Our rider animated the final Tour of Norway stage, getting caught only inside the last 15 kilometers.
For the second consecutive day, Remco Evenepoel took the bull by the horns and went on the attack at the Scandinavian race, bringing a high degree of spectacle to stage six which took the peloton from Gran to Hønefoss. Initially, the Belgian wasn’t part of the original move, but he surged clear from the bunch with 140 kilometers to go and put in an explosive effort that saw him scratch off the three-minute deficit with relative ease in just 20 kilometers.
As soon as he joined the group, the 19-year-old from Aalst took over the reins and delivered some impressive pulls at the front of the eight-man group, helping the escapees’ gap soar to four minutes. Not content with the breakaway, the pack reacted and several teams joined hands to bring chew into their advantage, which was reduced to 20 seconds on the Sme den climb (4.1km, 4%).
Five kilometers from the top, Remco got out of the saddle and accelerated again, but despite his never-say-die attitude, the peloton reabsorbed him, before nullifying some late attacks and getting prepared for a reduced bunch sprint. Yves Lampaert got involved there and took sixth at the final stage of the race, from where Deceuninck – Quick-Step leaves with a victory and five other top 10 placings, three of which were netted by the reigning Belgian Champion.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen/ Getty Images
