"The dream of yellow is still possible" - Despite more time loss on stage 4 Remco Evenepoel heads to Tour de France TT with optimism

Before the start of the 2025 Tour de France, stage 5 was widely earmarked as the day for Remco Evenepoel to potentially take the Maillot Jaune. Given that the Belgian has already lost 58 seconds in the general classification however, the reality is that it may prove a much tougher task.

“It was twenty kilometres of constant twists and turns,” Evenepoel reflected in conversation with the Belgian media after 3 seconds at the line (before any time bonuses) to Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on stage 4. “It was really hectic, but things went well. The team was strong. Towards the end, I did start to feel the burn and it was painful, but overall I’m pleased with how I felt today.”

In terms of the GC, Mathieu van der Poel sits in the Maillot Jaune ahead of the time trial, level on time with Pogacar. As mentioned, Evenepoel will start the day 58 seconds down. Despite this big gap though, the Soudal - Quick-Step leader remains optimistic that his dream of donning the Yellow Jersey isn't out of reach just yet.

“I haven’t been able to recon the time trial course due to my injury, so several of those plans fell through. But Koen Pelgrim has a video of the route, and I’ll be studying it closely," previews the world, Olympic and Belgian time trial champion in conclusion. "That, plus an additional recon tomorrow. The gap to the yellow jersey is 58 seconds – so yes, the dream of yellow is still possible.”