Tadej Pogacar dug deep to keep the overall Tour de France lead after Friday's stage seven with Remco Evenepoel winning a thrilling 25.3km time trial through the Burgundy vineyards.
It was a first Tour de France stage win for the 24-year-old Belgian time trial world champion who finished 12 seconds ahead of UAE Team Emirates rider Pogacar, who was second on the day after a gutsy effort.
Veteran Primoz Roglic was third at 34sec and two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard fourth at 37sec. The result leaves the so called 'Fab Four' favourites in the top four positions after seven stages of the 21-day race.
The four all sped down the starting ramp at Nuits-Saint-Georges within 10 minutes of each other, making the finale a nail-biting edge of the seat affair.
Timekeepers Tissot employed state of the art cameras at three intermediate points along the route packed with fans as the fates swung one way then another.
Evenepoel was powering ahead to a wider margin of victory before his gears stuck, a problem he solved by bouncing hard on his seat, testimony to his cool under pressure despite this being his first Grand Boucle.
At the raucous finish line fans pounded on the barriers and cheered as the see-saw struggle between the pretenders panned out well for all four of them.
Evenepoel has now beaten Pogacar in all six time trials in which they have gone head-to-head.
Denmark's Vingegaard had beaten Pogacar in the last two time trials they faced off, but dropped time on the Slovenian on Friday.
Speaking after his win, Evenepoel said: "Crazy. It was on a good day, the climb was actually pretty tough. I wanted to start fast and keep something for the climb and the descent was on the limit, pretty technical and fast but I enjoyed every metre of this time trial. Coming out with a win is simply amazing so I am super happy.
“I was pretty sure I had a puncture actually but I think someone maybe dropped a glass or hit the fence or something, it was exactly the same sound as a puncture. After a few hundred metres I knew nothing was wrong but I kept going with a bit of fear in my head because I thought it was a slow puncture.
"I had to take risks because I knew Tadej was close to me. It was a close one but I wanted to win today and that’s accomplished.
“We weren't really thinking about the time gaps in the GC. We just want to take a stage win that is done. So perfect day for me and my team, took some time on the others so mission accomplished and now we have to focus on tomorrow and on Sunday, of course."
Pogacar had no complaints about being beaten by the world time trial champion.
“To lose against Remco, against the the world champion and best time triallist in the world right now, I think that’s pretty good and I can be satisfied,” he said.
“For sure I would love to take a stage win, but against Remco it’s pretty tough. I gained time on Primoz and and Jonas and the other guys so I can be happy. I need to keep an eye on Remco, he’s a bit closer, but also Jonas and Primoz can show good legs in the mountains.”
Stage seven results
1. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal-Quick Step) 28mins 52secs
2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +12secs
3. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +34secs
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Visma-Lease a Bike) +37secs
5. Victor Campenaerts (Bel/Lotto-dstny) +52secs
