After six days of racing at the 2024 Tour de France, the race once again turns its focus back to the GC contenders in the stage 7 time trial just outside Dijon.
The 25.3km test counts for fewer than half the time trial kilometres of this Tour, with the closing hilly TT in Nice certain to deliver larger time gaps. The overall may well already have been decided by then, though of course, that isn't the case at this early stage.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), setting off last at 5pm local time, holds the yellow jersey and is heading into a Tour de France time trial with the overall lead for the first time since the penultimate stage three years ago. At this early stage his advantage of 45 seconds is a full five minutes less than that day, with the second-placed man, world time trial champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep), the name foremost on everybody's lips heading into Friday's stage.
The Belgian, in the midst of his Tour debut, has performed well through the first week even if he hasn't, so far, been able to hang on to Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) when the road has tilted uphill – at San Luca in Bologna and over the Col du Galibier.
His 45-second deficit to Pogačar came entirely on the road to Valloire on Tuesday but now, as the top favourite to win stage 7, he'll have his chance to make a chunk of that time back up and potentially trade in his white jersey for the first maillot jaune of his career. His Soudal-Quickstep directeur sportif Koen Pilgrim said on Thursday that the time trial suits Evenepoel while reminding that, in a race such as this, he and the team can only control what they do.
"It's an important stage of course, but it's not the one which will decide the race," Pilgrim said. "We hope to win, at least we'll try to. That's the goal. Of course, if you win you also take time on everybody. That's something that goes hand in hand.
"The only thing you can do is go as fast from A to B as possible and that's everything which is within your own control. What others do is something we can't control, so we just do everything to optimise Remco's performance and we'll see after the race what that brings us."
Being in yellow and white, both Pogačar and Evenepoel will take on the course – a mostly flat run aside from the mid-stage 4.7km, 3% hill – wearing the Tour's Santini-supplied skinsuits.
Starting just before them, Vingegaard will enjoy his Visma-Lease A Bike team's AGU kit – a small advantage but not one likely to influence the result of the stage in any meaningful way.
Of greater influence will be the course, itself, which isn't dauntingly technical though does feature several twisting sections along the way. From the small-town bends of the start in Nuits-Saint-Georges, the riders will head west on the D35 – not a highway but not a small, winding country road either – on the way to the first checkpoint at Messanges, 8.6km in.
Just over a kilometre up the road, at L'Etang-Vergy, the climbing begins with the gentle 4.7km run to Curley and the second checkpoint. The climb averages out to a 3% gradient, though it's not a consistent one as sections swing between 7% and a false flat before hitting the stage's highest point at 454 metres.
After the peak, the road cuts off to the east and the most technical section of the day, a descent towards checkpoint three at 19.9km. The last 5.4km brings a final challenge in the form of a flat, straight power run north to Gevrey-Chambertin.
"It suits me well," Evenepoel told RTBF on Thursday. "It reminds me a bit of the Critérium du Dauphiné time trial. There are false flats and then a bump. Power and position will count. Then, the strongest will win.
"The number one objective is the stage victory. If I win, there will be gaps. We will then see the result in the ranking."
Both Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates sports manager Joxean 'Matxin' Fernandez have named the Belgian as the favourite for the stage, though the Slovenian hasn't played down his own chances of success in recent days.
"He's the world champion and he's shown many times that he can beat everyone," he said. "I think he's the one to look to, but I think I can also do a pretty solid time trial. I can't wait to see how I can do.
"I'll go with full confidence facing against Remco, the best time trialist in the world probably, plus Roglič and Vingegaard. I'm confident."
Away from the overall leader and the stage favourite, two-time Tour champion Vingegaard has flown relatively under the radar. The Dane, like Evenepoel, has only lost time to Pogačar on the Galibier and has so far minimised any knock-on effect from his season-threatening Itzulia Basque Country crash and subsequent lack of race day preparation.
Based on the events of the past two Tours – at Rocamadour and Combloux – a Vingegaard at 100% would be tipped to once again take time on Pogačar. Whether he can do so here remains to be seen.
He admitted that he hadn't been able to recon the time trial ahead of the Tour and he too foisted favourite status on Evenepoel.
"I haven't seen the time trial course yet, only on video. I should have been there to do a recon of it but then I crashed and couldn't do it," he told Cycling Weekly on Thursday. " I think normally Tadej is always doing quite good time trials. So, for sure he will be good. I guess Remco will be the big favourite. I'll just do my best and then we will have to see what the result will be."
Vingegaard's former teammate Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) will be aiming to make up time, lying 1:14 down on Pogačar, though on paper he should be the slowest of the 'big four' and has of course been the weaker of the quartet thus far in the race.
Fourth-placed Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) is another to watch, too. The 21-year-old is the next big thing in GC racing, and, even if his primary role will be supporting Pogačar towards Nice, he's won time trials at the Tour de Romandie, Tour de Suisse and Tirreno-Adriatico, with Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) among his scalps.
Outside the GC battle, more names are in the frame, too. Perennial contenders including Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), Yves Lampaert (Soudal-Quickstep), and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) are all riders to watch.
"It's difficult to judge how it's going to be tomorrow," Pilgrim concluded. "I think real specialists like Stefan Küng will also play a role. There's an uphill in it but I don't think it'll make a huge difference to the normal specialists."
Stage 7 time checks
- Km 8.6 at Messanges
- Km 14.4 at Curley
- Km 19.9 at Morey-Saint-Denis
