{"id":698929,"date":"2026-07-18T20:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T20:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/698929\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T20:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T20:26:10","slug":"i-have-to-be-honest-i-suffered-in-the-rain-today-remco-evenepoel-limits-the-damage-in-the-vosges-to-save-his-podium-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/698929\/","title":{"rendered":"“I have to be honest, I suffered in the rain today”: Remco Evenepoel limits the damage in the Vosges to save his podium spot"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThe Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe<\/a> rider admitted that the weather had a major impact on his performance. \u201cI have to be honest, I suffered in the rain today,\u201d Evenepoel told Sporza<\/a>. \u201cI was quite cold, but in the end I did my own thing on the final climb. It was just a little too fast for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of trying to respond to every attack, Evenepoel chose to ride at his own pace before launching a strong comeback after the summit. \u201cI think I still managed it quite well because I didn\u2019t lose much time,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt I rode a strong final kilometre, or final kilometre and a half.\u201d<\/p>\n

His pursuit was briefly disrupted when he became trapped behind two race vehicles. \u201cI was a little blocked between the Shimano car and the organisation car,\u201d he explained. \u201cI think they slowed me down a bit, but in the end I didn\u2019t lose much time to the riders I\u2019m fighting for the podium with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Remco<\/p>\n

Remco Evenepoel at the 2026 Tour de France team presentation<\/p>\n

Eyes on the next mountains and the time trial<\/p>\n

Evenepoel’s comeback accelerated once he caught teammate Florian Lipowitz, with the pair immediately working together after their much-discussed disagreement following the Tourmalet stage. \u201cWhen I got to Lipo, I shouted straight away that we had to work together as hard as possible towards the line,\u201d Evenepoel said. \u201cI think that worked well. We managed to limit the damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the difficult conditions, Evenepoel was encouraged by the outcome. \u201cConsidering the unusual weather conditions, I think we held up well. Tomorrow is another day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stage 15 presents a very different challenge, with no descent or flat section after the final climb, but Evenepoel believes the profile may actually suit him better.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a very different kind of stage,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are some shorter climbs, a lot of up and down, then two serious climbs and the final ascent. The last climb is around 40 minutes, or a little less, at a fairly constant eight or nine per cent. That should suit me. I also rode it a few times during a training camp, so I know what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Belgian also dismissed suggestions that he was already thinking about Tuesday’s individual time trial. \u201cI try to finish as quickly as possible every day,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t as though I was calculating on the final climb how much time I was prepared to lose. I was simply riding as hard as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking further ahead, he believes the Alpine stages could offer a different type of challenge than those in the Vosges. \u201cThey are long climbs and a little less explosive than what we have had here,\u201d he concluded. \u201cWe will take it day by day. I am still third overall, if I\u2019m not mistaken, so I have to be satisfied.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe rider admitted that the weather had a major impact on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,9046,20997,7133,101,8782,6549,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-698929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe","tag-remco-evenepoel","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tour-de-france","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}