History repeated itself for Remco Evenepoel on Sunday as for the second time in 24 hours, the Belgian crossed the finish line in a Tour de France Pyrenean stage in third place. Yet again he had been distanced by top two GC favourites Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard — but yet again, all the way up to the day's summit finish, Evenepoel had never looked to be in trouble. And with each upward pedal stroke, his podium position in the overall rankings looked increasingly secure, too.
Previously three and a half minutes ahead of fourth-placed João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) after stage 15's latest major mountain test, Evenepoel has now increased his advantage over the Portuguese racer by five minutes. And to round off a great day for Soudal-QuickStep, Remco’s key climbing lieutenant Mikel Landa finished fourth on the stage and has now moved into the top five on GC.
"I tried to follow for a while and if Jonas [Vingegaard] dropped his pace, I could come back," Evenepoel told Sporza while he waited to receive his latest white jersey of Best Young Rider classification leader, which he now leads by a considerable margin of over six minutes on Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Rodriguez).
"But afterwards, I chose to go at my own pace and not risk going over the limit. It was only when Tadej attacked that the time gaps really opened up,” he said, with Evenepoel finishing 2:51 down on Pogačar and 1:43 down on Vingegaard.
Evenepoel remained upbeat but cautious about his chances of staying on the provisional Tour de France podium, saying simply “It’s all about keeping your feet on the ground and keeping working.”
"I think I did well. Twice third in the Pyrenees - that's certainly not a bad result."
“Right now Remco is only losing to two former Tour de France winners in what is his first-ever Tour participation, so he's doing well," Soudal-QuickStep director Tom Steels added.
"There’'s still a week to go, of course, but I think if he can stay healthy, we are very close to getting on the podium.”
