t have an explanation. We didn’t expect a loss that much but it happened and we will fight again tomorrow,” he said.
The result shocked Pogacar, the three-times Tour winner who claimed the yellow jersey for the first time this year. “For sure I was surprised, I’m not going to lie. I was not expecting to be so far ahead of him in this time trial. I was expecting him to be closer to Remco than me,” Pogacar said.
