Le Tour: Brilliant ride of Evenepoel in the Alps
![Le Tour: Brilliant ride of Evenepoel in the Alps](/images/news_article/c_c/800x400/soudal-quick-step-le-tour-stage-4_1719939087.jpg)
Remco Evenepoel produced a tremendous display on the first mountain stage of the race, which took the peloton from Pinerolo – the site of a legendary Fausto Coppi victory at the 1949 Giro d’Italia – to Valloire, on French soil. Sestrières, Col du Montgenèvre and the Galibier made for an important and early test that ended up shaking up the general classification.
Soudal Quick-Step showed an impressive collective strength on the ascents, keeping a number of riders around Remco Evenepoel, who was enjoying his second day in the white jersey. When the pace changed at the front on the slopes of the Galibier, the peloton was whittled down to around 15 men, including Remco and Mikel Landa, who continued to ride flawlessly and match the sustained pace despite the high altitude and strong headwind.
The first attack came one kilometer from the top, when Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) accelerated and opened a gap. Only Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) had the power to go after the Slovenian, cresting the summit just a few seconds behind. The roads were wet in the first part of the descent, and that slowed the Belgian a bit, who was caught by the chasing group and briefly dropped.
On the outskirts of Valloire, where the Tour returned after five years, Remco bridged across and took over the front, driving a high tempo under the flamme rouge and then accelerating in sight of the finish line to take runner-up after outsprinting his opponents and score his first ever podium at the race. It was a confidence-boosting result for Evenepoel, who jumped to second overall and strengthened his grip on the white jersey. The Belgian is joined in the top ten by his teammate Mikel Landa, whose solid ride helped him make a huge jump in the rankings, up to seventh.
“I am satisfied with my day. It was the first mountain stage of the race, we went to high altitude and had a lot of meters of climbing. The team did a great job, we were up there and can be content with the way we rode. When the attacks came on the steepest part of the Galibier, I did my best to limit the losses, and on the descent, I tried to come back, but the roads were a bit sketchy and I lost some time there. Despite this, I continued to fight and I’m quite happy with my second place on the stage. It’s a good result for the morale and we’ll look to build on this”, said Evenepoel after what was one of his most impressive displays in the mountains.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
Race details
1 |
Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates |
3:46:38 |
2 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:35 |
3 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
0:35 |
4 |
Primož Roglič Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe |
0:35 |
5 |
Jonas Vingegaard Hansen Team Visma | Lease a Bike |
0:37 |
6 |
Carlos Rodríguez Cano INEOS Grenadiers |
0:37 |
7 |
Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:53 |
8 |
João Almeida UAE Team Emirates |
0:53 |
9 |
Giulio Ciccone Lidl - Trek |
2:41 |
10 |
Santiago Buitrago Sánchez Bahrain - Victorious |
2:41 |
18 |
Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step |
4:01 |
29 |
Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step |
4:07 |
41 |
Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step |
8:32 |
75 |
Gianni Moscon
Soudal Quick-Step |
15:25 |
134 |
Yves Lampaert
Soudal Quick-Step |
31:20 |
DNS |
Casper Pedersen
Soudal Quick-Step |
-03:46:38 |
1 |
Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates |
19:06:38 |
2 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:45 |
3 |
Jonas Vingegaard Hansen Team Visma | Lease a Bike |
0:50 |
4 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
1:10 |
5 |
Primož Roglič Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe |
1:14 |
6 |
Carlos Rodríguez Cano INEOS Grenadiers |
1:16 |
7 |
Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step |
1:32 |
8 |
João Almeida UAE Team Emirates |
1:32 |
9 |
Giulio Ciccone Lidl - Trek |
3:20 |
10 |
Egan Bernal Gómez INEOS Grenadiers |
3:21 |
26 |
Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step |
5:41 |
50 |
Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step |
26:32 |
82 |
Gianni Moscon
Soudal Quick-Step |
50:14 |
93 |
Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step |
56:54 |
143 |
Yves Lampaert
Soudal Quick-Step |
1:19:53 |
1 |
Jonas Abrahamsen Uno-X Mobility |
87 pt |
2 |
Biniam Girmay Hailu Intermarché - Wanty |
83 pt |
3 |
Mads Pedersen Lidl - Trek |
79 pt |
4 |
Kévin Vauquelin |
60 pt |
5 |
Bryan Coquard Cofidis |
45 pt |
6 |
Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates |
42 pt |
7 |
Fernando Gaviria Rendon Movistar Team |
41 pt |
8 |
Jasper Philipsen Alpecin - Deceuninck |
38 pt |
9 |
Quentin Pacher Groupama - FDJ |
35 pt |
10 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step |
33 pt |
42 |
Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step |
9 pt |
49 |
Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step |
8 pt |
62 |
Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step |
4 pt |
1 |
Jonas Abrahamsen Uno-X Mobility |
24 pt |
2 |
Tadej Pogačar UAE Team Emirates |
20 pt |
3 |
Valentin Madouas Groupama - FDJ |
16 pt |
4 |
Jonas Vingegaard Hansen Team Visma | Lease a Bike |
15 pt |
5 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step |
12 pt |
6 |
Stephen Williams Israel - Premier Tech |
10 pt |
7 |
Carlos Rodríguez Cano INEOS Grenadiers |
10 pt |
8 |
Frank van den Broek Team dsm-firmenich PostNL |
9 pt |
9 |
Ion Izagirre Insausti Cofidis |
8 pt |
10 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
8 pt |
13 |
Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step |
4 pt |
1 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step |
19:07:23 |
2 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
0:25 |
3 |
Carlos Rodríguez Cano INEOS Grenadiers |
0:31 |
4 |
Matteo Jorgenson Team Visma | Lease a Bike |
2:36 |
5 |
Santiago Buitrago Sánchez Bahrain - Victorious |
3:25 |
6 |
Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step |
4:56 |
7 |
Ben Healy EF Education - EasyPost |
7:27 |
8 |
Javier Romo Movistar Team |
8:15 |
9 |
Thomas Pidcock INEOS Grenadiers |
11:38 |
10 |
Oscar Onley Team dsm-firmenich PostNL |
11:57 |
1 | UAE Team Emirates | 57:22:58 |
2 | INEOS Grenadiers | 4:54 |
3 | Soudal Quick-Step | 5:02 |
4 | Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe | 6:34 |
5 | Bahrain - Victorious | 11:27 |
6 | Movistar Team | 13:24 |
7 | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 17:39 |
8 | EF Education - EasyPost | 23:37 |
9 | Lidl - Trek | 28:41 |
10 | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | 34:33 |