Tadej Pogačar may be sitting comfortably at the top of the Tour de France general classification, but his team management at UAE Team Emirates have warned that stage seven’s time trial could suddenly see the tables turned on the Slovenian.
After winning in Valloire on stage four with an assault on the slopes of the Col du Galibier, Pogačar currently has a buffer of 45 seconds over Soudal Quick-Step's Remco Evenepoel, the wearer of the white jersey, and 50 seconds over last year’s Tour winner, Visma-Lease a Bike's Jonas Vingegaard.
Pogačar dropped Vingegaard like a stone on the Galibier's descent, although the Slovenian's team management fear that Vingegaard - and Evenepoel in particular - could claw back handfuls of time in the 25km race against the clock between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin.
"I think the favourite is Remco Evenepoel for the time trial, he’s a rider with the condition for this course," DS Matxin Fernandez told Cycling Weekly in Dijon after stage six.
"Tadej will be fighting for the best result," Fernandez added. "He has worked and worked and worked on his time trialling, he’s got the condition, he’s got a comfortable position, but I don’t know how he’ll go in comparison to the favourites. I trust in Tadej but how he’ll fare against the rest, I don’t know.
"I think Remco looks good, motivated, I think to be with the top two on the Galibier will motivate him for a time trial, terrain he is more suited for."
Pogačar had no trouble during the stage seven time trial in the Giro d’Italia, putting almost two minutes into his rivals at the time, but Evenepoel - the reigning World Champion - was not present in Italy.
Fernandez explained that a good day for Evenepoel could suddenly see Pogačar’s time gap drastically reduced.
He said: "I think 29-30 minutes for the winner. I think around this margin [15-20 seconds between Remco and Pogačar] if all goes well, if there’s not any problem, it should be around there. But a good day and good sensations for Tadej, he could be closer; a really good day for Remco and it could be bigger for him."
Evenepoel made clear that the team would be targeting the stage win on Friday, nothing less, with Sunday’s stage on the gravel around Troyes to come.
"I’m not thinking about time gaps yet," Evenepoel told Cycling Weekly. "I just have a stage win in my mind. I’m just fully focused on the stage win and then the big goal of this Tour de France will be accomplished and after that if I get the win then we will see about the gaps. We are focusing on the stage win."
"For sure I am better than in the Critérium du Dauphiné. The last two days helped me to recover a bit from the hard start. Today was good to have some speed in the legs, a bit like motor-pacing training, so I think until here it has been a pretty perfect start for us and tomorrow is the first day I really have to try and go for the stage."
"Remco has already done the course, we know the course, it’s no secret but everyone who is ambitious for this course tomorrow has done it,” Quick-Step DS Tom Steels told Cycling Weekly. "It is all about going as hard as you can and feeling your legs. It has already been a very tough week but it's the same for everybody.
"I think we’re going to go for the win, but as I say it’s up to Remco to do as he always does in a TT - he has to stay calm, doesn’t have to focus on a Tour win or whatever, it comes or it doesn’t come. He just has to do his TT as he always does and then he’s going to be fine."
Meanwhile Vingegaard will only see the course for the first time in person on Friday morning. Visma-Lease a Bike were unable to recon the course with the Dane earlier this season due to his horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country which left him heavily injured.
Vingegaard also highlighted Evenepoel as the obvious favourite for the stage win.
"I haven't seen the course yet, only on video," the two-time winner said. "I should have been there to do a recon of it but then I crashed and I couldn't do it. I've only seen it on a video and I think it's slightly hilly, not so technical, but it will be quite a fast time trial."
