Evenepoel devastated after another difficult stage in the Tour de France: "It's been the same story since the Dauphiné"

“The start was decent, but after five minutes into the climb, the good feeling was gone,” he said, reflecting on the opening phase, in which he still recorded the second-fastest time at the first intermediate point. Evenepoel started with a time trial handlebar and a standard helmet, which meant he could at least ride as aerodynamically as possible for the first 3 kilometers. Despite choosing his road bike and not wearing a time trial helmet, Tadej Pogacar was already a few seconds faster at the first checkpoint.

For Evenepoel, the suffering began at the foot of the Peyragudes. “It was survival to the finish,” he said. According to the world time trial champion, the fact that he struggled with his gears was a minor issue. “That only cost me five or six seconds, no more. I wanted to shift to the outer chainring, but it made no difference. It just felt bad, I don’t know what else to say at the moment.”

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“I'm very disappointed with how I felt and with my time trial today. To be honest, I don't really care that I'm still third and still have the white jersey,” Evenepoel said with a forced smile. He struggled to find an explanation. “It was 10 degrees cooler than yesterday, so I don't think it was the heat. I don't know what it is, after 2 kilometers of climbing, I just stalled. It's been the same story since the Dauphiné, just really bad.”

On French television, the Olympic time trial and road race champion added: “I didn't have the legs I wanted. The first four or five minutes were okay, but after that I felt exhausted. I didn't feel good yesterday, but today was even worse. I wasn't worried about Vingegaard catching up with me; I knew it was possible given the speed I was riding. It was very disappointing on my part."

After the time trial, Evenepoel still has a 6-second lead over Florian Lipowitz, who is in fourth place. The 24-year-old German from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe is also his main rival for the white youth jersey, although fellow youngster Oscar Onley from Picnic PostNL is not too far behind in fifth place. Evenepoel won the 33-kilometer individual time trial on day 5, but has yet to make his mark on this race.