"They’re like aliens! There’s simply no contest between them and us" – Romain Gregoire stunned by 'monstrous' gaps between Pogacar, Evenepoel and the rest of the peloton

Romain Gregoire couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief at the scale of Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel’s dominance after Sunday’s European Championships road race, describing the two superstars as “like aliens” after finishing 10th, almost seven minutes down on the Slovenian winner.

The Frenchman, who was designated team leader by Thomas Voeckler for the race on home roads in the Ardeche, admitted there was little anyone could do once Pogacar ignited the race on the Saint-Romain-de-Lerps climb with 75 kilometres to go. From that point on, the field was shattered, and Gregoire – despite good legs and a resilient recovery from an earlier crash – was left to battle for the minor placings.

“I’m where I belong, really,” he said in quotes collected by DirectVelo afterwards. “On efforts like this, which are close to pure climbing, I can hold my own. But the gaps are just monstrous. There are aliens up front — Pogacar and Evenepoel — and there’s simply no contest between them and us. They’re like aliens, honestly. It’s another sport.”

Gregoire’s race was complicated by a fall on a downhill curve 120 kilometres from the finish, but thanks to the help of teammate Julien Bernard, he was able to rejoin the peloton without major consequence. “It didn’t change much in the end,” he reflected. “At the time it hurt a lot, but it was manageable once I got going again. It’ll probably feel worse later tonight.”

From there, the 22-year-old Groupama-FDJ rider rode consistently in the third chase group, alongside Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Nicolas Prodhomme and Pavel Sivakov. Despite their best efforts, they were never able to close the gap to Evenepoel and 19-year-old Paul Seixas, who fought for silver and bronze behind Pogacar’s solo rampage. Gregoire eventually outsprinted Italy’s Marco Frigo to claim 10th in Guilherand-Granges, 6:52 behind Pogacar and 6:21 off Evenepoel. “I had the form I wanted – almost 100% – but that’s still far from what’s required to compete in a race like this,” he admitted. “When you look at Pogacar and Evenepoel, they’re on another planet.”

Still, Gregoire was quick to take pride in the collective effort of the French squad, who placed three riders in the top 10 and five in the top 16. “We can be proud,” he said. “It was a solid race from us, and thanks to Paul Seixas’s bronze, we’re going home with a medal. It shows the strength of our group, even if we’re not at the level of the very best yet.”

The recently crowned Tour of Britain champion and recent double stage winner at the Tour de Luxembourg continues to show impressive consistency in 2025 – but on Sunday in Ardeche, even he had to concede that Pogacar and Evenepoel remain in a class of their own.