Tadej Pogačar strengthened his status as the race favourite ©Getty Images

Defending champion Tadej Pogačar triumphed on the fifth-stage individual time trial at the Tour de France, with Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel clinging onto the race leader’s yellow jersey.

Pogačar triumphed at last year’s Tour de France after dominating the individual time trial on the penultimate day of the race.

The Slovenian may have struck a similarly significant blow to his main rivals after a superb display on the 27.2-kilometre route from Changé to Laval.

Pogačar posted the fastest time at each of the intermediate time checks and finished in a winning time of 32 minutes exactly.

The UAE Team Emirates’ rider finished 18 seconds clear of second-placed Stefan Küng of Switzerland.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard and Belgium’s Wout Van Aert finished 27 and 30 seconds off the pace of the stage winner.

Van der Poel was a further second down to complete the top five.

The Dutchman held onto the yellow jersey, but his advantage is now just eight seconds over Pogačar.

"Today was a really good day for me," said Pogačar, who wears the white jersey for the best young rider.

"I didn’t do any mistakes, it was a perfect weather for me.

"Some guys hate wet roads, luckily I had the perfect conditions.

"In recent time trials I didn’t do so well because I started super fast.

"This time I started pacing myself pretty good and found the perfect rhythm until the end.

"The goal was not to lose time, I’m super happy.

"Maybe it’s better not to take the yellow jersey.

"I would have loved to have the yellow jersey, but the white looks good too."

Mathieu van der Poel held onto the race leader's yellow jersey by eight seconds ©Getty Images
Mathieu van der Poel held onto the race leader's yellow jersey by eight seconds ©Getty Images

Pogačar earned significant time gaps over his general classification rivals to strengthen his position as the race favourite.

Fellow Slovenian Primož Roglič, last year’s runner-up, defied injuries sustained in crashes during the opening week by finishing seventh on the stage.

Roglič still lost 44 seconds to Pogačar on the stage to lie 1min 48sec off the pace overall.

Ineos Grenadiers’ Geraint Thomas of Britain and Richard Carapaz of Ecuador lost 1:18 and 1:43, respectively.

Carapaz is now 1:44 behind the defending champion overall, with Thomas a further 10 seconds back as he recovers from a dislocated shoulder sustained in a crash.

Meanwhile, French media reports say a woman suspected of causing a major crash on the opening stage of the race has been arrested, after handing herself in to police.

The spectator had been seen carrying a sign with "granny and granddad" written in German and was looking away from the oncoming riders.

The sign hit German rider Tony Martin, who fell into the peloton and it led to several riders crashing and sustaining injuries.