Remco Evenepoel suffers on at the Tour of Britain: "A real shock for the body"

Remco Evenepoel was the big star at the start of the Tour of Britain but in terms of racing, he has been fading throughout the hilly days where he was expected to thrive. It was clear that he did not come with his best form, but the Olympic Champion has been struggling a lot with the cold temperatures in Great Britain.

"I really suffered from the cold. After spending a month in Spain with temperatures around forty degrees, finding myself here with ten degrees and rain was a real shock for the body," Evenepoel said in an interview following stage 3.

After a successful Tour de France debut where he finished on the final podium and won a stage, the Belgian showed his best form once again at the Olympics where he won both time-trial and road race events in style. It was absolute success, and he took a much deserved break after the triumphs.

Now, eyeing the World Championships, the Soudal - Quick-Step rider has started the British race in order to improve his form. He assisted Paul Magnier to victory on the first day and was then fifth on stage 2; but yesterday into Barnsley he struggled with the temperatures and was dropped with around 20 kilometers to go. At the end of the day he lost over 2 minutes in an unusual display of difficulty, and has dropped out of GC contention virtually, with three flat stages remaining.