"I hope that the team is a bit better in the Tour" - Patrick Lefevere worries about how exposed Remco Evenepoel was in Dauphiné mountains

Patrick Lefevere, in his weekly Het Nieuwsblad column, has talked about the direct events of the previous day. On stage 6 of the Criterium du Dauphiné, Remco Evenepoel was in the yellow jersey but completely isolated in the key moments of the race against Visma and UAE.

“I partly expected that Remco would not be able to compete with the superior force in the first mountain stage of the Dauphiné. He did say that the crash was not that bad, but images surfaced a day later and it looked pretty serious," the former Soudal - Quick-Step manager said. 

Whilst it was not a critical situation, the Giro d'Italia's queen stage for example was a firm reminder of how important depth can be in the big stage-races. "He also had no teammates with him quite quickly, but I don’t think that would have made a difference. I hope that the team is a bit better in the Tour.”

With Mikel Landa sidelined and Louis Vervaeke uncertain for the Grand Boucle, even with the addition of Valentin Paret-Peintre the team is going to be a few steps below the rival teams. Visma and UAE directly clashed whilst the yellow jersey was alone quite a lot. Although Evenepoel isn't expected to win the Tour, if he found himself in a position to do so, this would be a huge vulnerability.

“Guys like Schachmann and Paret-Peintre will improve, they have come a long way. The epilepsy is right in the team. It doesn’t stop, with Louis Vervaeke dropping out now. But there are still more than three weeks before the Tour, right? We can still make adjustments where necessary, also with Remco," the veteran concluded. In the meantime Ilan van Wilder will be leading the team at the Tour de Suisse, and can later on provide more firepower for the Belgian team.