THONON-LES-BAINS, France, July 21 (Reuters) - Belgium's Remco Evenepoel delivered a crushing performance in Tuesday's individual time trial to claim his second consecutive Tour de France stage victory, but the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team's celebrations were dampened by teammate Florian Lipowitz's race-ending crash.
"That's very unfortunate. It's like a bittersweet pill to swallow with this victory," Evenepoel said after winning stage 16, adding to his triumph two days earlier at the Plateau de Solaison.
The Belgian's dominant display cemented his second place behind Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, trailing the yellow jersey holder by four minutes and 32 seconds. Evenepoel holds a commanding lead of two minutes and 19 seconds over third-placed Isaac del Toro of Mexico, who races for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Despite his superb form, Evenepoel dismissed suggestions he could challenge Pogacar for overall victory.
"Honestly, no," he answered when asked if he was aiming to dethrone Pogacar. "I'm just focused on my own spot. I mean, Tadej (Pogacar) is on his way to win a fifth Tour de France. It's just amazing that I can be a bit close to him."
Lipowitz's Tour de France came to an abrupt conclusion when he crashed in a right-hand turn with more than six kilometres to go.
The German was sitting fifth in the general classification before the start of stage 16.
"The feeling is a bit strange," his sports director Patxi Vila said. "On one side, you are happy because you won, on the other side, you are sad because Florian (Lipowitz) had that crash.
"He is on his way to the hospital. I hope he can come back healthy soon."
The 25-year-old rider suffered a right collarbone injury, race organisers said in their daily press release.
Evenepoel, who had shared leadership duties with Lipowitz during the race, expressed his sadness for his teammate.
"He will be very missed in the team," he said. "It's a big shame for us as a team to lose him because he was obviously doing a very good Tour de France. It's an extra-sad moment."
(Reporting by Vincent Daheron in Thonon-les-BainsEditing by Toby Davis)
