The 16th stage of this Tour de France 2023 has a good chance of having been decisive. This Tuesday, July 18, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard offered himself a precious victory by taking an option on the final in the Tour de France. The latter crushed the time trial in Combloux, where he beat his rival Tadej Pogacar by 1 minute 38 seconds.
In the general classification, the Dane now has a 1 minute 48 seconds lead over the Slovenian on the eve of the queen stage of this 110th edition between Saint-Gervais and Courchevel. While much tighter gaps were expected in this demanding but short 16th stage (22.4 km), Vingegaard therefore won with a margin that allows him to calmly envisage a second victory in a row in the Grande Boucle Sunday in Paris.
Until then, the two men had tied the game in this 110th edition, going one after the other in an exciting mano a mano. Only ten seconds shared the two men before this time trial in the Alps, which could be the turning point of the Tour.
Unlike Pogacar, the Dane, who left last, did not change his bike to choose a lighter machine at the foot of the formidable Domancy coast. This did not prevent the leader of Jumbo-Visma from continuing to widen the gap continuously, until he almost caught up with his rival, who started two minutes before him, which would have been an ultimate domination.
It is Vingegaard's third stage victory in a Tour de France, the first in a time trial, knowing that he had offered victory on a plateau to his Belgian teammate Wout Van Aert last year in Rocamadour by slowing down at the end of the clock on the eve of his first coronation in Paris.
Wout Van Aert finished third this time, behind Pogacar who did not even have a bad time since the Belgian finished 2 minutes 51 seconds behind his leader, an incredible gap over such a short distance.
