It’s a valid question because no one has so far put forward a credible explanation for the Visma–Lease a Bike leader’s disastrous time trial on Wednesday’s stage 5. On a 33 km course in and around Caen, Vingegaard finished 13th, a whopping 1:21 behind the expected winner, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick‑Step), and 1:05 behind Pogačar, who rode a flawless time trial and finished second behind the world and Olympic ITT champion.
As a result, Evenepoel is now third in the GC, 43 seconds behind the former and new race leader, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin‑Deceuninck), and 42 seconds down on Pogačar. And Vingegaard has dropped to fourth, 1:14 adrift. He now sits behind the surprising Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa–B&B Hotels), who rode the time trial of his young life to finish fifth and is now 1:00 behind van der Poel.
Vingegaard did have an explanation for his setback: “It was a difficult day for me. That’s how it is sometimes. I didn’t have the legs,” he told Danish TV. “There’s not much more to say. The Tour is of course long, so I’m still motivated and believe it’s still possible.”
“It was something specific to the time trial,” sports director Arthur van Dongen said Thursday. “But we’re going to keep the information internally in the team.”
In the first ITT of last year’s Tour (stage 7, 25 km), the Dane lost only 25 seconds to Pogačar but trailed him by 1:15 after the stage. He lost that Tour to Pogačar by 6:17. But Vingegaard came into that race still recovering from his massive crash in the Itzulia Basque Country. The assumption was he was in much better form this year. Let’s hope this was indeed just a bad day and that he recovers his mojo soon and makes a race of it.
Ride of the week
The ride of the week was undoubtedly Ben Healy’s 42.3 km solo attack on Thursday’s stage 6, which netted him his first Tour de France stage victory and moved him from 33rd to 8th in the GC standings, only 2:01 behind van der Poel (Alpecin‑Deceuninck). So strong was his attack that he crossed the line 2:44 ahead of Quinn Simmons (Lidl‑Trek), with Michael Storer (Tudor Pro) finishing 7 seconds later in third. Those are winning gaps that van der Poel and Pogačar would be proud of.
Philipsen’s crash leaves Škoda Green Jersey for Merlier, Milan (and van der Poel?)
Jasper Philipsen, a former Škoda Green Jersey winner and favorite again this year, crashed in a bizarre incident while racing for points at an intermediate sprint on Monday’s stage 3. He broke his collarbone and had to abandon. The Alpecin‑Deceuninck sprinter was knocked off after Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Edward Theuns (Lidl‑Trek) collided, and Coquard ricocheted into Philipsen.
Both Coquard and Theuns received yellow cards and 500 CHF fines, though they didn’t appear at fault, just unlucky. This shakes up the green jersey competition, which Philipsen was leading. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick‑Step) won Monday’s bunch sprint over Jonathan Milan (Lidl‑Trek), who briefly took the points lead.
However, the jersey now belongs to Pogačar (who also holds yellow and polka-dot), with 97 points, Milan at 92, and last year’s green jersey winner, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), third with 87. It’s early, but time to wonder what Alpecin‑Deceuninck will do without Philipsen. They do have another excellent sprinter—Kaden Groves—who has seven Vuelta a España stage wins, two Giro d’Italia stage wins, and two Vuelta points classifications. Groves, riding his first Tour, was Philipsen’s main lead-out and currently has only 27 points—likely a long shot compared to Milan, Girmay, or Merlier. Van der Poel is fourth with 80 and is surely eying a green finish. He’s not the fastest pure sprinter, but fast enough with Groves lead‑out to crack a top-five in bunch sprints. Plenty of punchy stages—like Friday’s stage 7—and flat ones ahead in stages 8 and 9 will tell us more after the weekend.
2025 Tour de France General Classification After Stage 6
- Mathieu van der Poel, Alpecin‑Deceuninck – 21:52:34
- Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates–XRG – +0:01
- Remco Evenepoel, Soudal Quick‑Step – +0:43
- Kévin Vauquelin, Arkéa–B&B Hotels – +1:00
- Jonas Vingegaard, Visma–Lease a Bike – +1:14
- Matteo Jorgenson, Visma–Lease a Bike – +1:23
- João Almeida, UAE Team Emirates–XRG – +1:59
- Ben Healy, EF Education–EasyPost – +2:01
- Florian Lipowitz, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe – +2:32
- Primož Roglič, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe – +2:36
Results of Stage 6, 2025 Tour de France
- Ben Healy, EF Education–EasyPost – 4:24:10
- Quinn Simmons, Lidl‑Trek – +2:44
- Michael Storer, Tudor Pro – +2:51
- Eddie Dunbar, Jayco AlUla – +3:21
- Simon Yates, Visma–Lease a Bike – +3:24
- Will Barta, Movistar – +3:29
- Harold Tejada, XDS Astana – +3:52
- Mathieu van der Poel, Alpecin‑Deceuninck – +3:58
- Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates–XRG – +5:27
- Jonas Vingegaard, Visma–Lease a Bike – +5:27
