Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) announced himself fully at the Tour de France as he seared to a maiden stage win on debut at cycling’s biggest race in the stage 7 time trial, outpowering race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) despite thinking he had suffered a late puncture.
The Belgian ‘aero bullet’ attacked every inch of the 25.3km route from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin as the Tour headed through the stunning Burgundy vineyards, beating Pogačar in second by only 12 seconds.
Evenepoel led by 10 seconds from Pogačar and 23 from Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the top of the only hill roughly halfway through the course, extending his lead on the winners of the past four Tour on descent and flat run-in by two seconds and 14 seconds respectively.
While he wasn’t in his ITT World Champion’s jersey as the leader of the young rider’s classification, the rainbow accents were all over his kit and bike as he ripped through the course, proving he is every bit the best time trialist in the world.
Primož Roglič took a solid third, 34 seconds down on the Belgian as the GC battle reignited towards the end of the first week, with the overall contenders beating the time trial specialists on the incredibly quick course. Vingegaard dropped to fourth on the stage once he crossed the line after being ahead of former teammate Roglič for much of his effort.
There was no change to position in the top three overall between Pogačar, Evenepoel and Vingegaard, but the Belgian got closer to the lead and the Dane further from yellow. Roglič Also moved up to fourth thanks to his efforts.
“Crazy. I was on a good day but the climb was actually pretty tough because of course I wanted to start fast and I had to keep something for the climb which wasn’t easy. Then the descent, when you’re on the limit was pretty technical and fast. But I enjoyed every metre of this TT and coming out with the win is simply amazing. Super happy,” said Evenepoel, before explaining why he thought he had punctured in the final few kilometres.
“I was pretty sure I had a puncture actually. I was a bit scared but after a few hundred metres further in the TT I knew nothing was wrong. Then I had to keep going.
"In the end, I just had to take risks because I knew Tadej was pretty close to me. Like I said yesterday, Tadej can also do really good TTs, especially in Grand Tours, so it was a close one but I just wanted to win today and that’s accomplished so very proud.”
Evenepoel moved closer to Pogačr on GC and now sits just 33 seconds away from the two-time winner going into stage 8. But he stayed with what he said before the Tour, conceding that the Slovenian may be “unreachable”.
“We weren't really thinking about the time gaps in the GC. We just want to take a stage win that is done. So perfect day for me and my team, took some time on the others so mission accomplished and now we have to focus on tomorrow and on Sunday, of course,” he said.
How it unfolded
Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) got proceedings underway on stage 7 as the current Lanterne Rouge, last place overall in the Tour, rolling off the ramp in Nuits-Saint-Georges just after 13:00 local time in the Côte-d'Or department, well into Burgundy wine country.
With many of the first few riders being sprinters, stage 7 didn’t get a proper benchmark until Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) got started with intent. He railed his TT bike through the opening technical corners and was immediately well up at the first time check in Messanges.
He knocked Luke Durbridge (Jayco AlUla) off the hotseat soon after the Australian had claimed ownership of it with a solid effort, with Bissegger setting a time of 30:06 as the first to average over 50 kph average speed.
It looked like a time that might stand until the other TT specialists got going over an hour later, but behind there was a Frenchman flying up the road on a rare rim brake setup no less, Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
The stage 2 winner had bested Bissegger’s time at the second time check atop the climb to Curley and held his lead all the way to the line, setting a new best time of 29:44 at the line in Gevrey-Chambertin despite losing time to the Swiss rider in the final 5.4km.
But Vauquelin could not sit comfortably as he got into the hotseat, with specialists Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) all getting underway in a 27-minute block after him.
Campenaerts was the first to arrive at the finish, and the drama came immediately, with the former hour record holder narrowly beating the Frenchman’s benchmark by a whisker, only managing a gap of less than a second to take the lead.
Küng then should have gone even faster but crossed the line with a time eight seconds slower than the Belgian after a dropped chain forced him to restring his chain while on the bike. This lost him around 30 seconds after going through the Messanges time check with a 12-second lead on everyone and ended another Tour time trial with disappointment for Küng.
Van Aert didn’t threaten his compatriot’s lead when he crossed the line 59 seconds down, with him showing more good signs of recovery from his crash in March while still not being back to his best.
The next wave of challengers saw French national champion in the discipline Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) unable to upset the time of Campenaerts. By contrast, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) was lighting up the road behind him and went quickest at the second time check by 2 seconds from Vauquelin.
However, when the terrain stopped going uphill and Healy got onto the downhill and flat run for the line, he lost time quickly to the bigger riders and finished seven seconds down.
With the final 25 riders getting underway, those vying for the GC got their efforts going and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease) was the first to impress, setting the third best time at the first time check.
Roglič, Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Pogačar all got going at two-minute intervals and it was an aggressive start for all four, all going into the green compared to Campenaerts’ benchmark time.
The best time at the first time check was taken by Roglič, only for his former teammate Vingegaard to overtake him by nine seconds when he passed the point. But Evenepoel began a supersonic pace and bettered even the Dane’s time by another 11 seconds, with Pogačar looking equally as impressive only three seconds off the world champ.
Roglič had lost more time at the top of the hill in Curley, now 15 seconds back on Vingegaard. As was the way at T1, Evenepoel then came over the timing point an incredible 23 seconds faster than the defending Tour de France champion, with Pogačar only 10 seconds back on the leader.
Once the finish came, Campenaerts was unseated by Roglič for the lead, with what was a strong time of 29:26. Vingegaard came through a few minutes later but he hadn’t been able to hold onto his lead on the Slovenian, with a time three seconds slower.
Evenepoel thought he had been the victim of the most untimely late puncture as he jumped his bike on the road searching for an issue. But thankfully, it was just something he heard on the road and he was able to continue on and take his first Tour victory.
Pogačar looked as though he was closing as he reduced the gap from intermediate time check two by four seconds when he reached the third time check in Morey-Saint-Denis. However, he simply couldn’t match the power of the World Champion and came across the line in a brilliant, but not good enough for the win, time of 29:04.
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