Tour de France 2025 Stage 5 LIVE - Remco Evenepoel looking to make up lost time over 33km TT, Van der Poel, Pogacar and Vingegaard vying for yellow

What an effort from the French national champion. It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for him. Four seconds up at the first split, he was 15 down at the third, so made up 13 seconds in that final sector.

We've just heard his hype man in the team car telling him he's doing a great time trial and is going to set a fantastic time. So that's why. Still four seconds down on Plapp but we know what happened to him.

The Italian measured his effort to perfection. The clock stops in 37'15, 30 seconds quicker than Romeo, who makes a cheeky bull horns gesture at the camera as he vacates the hot seat.

By 21 seconds. With 7km remaining of his run, he's motoring. Apparently Jonas Vingegaard is riding in the team car behind, picking up valuable intel along the way.

No expectation on him to do anything today, but it does allow us to mention the skinsuit variable which could come into play later. The rule is that the jersey holders cannot wear their custom team skinsuits, which may have been developed over months, but must instead don the race issue kits. Even as they are allowed to spend time tweaking and fitting the night before, that puts the riders wearing them at a relative disadvantage. With so little between the top three riders, it could make the difference. The only rider of those three who will be wearing their own? Jonas Vingegaard.

Splittin the difference between the Australian and the Spaniard, but as we've just learned, Plapp overdid it a bit in the first half of the stage.

He takes it far more cautiously than the Spaniard, perhaps a product of recent high profile TT experience, and it all adds up to a swing of 24 seconds in favour of Romeo over that final sector.

He rails the last bends and the clock stops at 37'44, 16 seconds quicker than his Movistar colleague Pablo Castrillo.

The Visma rider, the current European champion of course, is the first real contender for today.

Among the first wave of riders, it looks to be between these two. Romeo had picked up a second between the first and second splits, and another one at the third. Romeo looks like he'll be the first rider in the hot seat but it's going to be close.

Eleven seconds quicker than Ivan Romen at Cambes-en-Plaine. For contest, his compatriot Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) has just gone through 1'29 slower.

There are eight in total riding today, all of whom should be in their custom skinsuits. I won't ask you to name them:

Mauro Schmid (Switzerland)
Remco Evenepoel (Belgium)
Tobias Foss (Norway)
Max Schachmann (Germany)
Luke Plapp (Australia)
Yevgeniy Federov (Kazakhstan)
Toms Skujins (Latvia)
Bruno Armirail (France)

As good as he is at this discipline, Plapp has experienced a few high profile TT tumbles - most recently on a right hand bend in the Giro, and in last year's Olympic time trial in Paris.

He's the first rider you'd expect to set a reasonable time, as the former Spanish U23 champion, and having finished 4th in the senior nationals TT last month. Having said that, this is his first ever Grand Tour, let alone his first Tour de France, and he's really just here for the experience.

According to our commentary team of Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly. Clear blue skies in Caen as Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) gets his rider underway. The first nineteen set off at one minute intervals, then it switches to 90 second gaps, before every rider after Guillaume Martin (Groupama FDJ) will have two minutes between them. Mathieu van der Poel will be the last rider down the ramp at 4pm UK time.

As they start in reverse order the current lanterne rouge, the last rider in the race, is Yevgeniy Federov (XDS Astana.) Federov is 33'30 down on the leader, Mathieu van der Poel.

We have a classic time trial course. No hills to worry about, nothing too technical, several sections suited to serve up some serious speed. This is a real opportunity for some, but it might be a major hazard for others.

Good afternoon and welcome to live text coverage of Stage 5 of the men’s Tour de France 2025. It’s time trial day, which means one rider’s name is on everyone’s lips. Just four stages into Le Tour and Remco Evenepoel not only has time to make up but no small amount of something to prove. Although he finished (more or less) in the front group yesterday he was always following and never looked like a contender.

Today he needs to show that he is more than a match for stage winner Tadej Pogacar, and increasingly punchy Jonas Vingegaard. At the Dauphine he showed how adept he is against the clock, as if there were any doubts as to the reigning world and Olympic champion’s TT prowess, but Caen it be enough in the Tour de France?