Sport

Evenepoel dominates Évian–Thonon time trial, Pogacar keeps yellow jersey

Herz — Sport Desk · 21 July 2026 at 21:09 · 30s summary · 3 min read

The essentials

Remco Evenepoel won the 26 km time trial from Évian to Thonon on July 21, 2026, beating Tadej Pogacar by 28 seconds. It's his 3rd time trial victory at the Tour de France. Pogacar retains the yellow jersey with roughly 5 minutes' lead in the overall standings, with 5 stages remaining. Evenepoel sits 2nd overall with more than 2 minutes' advantage over Del Toro in 3rd. Florian Lipowitz, who was 5th, abandoned after a crash. Pogacar is now the sole survivor from the 2025 podium still in contention.

Evenepoel wins 26 km Évian–Thonon time trial, Pogacar 2nd at 28 seconds
3rd time trial victory for Evenepoel at Tour de France, Pogacar 2nd each time
Pogacar retains yellow jersey ~5 minutes clear with 5 stages left
Lipowitz crashes and abandons; Vingegaard already quit; Pogacar only 2025 podium survivor
Del Toro (3rd) and Seixas (4th) emerge as new podium contenders; Ayuso loses 2 min 22 sec

Illustration image — Dick Bos, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

What we know

Remco Evenepoel won the 26 km time trial from Évian to Thonon on July 21, 2026, beating Tadej Pogacar by 28 seconds. According to El País, it's his 3rd time trial victory at the Tour de France — Pogacar finished 2nd in each of the two previous ones.

The only time Pogacar had beaten Evenepoel in this discipline on the Tour dated back to the Nice time trial, run as an exhibition event at the close of the 2024 Tour.

This victory marks Evenepoel's 2nd consecutive stage win on this 2026 Tour, following a mountain stage victory the previous Sunday.

Gaps to winner Evenepoel on Évian–Thonon time trial, July 21, 2026 (in seconds)

Pogacar28

Ayuso142

Source ↗

Overall standings: Pogacar in yellow, podium reshuffled

Pogacar, four-time Tour de France winner and chasing a 5th title this year, retains the yellow jersey with roughly 5 minutes' lead in the general classification, with 5 stages remaining.

Evenepoel holds 2nd place with more than 2 minutes' advantage over the next rider. Mexican Antonio Del Toro, 22, sits 3rd, ahead of Frenchman Lenny Seixas, 19, by 20 seconds.

Juan Ayuso lost 2 minutes and 22 seconds to Evenepoel in the time trial, and roughly 1 minute to Del Toro and Seixas. He sits 5th overall, more than 2 minutes back from these two direct rivals. His Lidl teammate, Mattias Skjelmose, finds himself less than a minute behind him.

Lipowitz abandons: 2025 podium decimated

Florian Lipowitz, Red Bull rider and 5th in the general classification before this stage, crashed in a right-hand turn in the latter part of the time trial and had to abandon the Tour.

Jonas Vingegaard had already abandoned before this stage. Lipowitz finished 3rd in the 2025 Tour. With these two withdrawals, Pogacar remains the only member of the 2025 podium still in the race.