Tour de France Stage 16 Time Trial Start Times: Evenepoel in the Frame for Huge GC Gains

The Tour de France blasts into its decisive third week on Tuesday with a stage 16 time trial that could shift the tone of the race for the podium.

Remco Evenepoel is poised take a huge margin over his rivals on the 26km hilly test and pad his position in second overall.

With 500 meters of shallow climbing before a fast, open descent, Tuesday’s TT on the fringes of the Alps looks perfect for Belgium’s aero bullet.

The dragging 10km hill at the start of the stage will push heavyweight specialist Filippo Ganna out of the picture.

However, the run to the finish should be fast enough to give triple TT world champion Evenepoel the advantage over his nearest GC rivals, Isaac del Toro and Paul Seixas.

Evenepoel and Pogačar last down the ramp

Riders roll out of Évian-les-Bains in reverse classification order on Tuesday.

Evenepoel is second-last at 17:13 CET. Tadej Pogačar, resplendent in a yellow skinsuit, starts two minutes later at 17:15 CET.

Will we see a repeat of the meme-worthy scenes when Remco rocketed past Pogi at the 2025 world championship TT in Kigali?

While it’s a stretch to compare the Tour’s 16th stage to the high-altitude route in Rwanda, the elevation-to-distance ratio is similar.

Evenepoel gained 4 seconds per kilometer over Pogačar in Kigali, which works out to 1:44 on Tuesday’s course.

Pogačar won’t be able to take it easy after Monday’s rest day.

Tour de France top-5 ahead of stage 16:

1. Pogačar: Yellow jersey
2. Evenepoel: +5:00
3. Del Toro: +5:58
4. Seixas: +6:23
5. Lipowitz: +6:48

Stepping out of the Pogačar vs. Evenepoel rabbit hole – Evenepoel should take chunks of time out of the climbers chasing his spot on the podium on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old starts the day in second overall after his stage 15 resurgence.

He’s 5:00 down on Pogačar, but 58 seconds ahead of Del Toro. Seixas is a further 25 seconds back.

Evenepoel could add a further minute to that advantage over Del Toro and Seixas on stage 16, based on historical form.

And Evenepoel will need to take all the gains he can get Tuesday in his specialist discipline. The race heads into the high Alps later this week. It’s the very terrain that had, until his stunning stage 15 victory on Plateau de Solaison, proven to be his kryptonite.

Here are all the start times for the stage 16 Tour de France time trial.

Don’t miss it.

The GC action begins at around 17:00 CET.

Tour de France stage 16 start times (CET)