"Maybe I got off Mathieu's wheel too early, unlike Pogacar and Vingegaard" - Remco Evenepoel's error on opening Dauphine sprint

Remco Evenepoel has shown a great performance on the opening day of the Criterium du Dauphiné and was able to match his closest rivals Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. The Olympic Champion shared his throughts after the explosive stage.

The Belgian was the rider who perhaps put on the most impressive ride in the final kilometers, bridging to the leading group of four (Pogacar, Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel and Santiago Buitrago) by himself on a flat road, and then also contributing meaningfully for the group's success.

"We had a good feeling. I was surprised that in the end we fought among the favorites for the stage victory. But that's modern cycling. You never know what can happen in a finish like the one we had today," the Soudal - Quick-Step leader began.

"It was very special and nice to be able to be with the four of them. In the end, these are positive signs". In the end he ultimately lost time - through bonus seconds - to Pogacar and Vingegaard, and ultimately didn't manage to take benefit from his ride.

After a very hard stage, none of the 5 riders was at 100%, and the placement of the sprint was key to decide the outcome. To conclude his statements, Remco Evenepoel explained that perhaps he got off Mathieu van der Poel's wheel too early, as well as suffering the consequences of the headwind:

"The normal thing is that Van der Poel launched the sprint as he was the fastest of the five. He did it 250 meters from the finish. There was a headwind, which made it very difficult to maintain speed against them. Maybe I got off Mathieu's wheel too early, unlike Pogacar and Vingegaard," Evenepoel concluded. However, the Belgian has shown great signs ahead of the time-trial that should create the first important differences in the GC.