Tour de France stage five preview: Remco Evenepoel and time-trial specialists hunt win against the clock
In fact it truly kicked off yesterday, with Tadej Pogacar putting a handful more seconds into his rivals to move level on time with race leader Mathieu van der Poel by claiming his 18th Tour stage win and the 100th of his frankly ludicrously brilliant career.
Pogacar won't be riding today's time-trial in yellow, but he may well end the day in it, with Jonas Vingegaard eight seconds back and Remco Evenepoel 58 seconds off his pace.
But today is likely to be a day for Evenepoel and his fellow specialists against the clock: an almost entirely flat 33km route starting and finishing in Caen, never rising more than 65m above sea level.
There are time checks at the 8.2km mark (Cambes-en-Plaine), 16.4km mark (Thaon) and 24.8km mark (Gruchy) to keep track of where the contenders are, and we're set for a thrilling run-in to the finish with Evenepoel, Vingegaard and Pogacar all in the final ten riders to set off.
Route map and profile
Start time
The first rider will roll down the ramp at 1.10pm local time, 12.10pm BST, with the final arrival into Caen scheduled for 5.42pm local time (4.42pm BST).
Yevgeniy Fedorov, the 181st of 181 remaining riders, will be the first to set off, with Mathieu van der Poel starting his race against the clock last.
Prediction
It's hard not to back Remco Evenepoel for this one. The Soudal Quick-Step leader will have bookmarked this stage from the minute the route was published as a golden opportunity to take the stage win, and amass such a margin of victory as to take the yellow jersey, too.
The world and Olympic time-trial champion is the fastest man in the world against the clock, and he didn't look troubled yesterday by a minor crash on stage three, so should be in prime position to take the win today.
Yellow might be a steeper ask as he has 58 seconds to make up on Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar, but the Belgian is an absolute demon on a flat course like this one. His task has also been made easier by Filippo Ganna's untimely exit from the race after a crash on stage one.
Of the other TT specialists still in the race, European champ Edoardo Affini could do well - if he's let off the leash by team Visma-Lease a Bike to secure a result for himself. Joao Almeida, Evenepoel's teammate Mattia Cattaneo, and Wout van Aert are all fine TT riders too.
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