"The best man for me was Remco Evenepoel" - Jose de Cauwer impressed by Soudal - Quick-Step leader despite time loss on stage 6 of Paris-Nice

In a thrilling stage 6 at Paris-Nice 2024, the general classification fight was turned on its head prior to a big weekend of climbing. Despite Mattias Skjelmose taking the stage and Brandon McNulty moving into the Maillot Jaune, it was Remco Evenepoel's performance that stood out to Sporza analyst Jose de Cauwer.

"It was certainly a nice stage, which gave me what I expected. Primoz Roglic opened the battle on those steep parts and Remco Evenepoel completely missed it," begins the vastly experienced Belgian's post-stage analysis. "Evenepoel was also paying the price of being alone without a teammate. He may have thought that Roglic was stronger and when a duo like McNulty and Jorgenson come together, it is deadly."

In his own post-stage interview, Evenepoel called the incident a 'tactical error', something de Cauwer agrees with. "In retrospect, yes. It was only 10 seconds on Jorgenson, but do you have to go yourself?" the analyst questions. "For a long time it seemed as if they were still going to ride there. McNulty and Skjelmose took advantage of that."

"They were both good, otherwise you wouldn't be standing there after such a ride. But for me the best man today was Remco. Because he also did most of the work," de Cauwer continues. "Evenepoel checked Roglic and takes whoever can along at his own pace. Then it falls silent and they come from behind. If a Buitrago had gone there, he might have gone along. Now you thought: someone else will go."

As mentioned though, a mountainous weekend of climbing means it's still all to play for in the general classification with Evenepoel still just 1:03 down. "Will we see a final climb where we ride at full speed and then it turns out that Brandon McNulty or others have to come off? That could be possible. And will Matteo Jorgenson survive on that steady climb of 15 km? What we saw today is something different," previews de Cauwer of Saturday's stage 7.

With bad weather also causing a change to the stage, fireworks could start early. "That could be to the advantage of the young men such as Jorgenson or Evenepoel. Rather than for Roglic, who has to rely on the longer rides. If he is already good enough at the moment," de Cauwer concludes. "The final climb is 15 km of climbing, I don't think anyone has done that yet this year. That's half an hour's ride uphill."