Mikel Landa tightens grip on fifth overall after a day with more than 4000 vertical meters.
Remco Evenepoel made another step towards what would be a well-deserved top-three finish at his maiden Tour de France appearance, on a day that featured Col de Vars, Cime de la Bonette and Isola 2000. Soudal Quick-Step’s leader showcased once again his remarkable consistency, finishing in the first ten on the stage for the eighth time since the race got underway from Florence, almost three weeks ago.
Isola 2000, a 16.1km climb averaging 7.1%, which had been used as a Tour de France stage finish only once before Friday, at the 1993 edition of the race, was where the main attacks came at the end of this savage day in the Alps, and when the action began, both Remco Evenepoel and Mikel Landa responded present. The Basque did a superb job pacing his teammate on the steep part of the ascent, before Evenepoel surged in pursuit of lone leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) with only Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) on his wheel.
The 24-year-old Belgian taped out a strong rhythm as he went into time trial mode and sparing no effort, concluded the stage in fifth place. He was followed some twenty seconds later by Mikel, whose rock-solid performance Friday afternoon helped him extend the buffer he has over the next rider on the general classification to a full two minutes and consolidate his position in the top five overall.
“The pace today was hard from the beginning. On the final ascent, I tried to follow Tadej, but his tempo was too strong, so I rode for my place on the podium and gave everything out there, trying to go as fast as I could. We’ll see how things go tomorrow and what we can do, but what’s certain is that it’s going to be a tough stage”, said Remco about the last summit finish of the Grande Boucle, the Col de la Couillole.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
