“Remco Evenepoel has become much tougher mentally” – Belgian survives Vingegaard pressure to threaten five-year Pogacar-Vingegaard Tour de France top-two monopoly

Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard have occupied the top two positions at every Tour de France since 2021, but Remco Evenepoel’s recovery at Le Lioran has placed that five-year sequence under genuine threat.

Evenepoel briefly lost contact with the main chasing group on Stage 10 before fighting his way back and attacking inside the final kilometre. He finished second behind Pogacar and gained 18 seconds, including bonuses, on Vingegaard.

Former professional and NOS analyst Stef Clement assessed the exchange on the NOS Wielerpodcast.

“To come back like that and then dare to attack in the final kilometre bodes well for the coming weeks,” Clement said. “Evenepoel has certainly learned a lot over the past few years because he has become much tougher mentally.”

Pogacar and Vingegaard first finished together at the top of the Tour standings in 2021, when the Slovenian claimed his second yellow jersey and Vingegaard emerged as his closest challenger.

Vingegaard reversed the order in 2022 and successfully defended his title ahead of Pogacar in 2023. Pogacar reclaimed the Tour in 2024 and repeated the victory in 2025, with Vingegaard second on both occasions.

No other rider has broken into that top-two pairing across the past five editions. Evenepoel finished third on his Tour debut in 2024, but ended the race more than three minutes behind Vingegaard and over nine minutes behind Pogacar.

Pogacar has opened another commanding advantage in 2026, reaching Stage 11 with 3:36 over Vingegaard. Evenepoel sits another 30 seconds behind the Dane after his second place at Le Lioran.

Pogacar attacked on the Col de Pertus with approximately 15.5 kilometres remaining. Nobody immediately attempted to follow, with Vingegaard instead relying on the prospect of an organised chase across the descent and final climb.

That cooperation never properly developed. Evenepoel briefly slipped around eight seconds behind the Vingegaard group on terrain which appeared well suited to him, but stabilised the gap rather than disappearing completely. “Evenepoel had a brief bad moment, but then remained steadily at eight seconds,” Clement explained. “At that point, Vingegaard thought he had to finish Evenepoel off, but he didn’t manage it. That was a victory for Evenepoel.”

Vingegaard carried much of the pursuit of Pogacar while several podium contenders remained on his wheel. Evenepoel gradually returned before accelerating away from the group on the approach to the finish.

He crossed the line 32 seconds behind Pogacar, with Paul Seixas third at 34 seconds. Vingegaard finished seventh at 44 seconds after leading much of the chase, reducing his advantage over Evenepoel from 48 to 30 seconds.

Isaac del Toro, who began Stage 10 third overall, lost 1:31 and dropped to seventh. Several other UAE Team Emirates – XRG riders were also distanced from the reduced group before the decisive phase.

“It gives that group hope that they might get a little more freedom and not spend the entire day in UAE’s stranglehold,” Clement said. “The day before the rest day, one team appeared to stand head and shoulders above everybody else, but apart from Tim Wellens and Pogacar himself, the rest looked quite vulnerable on the stage to Le Lioran. Cracks appeared in the fortress.”

Vingegaard began Stage 11 with only 30 seconds separating him from Evenepoel. Juan Ayuso, Paul Seixas and Florian Lipowitz were all within 1:08 of second place, leaving five riders in range of the position Pogacar and Vingegaard have exchanged exclusively since 2021.