"Nobody wanted to attack, except Remco. But he's kind of cursed" - Lennert Van Eetvelt gains significant time on stage 2 of Tour de Romandie 2025

Lennert Van Eetvelt has made big strides in the general classification at the 2025 Tour de Romandie on stage 2. Although the Lotto leader missed out on the stage win and the leader's jersey, he does still end the day more than 45 seconds up on Remco Evenepoel and Joao Almeida in the GC.

"Many riders struggled because of the heat. I did too. I really suffered today," began Van Eetvelt honestly in his post-stage interview with Eurosport after crossing the line in 4th, as Lorenzo Fortunato of the XDS Astana Team took the stage win and Alex Baudin of EF Education-EasyPost moved into the race lead. "I expected the race to be much harder on the final climb, but I think everyone was struggling."

That's not to say there wasn't any action on the final climb though. Notably, the aforementioned Evenepoel came to the fore although he had no joy in separating the GC group with his move. "Nobody wanted to attack, except Remco. But he's kind of cursed," Van Eetvelt explained. "Everyone knows how strong he is on the flat, so no one wants to go with him. I knew I had to be in a group ahead of him because if he was in it, there would be no cooperation. With some luck, I ended up in this group, but at the end, it was a game, and I lost."

Although probably the most renowned fast finisher in the five-man group that went to the line and also included Fortunato, Baudin, William Junior Lecerf and Juan Pedro Lopez, Van Eetvelt wasn't able to capitalise fully with a stage win. "It's always tough. You think about the overall standings, but you also want to win the stage. I expected Baudin to go when Fortunato attacked. That would have been great; I would’ve had a chance. But yeah, that didn’t happen, and in the end, I’m fourth," he reflects. "But I did gain a lot of time in the overall standings, so I’m happy with that."