Former world time trial champion Tom Dumoulin has said that Jonas Vingegaard's stage 16-winning ride at the Tour de France was "the best time trial ever."
The Dutch ex-pro, a time trial specialist and 2017 Giro d'Italia winner, made the comments on Tuesday evening following Vingegaard's dominant display in the 22.4km time trial to Combloux.
Vingegaard put a massive 1:38 into his rival for the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogačar, and 2:51 into his Jumbo-Visma teammate, third-placed Wout van Aert, with a ride that could all but secure a second Tour de France title.
He now leads the race by 1:48 for Pogačar, with his ex-teammate Dumoulin saying "no-one could have imagined" such a dominant ride.
"We witnessed the best time trial ever in cycling," Dumoulin said on Sporza's evening TV show Vive le Vélo. "First of all, because of the lead that Vingegaard takes over the rest. But I also watched his descent and his flat parts and that was real time trial porn. It was fantastic to see.
"He took a lot of time uphill – his power must have been incredibly high. But also, his descents and his cornering were just sublime.
"The time trial is of course a completely different discipline than what we have seen in the past two weeks. Crazy things often happen there. But no-one could have imagined that it would be a hammer blow of more than a minute and a half. Not Vingegaard, and also not Pogačar. Everyone was amazed."
Dumoulin had plenty of praise of Vingegaard, who blew the competition away en route to what is only his second career time trial victory. The Dane later admitted that he was "surprised" by how well he rode, noting that "at one point I even doubted my power meter."
He rode the entire time trial, including the 9.4% Côte de Domancy and uphill run to the line, on his time trial bike. Pogačar, meanwhile, opted to switch to a road bike for the climb. His UAE Team Emirates team have defended the decision, though Dumoulin had critical words for both the switch and Pogačar's performance.
"I didn't think that he rode great," Dumoulin said. "It wasn't like La Planche des Belles Filles in 2020. Then he had a higher pedalling frequency. Now he rode a bit heavier.
"I also found the choice to change bikes very questionable. You interrupt your rhythm. You may be stressed for kilometres beforehand, and the mechanic too. If it was a real climb like La Planche des Belles Filles, then of course it could be done. But today it turned out not to be the right choice for the riders who switched.
"We don't know his motivation for switching bikes. Maybe he had a physical problem that made him uncomfortable on the time trial bike?"
Dumoulin, who rode for Jumbo-Visma from 2020 up until his retirement last season, praised his former squad as "the best team in the world" while saying that Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates squad is "just a little less close to that perfection."
He maintained, however, that despite the potential differences in organisation, the result of the time trial was mainly down to Vingegaard's strength.
"Right now, Jumbo-Visma is the best team in the world in everything," he said. "They do everything so structured and prepare everything so well, especially on such a time trial day – Vingegaard and Van Aert's bicycles are even made without paint in order to save 150 grams.
"I have the feeling that at UAE they are just a little less close to that perfection. All added up, that makes a difference. But to be clear, not a minute and a half. Those were mainly Vingegaard's legs."
