LILLE, France : Remco Evenepoel’s Tour de France hopes suffered an early blow on Saturday as he lost 39 seconds to the top guns when an acceleration by Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike split the peloton, turning a routine sprint finish into a dramatic shake-up.
The Belgian, considered one of the main general classification contenders, admitted his Soudal Quick-Step team misjudged the situation as the bunch relaxed after an early climb, only to be surprised by Visma’s acceleration in crosswinds 17km from the finish line.
“I think after the climb it was quite relaxed in the bunch and we believed it was going to go to the sprint — a big mistake by us,” Evenepoel said.
“It was a pretty unfortunate situation for us today. We had this marked as the last chance of an echelon (a split in crosswinds) and we kind of fell asleep because of the relaxed environment, especially after the first 100 kilometres.”
Olympic champion Evenepoel, who finished third overall last year, remained upbeat about his chances.
“Tomorrow will be an explosive stage, and Tuesday will also be a tricky one — there are many more chances,” he said.
“It’s still very long, and the timing was stupid, but I’m already happy I could stay on the bike. I think the most disappointing thing is that we couldn’t go for the stage win with (teammate and sprint specialist) Tim Merlier.”
