“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>
Remco Evenepoel had to dig very, very deep to keep his Tour de France podium hopes alive on Thursday.
The Olympic and world TT champion had to use all that time trial power, as well as his related strength of mind, to endure what was a horrendous first day in the high mountains.
The Belgian’s greatly disrupted season appeared to bite hard, with his lack of a solid base following his bad crash last December clearly a factor in his unexpected slump.
“I didn’t have the best feeling from the very start of the race. Even on the flat sections, my legs felt heavy,” the Soudal Quick-Step rider said after the stage.
The effects of that were seen on the Col du Soulor, a full 54km from the finish.
Toiling in the heat and with the gradients of the climb, Evenepoel slipped to the back of the GC group, lost contact, and slipped to over one minute down.
It was a disaster in the making for last year’s podium finisher, but somehow he turned it around.
“The pace was hard the entire day and I lost contact with the others, but I was lucky to have Ilan by my side and he was of great help,” he said.
Teammate Ilan Van Wilder joined forces with his stricken team leader, helping him to recover somewhat and to cross the summit 45 seconds down.
Also assisting was Max Schachmann, who had made it into the day’s break but who dropped back to help him chase.
Their combined efforts saw Evenepoel gradually recover. He went over the Col des Bordères 25 seconds back, then regained contact with the GC group of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and others on the downhill with just over 30km to go.
“It was hard and I suffered, but I gave my best, kept fighting and clawed my way back to the front,” he said.
‘My secret for fighting through’
Evenepoel gave his all to fight back from an early time loss (Photo: Gruber Images)
There are countless examples in history of riders having bad days in grand tours but still going on to achieve big results. Indeed Greg LeMond and others have said that there is always ‘un jour sans’ [a day without] in a three week race, and that it is important to push through.
Evenepoel said he drew on such advice to keep his morale up when his chances were slipping down.
“I always had wise words from guys like Froome and Contador [in mind],” he explained.
“They say if you have a bad day, just try to fight your way through and try to limit the time loss. And that’s what I had in my mind all day. Just keep fighting, keep pushing, and at the end of the day, we will see what the result will be.
“I think that was my secret for fighting my way through.”
Also helping: thoughts of the sacrifices he and his wife Oumi have made, as well as his determination not to let his team down.
Evenepoel started the concluding climb of the Hautacam with the other GC contenders but with Tadej Pogačar attacking early on and things splintering apart, he faltered once again soon after the start of that ascent.
He battled to the summit and while he conceded 3:35 to Pogačar, he lost only 1:25 to stage runner-up Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
His defiance proved important; on what could have been a disastrous day he saved his third place overall, and also inherited the lead in the best young rider classification from the dropped race leader Ben Healy.
Those are two takeaways from the stage that few would have bet on when he first got into difficulty.
Has Pogačar won? ‘It’s not finished yet’
Evenepoel had a draining day but was still smiling at the end (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Having had such a difficult day on the first stage in the high mountains, it would be easy for Evenepoel to feel down heading towards stage 13.
However, in what may be a stroke of luck, that stage is the mountain time trial to Peyragudes.
The discipline is Evenepoel’s specialty and, inspired by his Olympic title plus his rainbow jersey as world TT champion, he will summon his mental strength and go all out on Friday.
“I hope to put these bad feelings behind me and do a good time trial, as it’s going to be an important day for the general classification.”
That GC battle is becoming a very interesting one. Pogačar’s decisive win clearly puts him in a very strong position but, as Evenepoel emphasizes, there is still a long way to go to Paris. Anything can happen, particularly in a race like the Tour.
“It’s not finished yet. He went down yesterday,” he said, referencing Pogačar’s fall on stage 10.
“I mean, I don’t want to anybody to crash, of course, but the Tour is about sitting on the bike and arriving in Paris. So it’s still one and a half weeks to get there. But I think he made a big step forward.”
Evenepoel is now 4:45 behind his big rival, and 1:14 off the time of Vingegaard. He’d love to get closer to them, of course, but will also have his eyes on those immediately behind him. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is 49 seconds behind him, with Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) a further six seconds down.
Oscar Onley is also close in the battle for the third slot on the podium and the white jersey. Like the other two riders he also raced in ahead of Evenepoel on Thursday, and is just 1:20 off.
There’s plenty to race for in the next two mountain stages and beyond.
Questioning the tactics of Visma-Lease a Bike
Visma-Lease a Bike did a huge amount of work but things didn’t go as planned (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Being able to mentally reset after such a tough day is vital to Evenepoel’s chances. He already seemed upbeat on Thursday, a contrast with Vingegaard’s air of disappointment.
Evenepoel didn’t refer directly to the Dane’s squad but appeared to fault the tactics of Visma-Lease a Bike. The Dutch squad hammered the pace, trying to soften Pogačar up, but instead cracked their second-best GC rider Matteo Jorgenson and essentially paved the way for the world champion’s attack.
“Some teams rode today as if they were there to support him and UAE, which is not the right way to do things,” Evenepoel said pointedly.
“The mentality needs to change, especially when the yellow jersey is already so far ahead.”
Also see:
Here’s how the Tour’s first day in the high mountains played out
velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-ra…