Why was Jonas Vingegaard given the same time as Tadej Pogačar despite finishing 12 seconds down on Tour de France stage 5? The three-second rule explained

A total of twelve seconds passed between Tadej Pogačar crossing the line on stage 5 of the Tour de France and his great rival Jonas Vingegaard doing so, but both riders were given the same time in the race results.

Vingegaard, who had to jump onto a teammate’s bike after being held up by a late crash, finished the day in 52nd place, 31 places down on Pogačar, who led the GC group home as the sprinters contested the stage victory 14 seconds up the road.

The rule is an adaptation of the standard one-second rule, which which states the following:

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“If there is a difference of one second or more between the back of the back wheel of the last rider in a group and the front of the front wheel of the first rider of the following group, the timekeeper-commissaires shall give a new time taken on the first rider of this group.

“Any difference of one second or more (back wheel – front wheel) between riders implies a new time.”

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If applied on stage 5, that regulation would have seen Vingegaard shed time to his GC rivals, as there were plenty of one-second gaps between riders who were crossing the line in dribs and drabs.

However, with the gap needed to trigger a new group timing extended to three seconds on sprint stages at the Tour de France, he managed to avoid such a fate.

Vingegaard scrambled to the finish with teammate Davide Piganzoli, while the riders ahead of them who were trailing home in the wake of the Pogačar group were all within three seconds of one another, allowing the Dane to be given the same time as Pogačar and co.

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“There were riders in between everywhere, so you didn’t have gaps of three seconds,” said Visma director Marc Reef said after the stage. “There were about ten seconds between Pogačar and Jonas, but with riders in between. Then everyone is given the same time.”

The rule is in place so riders don’t need to take unnecessary risks on the run to the line as sprinters and their trains do battle at the head of the peloton.

The times, measured by the photo finish camera at the finish line, allow riders in the largest group or main peloton to relax somewhat as they ride to the line on flat stages, rather than battle over every place and every second.

On stage 5, the GC riders slowed up in the final kilometres to let a small group of sprinters do their thing in Pau.

Further back, Visma-Lease a Bike put on a frantic late chase after Vingegaard was held up just outside the 5km GC ‘safe zone’ – an extension of the 3km rule whereby GC times are neutralised in the event of a crash.

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