Could Remco Evenepoel be flying under the radar at 2025 Tour de France? "Vingegaard is focused solely on Pogacar"

With 10 stages down, the fight for the Maillot Jaune at the 2025 Tour de France is starting to heat up. Whilst Ben Healy enters the first rest day in the race lead, all eyes are on Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. However, with Remco Evenepoel actually the closest GC contender to the UAE leader, is the Belgian flying under the radar?

Reflecting on stage 10 and the first week as a whole, Sporza duo Renaat Schotte and Jose de Cauwer began by talking about the new Yellow Jersey Ben Healy. "He already surprised us with that stage win, which was remarkable, and now again, together with his teammates Sweeny and Baudin. They pulled off a coup, and it worked. It was brilliantly executed," De Cauwer analyses.

Both De Cauwer and Schotte see Healy as merely a placeholder though, not a serious threat for the win by the time we reach Paris. "That’ll be difficult. This was his moment, and he might hold on for another day, but once the real climbs arrive, he’ll have to sit up. Still, he’s had his day in the sun," De Cauwer explains. "He’s already burned too many matches. This isn’t riding for the overall — this is going all-in, using everything you’ve got. Successfully, I might add."

On stage 10, it was Team Visma | Lease a Bike doing much of the attacking at the front of the GC group. Pogacar however, proved more than a match. "In many ways, it felt like a one-day race, with Team Visma | Lease a Bike once again trying to apply their much-discussed fatigue strategy," Schotte notes, although De Cauwer wasn't impressed. "They seemed to hurt Vingegaard as much as they did Pogacar," he replies.

For all Visma's hard work over the first 10 stages, Vingegaard sits 1:17 down on Pogacar after 10 stages, and 17 seconds down on Evenepoel, with the Belgian analysts curious about how the leaders of Visma and UAE seemed relatively unbothered by their Soudal - Quick-Step rival, as seen by a complete lack of reaction when Evenepoel attempted to attack on the final climb.

"If you ask me, when I saw that Vingegaard could’ve dropped Evenepoel at the end — and didn’t — then either he didn’t dare, couldn’t, or simply didn’t care," De Cauwer explains. "Maybe he’s focused solely on Pogacar. Or maybe he noticed something we didn’t — sensed that Evenepoel was already struggling, so he didn't bother chasing him down. Perhaps he knew he’d come back on his own."

In the end, Evenepoel was gapped at the line, losing 6 seconds to Pogacar and Vingegaard. "He could’ve lost a lot more, let’s be honest. If Pogacar had really wanted to defend yellow, Remco would’ve lost half a minute — even with Vingegaard in tow," De Cauwer says. "But clearly, they weren’t concerned with the big mountains just yet. This was a transition stage, but it told us a few things."

"It’s still very much — more than ever, even — a battle for first and second. Who’s going to be third? In theory, that’s Remco Evenepoel. He already took a blow from Vingegaard in the time trial," De Cauwer concludes.