"We'll see how he's ready for the next mountain stages" - Soudal - Quick-Step rally behind Remco Evenepoel ahead of Dauphine final weekend

Ahead of the final weekend at the 2025 Criterium du Dauphiné, Remco Evenepoel is sitting pretty in the Maillot Jaune, 4 second clear of second placed Florian Lipowitz, but perhaps more importantly, 16 seconds up on Jonas Vingegaard and 38 seconds ahead of Tadej Pogacar.

Having the race lead before the final weekend was also a position Evenepoel also held twelve months ago at the Criterium du Dauphine for those interested in parallels. Although things somewhat fell apart for Evenepoel afterwards last year however, ending the Dauphiné in 7th on GC 2:25 down on the race-winning Primoz Roglic, this time around, the Olympic champion and the entire Soudal - Quick-Step team are hopeful Evenepoel can show some stronger climbing legs as the race heads into the high mountains.

Despite being caught up in a crash towards the end of stage 5, Evenepoel is raring to go according to Soudal - Quick-Step DS Tom Steels. "Nothing special happened after the crash. It was a small crash, and he's okay. It was within five kilometres to go," explained Steels post-stage to TV2, noting how the holdup didn't cost Evenepoel any time on GC. "We'll see how he's ready for the next mountain stages, but I think he's okay."

"I've only heard from our soigneur that he's okay. It wasn't anything. They've checked him out, and I just think it was a small, clumsy crash at low speed – fortunately," added Dane Casper Pedersen.

As mentioned, all eyes are now on Friday's stage 6 as Evenepoel defends yellow in the high mountains. "The final climb is maybe twenty minutes of effort at most, which is nothing compared to what we'll have on Saturday," he previewed in his own post-stage interview. "In any case, there will certainly be a lot of riders trying to break away, so it will be very lively at the start. And then we'll see who's in great shape and who's not quite so good."