Remco Evenepoel was far from done with his historic victory at the Plateau de Solaison on Sunday. After he claimed Belgium’s 500th Tour de France stage win, the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe star delivered a masterclass in the 26.1 km individual time trial between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains. This is the tenth Belgian stage win on their national day, the first since Rudy Matthijs won on the Champs-Élysées on 21 July 1985! Just like on Sunday, Evenepoel got the better of Tadej Pogacar to take a third ITT stage win in as many editions of the Tour, following previous successes in Gevrey-Chambertin (2024) and Caen (2025). In the battle for the podium, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) gained a handful of seconds but Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG) remains in third place. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) abandoned after a crash.
The final week of the Tour de France 2026 begins with a decisive challenge: the 26.1 km individual time trial between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains. After Barcelona’s opening team time trial, it’s the only individual challenge against the clock of this edition. Powerhouses are ready to shine, but the route presents a mix of climbing and then motoring on the flat, with the initial ascent of Côte de Larringes (9.7 km at 4.3%) making for most of the 500 m elevation gain.
Last in the overall standings (166th), Kamil Gradek is the first rider to start his effort, at 13:00. He is followed by Lewis Askey at 13:01:30, then Cees Bol at 13:03, Matîs Louvel at 13:04:30, and so on with new starts every minute and a half until the top 15 riders overall, who start every two minutes. The last rider on the start list is Tadej Pogacar (17:15).
Tarling against Ganna
Gradek is also the first at the finish, with a time of 38’57’’. The benchmark is rapidly lowered by Askey and, more notably, Milan Fretin (Cofidis), who averaged 41.6 km/h to clock 37’40’’ on the line. Meanwhile, the intensity picks up with the starts of experts such as Josh Tarling (Netcompany Ineos), Huub Artz (Lotto Intermarché), Daan Hoole (Decathlon CMA CGM), Filippo Ganna (Netcompany Ineos)…
Their efforts illustrate the different tactics at play on such a varied course. Hoole is the fastest at km 4.8, but Ganna passes him at km 9.7, with a gap of 2’’ to Aartz, and 7’’ to Hoole and Tarling. The latter is the fastest on the descent, crossing the third checkpoint (km 18.1) with an advantage of 5 seconds to Ganna. The Netcompany Ineos duo are then level over the final 8 kilometres on the flat.
Tarling takes the best time (34’21’’) with an impressive average speed of 45.59 km/h. Ganna trails by just under 5 seconds, Artz by 28, Hoole by 45…
Cattaneo on time, Arensman delayed
Thibault Guernalec (Total Energies) narrowly beats Ganna to the summit (0.16 second) but he loses time on the downhill. His French compatriot Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike) is even faster on the ascent: 17’24’’, over 18 seconds faster than Guernalec. He resists the Netcompany Ineos powerhouses all the way to the line: 34’14’’, seven seconds ahead of Tarling and 11 ahead of Ganna.
Italy’s chances of victory are now embodied by Mattia Cattaneo (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who covers the first 9.7 km in 17’14’’. He loses a handful of seconds on the descent, but remains in the lead and finishes strong: 34’01’’, 13 seconds ahead of Armirail. He is the first rider to complete the 26.1 km with an average speed of more than 46 km/h (46.03).
Before the top 15 riders in GC start their effort, Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) achieves a solid ride to set the second best time at the finish, only 5 seconds behind Cattaneo. He had lost time even before he began his effort as he was late to the start.
Evenepoel on top, Lipowitz on the ground
As the best GC contenders set off, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) rapidly displayed dominance. The Belgian bullet was the fastest at every checkpoint, eventually powering to the fastest time (32’19’’) with a dazzling average speed of 48.45 km/h.
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG) is his closest rival (+28’’), the only one within a minute of Evenepoel’s benchmark. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) completes the day’s top three (+1’04’’) just ahead of Paul Seixas (+1’16’’) and Isaac del Toro (+1’21’’). In the meantime, Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) lost 2’22’’.
Unfortunately, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) suffered a much more tragic defeat. Third last year, the German was neck and neck with Del Toro and Seixas before he went down in a turn and had to abandon.
