This is how tough today’s #TDF2024 stage was 🥵 Photo: @BeelWout
“Today Tadej and Jonas showed that they are the two best riders here and Tadej is even better" - Remco Evenepoel proves himself best of the rest at 2024 Tour de France
CyclingSunday, 14 July 2024 at 18:41
Remco Evenepoel continues to prove himself as the best of the rest at the 2024 Tour de France. Whilst a little way off Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, the Belgian has amassed a comfortable advantage in the fight for the final spot on the podium.
“Today Tadej and Jonas showed that they are the two best riders here. Tadej is even better, he is on another planet," assessed the Soudal - Quick-Step leader in his post-stage interview, having crossed the line third on the stage, 2:51 down on Pogacar and as such now sits 5:19 off the pace in the general classification.
"I think Team Visma | Lease a Bike understood that he is unbeatable, but they still wanted to try. It wasn't a bad choice, but I don’t think it could have worked," continues Evenepoel, analysing the tactics of Vingegaard's team, having rode hard at the front of the peloton throughout the day. "For my part, I felt that I didn't have enough explosiveness in my legs to stay with them. I tried to follow Jonas a little, but he kept a very high pace. So then I chose to concentrate on the gaps with the riders behind me, Carlos Rodriguez then the others."
As an added bonus for Evenepoel and Soudal - Quick-Step, the closest man to the top 3 on the stage was actually Mikel Landa, who continues to impress since his off-season transfer to Patrick Lefevere's team. "I saw that my teammate Mikel Landa had a very good stage too, so we can be happy with this week," Evenepoel concludes. "Tadej is having a perfect year and he has reached his peak level. As far as I’m concerned, it’s my first Tour de France and I’m still here to learn, I still have time to progress.”
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