Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) dominated the 18.3km individual time trial to win the afternoon stage of the Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine and take over the general classification lead.
The time trial silver medalist from this year’s European Championships covered the flat course from Smarves to Vivonne in 25 minutes, one second. Finishing 17 seconds back in second place was Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-Samic), and another three seconds back for third was Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).
Only five other riders completed the course within one minute of Küng, as the Swiss rider put big chunks of time into his GC lead with one day to race. He started the day 22 seconds behind race leader Marc Sarreau (AG2R Citroën), who had swept the opening three road contests of the five-stage event.
Sarreau, who said he was not likely to retain the leader’s jersey across a pair of stages on Thursday, had any hopes dashed when he suffered a mechanical during the time trial and had lost a lot of time with a bike change. He finished 3:21 behind the Swiss winner in 66th place and plummeted to 32nd overall.
"In the time trial, I gave my maximum until halfway through. When I saw that I was losing chunks of time, I relaxed my effort to save myself for tomorrow. Then I had a puncture, so there are no regrets about losing the leader's jersey," Sarreau explained. "Tomorrow, there is still a good chance to play my card.”
The stage race concludes Friday with a 185.1km rolling route from Mansle to Poitiers.
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