Remco Evenepoel‘s commanding victory in the time trial on stage 16 of the Tour de France was the his second stage win on the bounce, confirming his status as the best rider at the race not called Tadej Pogačar.
Despite taking 28 seconds off the race leader on the 26.1km course between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains, Evenepoel effectively acknowledged that, bar a major mishap, the Slovenian UAE Team Emirates XRG rider had an unassailable lead in the general classification.
While he might not be aiming for yellow any more, Evenepoel has now won two stages back-to-back, after his victory on the Plateau du Solaison on Sunday’s stage 15. The world time trial champion has also won a time trial at the Tour in three consecutive editions.
“Today was another planet,” he said in his winner’s press conference. “Now I’m focused on the second place overall, and I will do everything to defend it. That’s my goal.”
Today showed that mishaps are never too far away in elite bike racing. It was a “bittersweet” day for Evenepoel and the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team, after Florian Lipowitz dramatically crashed and was forced to abandon the race with a broken collarbone, having started the day in fifth place in the GC.
Despite coming second today, however, Pogačar has never looked like slipping since he donned the yellow jersey. But, even while conceding that he would have to settle for second, Evenepoel was adamant that the Slovenian’s dominance of the sport is not making the Tour dull.
“I don’t see it as boring,” he said. “I see it as being super impressive. The performances that he’s putting out… I’m looking up to that, you know. I try to learn from that and I try to reach that level as well… I mean, he’s a superstar.
“He’s the best rider ever. So I don’t think people should consider it as boring. For us, it’s a challenge. It’s a big honour to race against a champion like that. It’s exciting to see it from very close by.
“You should not forget, we are witnessing history. Maybe he’s going for a fifth Tour de France, which is going to be equal to the record. So, you should not consider that as boring at all.”
