Pogacar Denies Van der Poel By Four Hundredths Of A Second In A Breathless Aarburg Time Trial
Tadej Pogacar produced one of the closest time-trial finishes of the season to win Stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse, beating Mathieu van der Poel by a barely believable four hundredths of a second over the 23.7km course in and around Aarburg. The yellow jersey, last man off the ramp, stopped the clock in 26:37.99 to van der Poel's 26:38.03, snatching victory by the smallest margin imaginable on a flat, fast test that averaged 53.4kph.
It was a result almost nobody saw coming. Van der Poel had thrown everything at a parcours that suited his enormous power, and for several agonising minutes his time looked unbeatable. The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider had set the benchmark with a ride that would have won the vast majority of races against the clock. But Pogacar, riding in the leader's colours and with the GC already secured, refused to settle for a controlled effort and instead committed fully to the closing kilometres.
The two-tenths that separated them at the final intermediate evaporated in the run to the line, and the timing screens needed several seconds to confirm that the UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader had edged it. For van der Poel it was a cruel near miss, but a performance that underlined his time-trialling progress ahead of a Tour de France where every flat kilometre could matter.
Behind the headline duel, the time trial reshaped the general classification. Pogacar extended his overall lead to 4:22 over Richard Carapaz, who held onto second despite conceding more time on the day. Mathias Vacek was the day's big GC mover, climbing onto the provisional podium in third at 4:27 after a powerful ride for Lidl-Trek, with team-mate Andrea Bagioli slipping to fourth at 4:46.
Brandon McNulty gave UAE a second rider inside the top five, while Primoz Roglic dragged himself back into the conversation, climbing six places to ninth overall after a solid effort against the clock. Ilan Van Wilder was another to gain ground, jumping into the top six, as the flat test exposed the riders who had been clinging to GC positions through the opening climbing stages.
The biggest loser near the front was Finlay Pickering, who tumbled from fifth to twelfth after a difficult day, while Mathias Vacek tightened his grip on the white jersey of best young rider. Pogacar also strengthened his hold on the points classification, moving onto 30 points and opening a 12-point cushion over Romain Gregoire.
Attention now turns to the queen stage to Villars-sur-Ollon, a brutal mountain day that Pogacar himself described as one of the biggest climbing stages ever staged at the race. With a lead of more than four minutes the overall result looks beyond doubt, but the Slovenian has already signalled he intends to attack rather than defend, setting up a final-day spectacle as he completes his last rehearsal before the Tour de France.