"I am curious how he will digest the efforts of the last few days" - Adrie van der Poel still has question marks about Remco Evenepoel

Belgium may have its first rider on the podium of Tour de France in 2024 since Jurgen Van den Broeck fourteen years ago. Remco Evenepoel is on course to finish third in Nice next Sunday. At this point only he himself can strip the Belgian off the nice result.

The 24-year-old Belgian has made a good impression so far. "I still have a question mark about him, a very small one," Adrie van der Poel begins in front of WielerFlits camera. "He makes a super good impression and he also completed a super time trial. On Friday he rode back to the first echelon with incredible ease. I think he is just very good. The only thing that holds me back a bit from putting him – and he is just below it, right – on par with Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, is because I am curious how he will digest the efforts of the last few days," he points out.

"He showed with his victory in the Vuelta a Espana 2022 that he is really capable of a lot," the 65-year-old Dutchman continues. "The Tour de France is just a little bit different, against slightly different riders. But he may pleasantly surprise me. That he looks calm? He is also a few years older now and has of course already experienced quite a lot. Remco has already built a brilliant career with fantastic victories. They say that wisdom comes with age, and perhaps that is true. The calmness he exudes is of course also because he rides well."

As we enter the second rest day, Remco Evenepoel's position in the GC seems rather comfortable. Tadej Pogacar is in a league of his own with more than 5 minutes of advantage, however the number two Jonas Vingegaard is still not that far - only two minutes ahead of the Belgian. In addition there's also no immediate threat to Remco's podium, as the group of riders from 4th to 6th (Joao Almeida, teammate Mikel Landa and Carlos Rodriguez) are even further from Evenepoel than the Belgian is from Pogacar.