The Dane blitzed the 22.4-kilometre route from Passy to Combloux in 32min 36sec to extend his lead in the general classification with just five stages remaining.

He clocked in 1:38 quicker than the UAE Team Emirates' Slovenian who, prior to today, was just 10 seconds behind in the race for the yellow jersey.

Despite the triumph, Vingegaard is keen not to allow complacency to set in.

"Is the Tour de France over?" he said.

"No.

"There's still a lot of hard stages to go.

"We have to keep fighting for the stages to come.

"I think it's the best time trial I have ever done and I think today I surprised myself with the time trial I did.

"I did not expect to do so well, it's my first time trial win in the Tour de France.

"I was feeling great today and I am really happy with the victory.

"I want to say thanks for the team.

"They guided me well today."

This was just the second career time trial win for the 26-year-old following his success at the Gran Camino in Spain at the start of the season.

Vingegaard reached the first checkpoint at the 7.1km route with a 16-second advantage over Pogačar.

He then stretched his lead to 31 seconds by the time he reached the foot of the Côte de Domancy.

Midway through the stage, Pogačar chose to change to his regular road bike for the final climb. 

The Slovenian was already more than 30 seconds down on Vingegaard at that point and could not close the gap despite the tactical switch.

The Tour is set to continue tomorrow with stage 17 that takes riders from Saint-Gervais-les-Bains to Courcheval over 166km.