Tour de France

Remco Evenepoel became the first Belgian rider in the last 46 years to sit on the podium of the Tour de France after 15 stages, following a rock-solid display on the queen stage of the race, which featured 5400 vertical meters and five draining classified climbs: Col de Peyresourde, Col de Menté, Col du Portet d’Aspet, Col d’Agnes and Plateau de Beille.

It was a long and sweltering day in the saddle, the heat and the furious pace reducing the peloton to around 15 riders by the time they arrived at the foot of Plateau de Beille, which was making its seventh appearance at the race. It was on those arduous slopes that things exploded in the GC group as the first two riders in the standings attacked and rode clear. Just like on Pla d’Adet, Remco went with his own pace, basically riding a mountain time trial all the way to the top.

The leader of the youth classification caught and passed the survivors of the day-long breakaway, but more importantly, he increased his gap over his closest rivals to the podium as he continued to climb steadily. Evenepoel emptied the tank without going into the red zone, carefully dosing his effort as the kilometers ticked down, and just like on Saturday, he finished in third place behind winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), a result which helped him extend his gap over the next rider on the GC to five minutes and another performance from which he can take heart for the final week of the Tour.

“My race is for the third spot and it’s looking good at the moment. I need to remain at this level, because a hard week in the mountains is coming. Our team was on a high level today, we took time on all the other riders behind me on what was the toughest stage of the Tour so far, so we can be content. Two third places in the Pyrenees is not a bad result I would say, especially as it helped me cement my place in the top three. It’s important to remember that the race is far from being over, but we will remain focused and see how it goes”, said Remco after his 16th top-three finish in a Grand Tour stage.

Mikel Landa was the other Soudal Quick-Step rider to put in a huge and impressive ride on Plateau de Beille, coming home behind Evenepoel, in fourth place. This superb effort – one of Mikel’s best outings of the year – helped the experienced Basque soar into the top five overall with just six stages remaining at the Tour.

“It was a good day and I’m glad Remco extended his gap over the other riders who are going for a podium place. I am satisfied with my display and quite optimistic for the third week. I will continue helping Remco on the hard stages coming in just a couple of days and see how things go for myself and if I can get a good result on the general classification. Now I’m just looking forward to Monday’s rest day”, Mikel said after the last stage in the Pyrenees.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images