Remco Evenepoel was true to his word in Rouen on Tuesday evening as he snatched back crucial time in the fight for the yellow jersey at the Tour de France with individual time trial victory in Caen.
The Belgian has faced a tough opening few days to the race, losing time in the first few stages as speculation around his long term future continues to swirl, but he bounced back emphatically in Normandy to win the stage and move up to second behind the new race leader, Tadej Pogačar.
"I don't think that this win is something that I needed for the next weeks but I think it is something that is nice after last Saturday with the bad start we had for Tim and myself. I think today I was just motivated to prove to the team and I wanted to give something back for the next weeks. To take a stage win earlier in the Tour takes away the pressure and it is motivating, of course."
Pogačar now leads the race by 42 seconds ahead of Evenepoel, with Jonas Vingegaard already languishing in fourth, 1:13 down on the Slovenian. Speaking post-race, Visma said the Dane's poor performance came down to a lack of power, nothing more. Evenepoel was matter of fact in his assessment of his rival's performance stating that he felt it was "logical" that Vingegaard would struggle on the course around Caen.
"I think Jonas' sports director already gave a correct analysis," he said. "He is the lightest of the three of us if I talk about myself, Jonas and Tadej, and in absolute power he had disadvantage on this course with headwind and tailwind."
"I don't know if he will take it as a big loss or not – Jonas is mentally strong enough to take things like this. He already had an advantage over me before the TT so that will ease the pain a bit," Evenepoel added. "In terms of Tadej, his TTs at the Tour are always more than in other races, so it is not surprising. I was maybe expecting more of an advantage on him but on the moments he has to perform he does, this shows why he is the best rider in the world and the guy to beat in this Tour de France again."
One thing is now already certain as the end of the first week of the Tour approaches: Pogačar is in control and the Slovenian will have two opportunities in as many days to go on the attack, at Vieux Normandie and the Mûr-de-Bretagne on Thursday and Friday. Evenepoel surmised that he felt it was almost inevitable that the Slovenian would go on the offensive yet again.
"Tomorrow and the next day are two tough stages with two uphill punchy finishes so I'm not really sure he has the opportunity to give yellow away," he said of the new race leader. "I don't know if he has that mindset so I guess he will ride his own race and try to keep it."
