Reigning Olympic time trial champion Remco Evenepoel should be a major factor in Caen as Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel battle for overall lead.

Evenepoel, the reigning time trial Olympic and world champion, was expected to win the stage in the absence of time trial specialists — Filippo Ganna and Stefan Bissegger, who both crashed and exited the race on the first day of the Tour last week.

Remco Evenepoel stormed back into contention for a place on the final podium at the 2025 Tour de France, winning the 33km time trial around Caen and marking a huge turnaround after a difficult opening stage.