After four eventful days across the Hauts-de-France and Normandy, the Tour de France shifts gears with the first individual time trial of the 2025 edition. Stage 5 is a 33km race against the clock starting and finishing in Caen, and while it won’t decide the GC outright, it’s the first major opportunity for the favourites to lay down a marker.
Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard are all capable time triallists with Tour stage wins in this discipline, but the pressure is squarely on Evenepoel to gain time back. He lost 58 seconds to his rivals in the Lille crosswinds and needs to start the long road back today.
The route
The course is as flat and non-technical as any seen in recent Tours. Leaving Caen and heading northwest through Cambes-en-Plaine and Thaon, the riders will loop out to Gruchy before returning along broad, mostly straight roads into the city. The final kilometres take in a few gentle bends but no steep climbs or awkward corners.
It’s longer than most modern Tour TTs in week one – 33km is the longest opening-week individual time trial since 2012 – and that will exaggerate time gaps between the top riders. With no climbs and no cobbles to come until later in the week, the GC hierarchy will begin to take shape here.
Riders to watch
Remco Evenepoel is the clear favourite. The Olympic and World TT champion was superb at the Dauphiné and has the power profile perfectly suited to this course. His coach has described the Caen loop as “straightforward,” and Evenepoel confirmed that he’ll be riding full gas to try and get back into yellow.
Jonas Vingegaard, who was quietly strong in the Rouen finale on stage 4, is currently eight seconds behind Tadej Pogačar. His demolition of the 2023 Combloux TT is still fresh in memory, and he thrives in this discipline when it matters most. If he beats Pogačar again today, yellow could be within reach.
Pogačar himself downplayed his fourth-place finish in the Dauphiné TT, but there’s no hiding in a 33km solo effort. He looked explosive in the Rouen uphill sprint and comes into the TT looking fresh and sharp. He’ll start equal on GC time with Mathieu van der Poel, who’s not expected to defend his yellow jersey against the pure GC riders.
With no Filippo Ganna or Stefan Bissegger after their stage 1 crashes, riders like Geraint Thomas, Mattia Cattaneo and Stefan Küng may fight for top-5 placings, but today is firmly about the battle for the overall.
What’s on offer
Date: Wednesday, 9th July
Distance: 33km individual time trial
Start/Finish: Caen – Caen
Time checks:
- Cambes-en-Plaine (km 8.2)
- Thaon (km 16.4)
- Gruchy (km 24.8)
Prediction
Remco Evenepoel. It’s his perfect stage profile, and with 58 seconds to make up on GC, he’ll be motivated like never before. If the form from the Dauphiné carries over, the Belgian should win the stage and claw back serious time. Whether that’s enough to take yellow remains to be seen.
