Bakelants dismisses Vingegaard and Evenepoel’s Tour hopes: "Miracles don’t exist"

Bakelants saw that the dynamics between Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel were not surprising but that the differences were even more pronounced than before the Dauphiné. Visma | Lease a Bike is not giving up yet, but the Belgian is not buying it. “I hear between the lines that Visma-Lease a Bike are trying to convince themselves that everything will be fine in terms of winning the Tour, but the amicable way in which Jonas Vingegaard dealt with Tadej Pogacar’s supremacy and the way he raced seemed more like raising the white flag than showing that it could still be an exciting Tour.”  

For Vingegaard, the Tour de France has been the big goal since last year, while his Slovenian rival sets goals throughout the year. “There is a rumor that Pogacar will not have the ideal preparation for the Tour in his legs after riding those classics in the spring and that he could have a bad day in the third week of a Grand Tour, but as things look now, only a crash or severe equipment failure could upset the plans."

Bakelants' words are clear, and he finds some truth in what Visma | Lease a Bike has to say. "I don't believe Pogacar needs the ideal Tour preparation to win. Even with sub-optimal preparation, the difference is huge. On Friday, he rode the final climb to Combloux much faster than Vingegaard did in his supersonic time trial in the 2023 Tour. A statement."

More than four minutes behind Pogacar, Evenepoel was fourth in the GC. He complained about the poor support from his teammates, who often had to drop out early. “His team didn't excel in strength either,” his compatriot noted. “On Saturday's stage, Evenepoel was alone, while other teams still had five riders in the group of favorites. That's remarkable, but nothing more than that.”

According to Bakelants, Evenepoel will not compete for the yellow jersey, at least not in Paris. The Belgian is a long way behind his competitors. "For a contender for the overall victory, a good team is essential in the Tour, especially in the middle mountains, but Remco is not a contender for the Tour at the moment. The gap between Vingegaard and Pogacar seems even bigger compared to last year.“

Evenepoel has been expected to achieve great things for years, but the former rider now sees that this is no longer realistic. ”The line between ‘trust the process’ and naivety is often thin. There's nothing wrong with throwing in the towel now regarding winning the Tour. His team management already did that last winter when they announced that Tim Merlier and Bert Van Lerberghe would be going to the Tour and that Remco would not have a full team at his disposal. That's like saying: we can't win the Tour, so we'll try to get the most out of it with stage wins."

Evenepoel is in good spirits, having handled the disappointing Dauphiné with grace. "But even so, we must admit that the gap between him and the other two is too big to close in the next two and a half weeks, let alone win the yellow jersey in Paris. There are still two and a half weeks before the Tour starts in Lille, but miracles don’t exist."