Evenepoel's effort was marked by the fall within the first seconds of racing. It was a visibly frustrating moment for the
Soudal - Quick-Step rider who was the main favourite to win on the day. Still, even with his best performance and on an even field, he did not have better legs than Primoz Roglic on the day, who took 11 seconds out of the time-trial World Champion despite himself missing the final corner. Evenepoel rode to fourth on the hilly TT also behind Jay Vine and Mattias Skjelmose, but gained 4 seconds on the unscathed Vingegaard and 5 on Juan Ayuso who won the Tirreno-Adriatico time-trial.
“I looked at it: I stand still for 13 seconds and before you get back up to speed, you have lost 20 seconds. That's the difference between profit and loss. A win would have been possible, but that's easy to say in retrospect," he says. "I shouldn't have fallen if I wanted to win. In general I am very satisfied with the feeling. I could have dropped my head and I could have lost a minute, but I overtake Sepp Kuss and I ride a good time trial. On to tomorrow.”