"It’s a key moment in my career" - Remco Evenepoel matches Jonas Vingegaard on stage 19 of Tour de France all but confirming place on final podium

Whilst Tadej Pogacar again stole the show on stage 19 of the 2024 Tour de France, leaving all rivals in his wake en route to a 4th stage win of the race and 10th Grand Tour victory of the year, a little further down the road, Remco Evenepoel was again proving to be every bit Jonas Vingegaard's equal in the third week.

“Tadej was once again above everyone else today. Already when he started to raise the pace, he put everyone on the limit and he hadn't even attacked yet," admitted Evenepoel in his post-stage interview. "Then I couldn't follow him and I set my own pace and as I saw that it was almost the same as Jonas'."

Whilst Evenepoel and Vingegaard are in their own battle for 2nd place, the Belgian actually attempted to try and get the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader working with him on the final climb to limit the losses. "I waited for him so that we could ride together, but I lacked a bit of cooperation," he explains. "I tried my luck to see if I could get it, but it didn't work."

"But for me it’s another good day, I increased my advantage over Almeida. I performed well on this difficult stage with such high climbs. It’s a key moment in my career, because I’ve reassured myself about my abilities. Now I know in which direction I want to go, I know that I still have room to improve," the Belgian concludes with optimism. "Tomorrow we will have to stay focused, not make any stupid mistakes that could cause me to lose time. I will just ride for the podium. Then on Sunday, I will give my all to win the stage,” he concludes, referring to the race closing individual time-trial, a discipline which has already brought the world champion joy this race.