Wout van Aert slams last-minute increase to mountain time trial limit that saved six riders from Tour de France exit

A late and controversial decision by race officials has spared six riders from disqualification in stage 13 of Tour de France, after the time cut for Friday’s short but brutal mountain time trial to Peyragudes was quietly revised from 33 per cent to 40 per cent just minutes before the stage began — a move that has sparked anger and accusations of inconsistency from within the peloton.

Tadej Pogačar, three-time Tour winner and defending champion, firmly in control of this year’s yellow jersey at the moment, delivered another commanding performance and recorded back-to-back stage wins, but further down the order, the change in the time cut meant riders such as Soudal Quick-Step’s Tim Merlier, who finished just 45 seconds inside the new limit, avoided being ejected from the Tour.

Had the original 33 per cent cut been applied, any rider finishing outside 30:35.4 would have been disqualified, based on Pogačar’s 23-minute stage-winning time. The race jury, however, opted to increase the allowable gap to 40 per cent, raising the threshold to 32:12 — a change that came at 1:01 p.m., just nine minutes before the first rider rolled off the start ramp.

Among those who would have been sent home were Merlier, Biniam Girmay, Arnaud Démare, and three riders from Jayco-AlUla: Luka Mezgec, Mauro Schmid, and Elmar Reinders.

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Visma-Lease a Bike’s Wout van Aert, who himself finished in 52nd position — five minutes down on Pogačar — but had three teammates finish inside the top 20 on the stage, was one of the most vocal critics of the decision.

“The time trial had been like this for months, with the time limit set at 33 percent,” said the 29-year-old Belgian. “And suddenly, ten minutes before the start, that time limit was raised to 40 percent. I find that really disappointing, especially since the conditions haven’t really changed.”

Van Aert added: “I hope I don’t offend many sprinters with this statement, because I would be disappointed if riders had to go home, but the jury should have considered that earlier. This should have been announced in advance and made clear.”

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His teammate Tiesj Benoot was equally frustrated: “There was no reason for it, if it were suddenly 45 degrees or a thunderstorm broke out,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws. “A sprinter who wants to win the green jersey has to prepare specifically to get over the mountains, which is detrimental to their sprinting ability. If you give them carte blanche in the mountains…”

Another Visma rider and stage winner in last year’s Tour de France, Victor Campenaerts added: “I’d never ridden a time trial with a 33 per cent time limit before. So it was already a bit steep. Why raise it even higher? This is the Tour, after all, the highest level of cycling. Eventually, they’ll say: ‘If you’re not eligible for the overall or stage win, simply signing the start sheet is enough and you can start the next day.’”

While no team admitted to requesting the change, HLN reported that pressure had been exerted from within the peloton. Lidl-Trek, home of points classification leader Jonathan Milan, publicly denied any involvement in lobbying for the time cut to be altered.

There has been no explanation from the race jury so far.

Tim Merlier, who has already won two stages this year, was among those who benefitted from the extension. “I had a bad day and couldn’t follow my safe pacing plan,” the Belgian sprinter said. “Maybe I would have had a bit more grit and tried to ride faster [if the limit had stayed at 33 per cent]. I certainly hope this was my only bad day.”

Also saved by the change was Biniam, winner of three stages and the green jersey last year, as well as Démare, who only last summer narrowly avoided the time cut on the Plateau de Beille as the last rider to finish, scraping in 45 seconds before the cut-off, with Mark Cavendish and the Astana Qazaqstan grupetto also battling to keep their Tour hopes alive.

On that occasion, Team dsm-firmenich-PostNL’s Bram Welten wasn’t so lucky, missing the cut and going home, while Cavendish memorably thanked his teammates and swigged ketones on camera after being told the team bus was parked 16 kilometres away.

The Tour’s time cut methodology assigns each stage a coefficient of one to six depending on difficulty, with time trials typically classified as coefficient six. The winner’s average speed is then used to calculate a final percentage. A 33 per cent cut is already considered extremely generous by mountain TT standards, and 40 per cent almost unheard of.

Jonathan Milan, ITT stage 13, 2025 Tour de France (credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

The reaction online wasn’t much kinder. One Facebook user wrote: “Agree 100 per cent, the all-rounders have nothing left, so the sprinters can toss it off in the TT and live another day to race for radio-controlled stage wins.”

“This is getting insane, 40 per cent? That’s almost a minute per kilometre,” one person commented. Another added: “Wout van Aert is right. Tour de France didn’t want to risk losing three high-class sprinters like Merlier and Bini. That’s very lame.”

“Agreed,” someone else wrote. “Don’t change the rules during the game. Especially when there is no unforeseen circumstance to force a rule change.”

But not everyone was on board with the outrage. “And you really think they wouldn’t ride harder if it’s 33 per cent?” someone replied — suggesting riders like Merlier and Biniam might have found another gear if they’d known the cut wasn’t about to move — although whether they might have done so is anyone’s guess.