Evenepoel falls short and points not only to his own bike but also to UAE: "It was a strange situation"

Because the first three days ended in a sprint, the big question on day 4 was how Evenepoel would perform in a punchy finale. It wasn't bad at all. The Olympic road and time trial champion animated the race, but to his own frustration, saw Romain Grégoire take the stage win with the right move.

“There were quite a few attacks, especially from Remco,” Grégoire said afterwards to L'Equipe. “He wanted to get rid of the fast guys, and we stayed in the second group as a team to save energy. I never panicked, and all the gaps were closed. That was good for me for the final, where I managed to keep my cool. I put the pressure on myself to win, so I gave it my all.”

Evenepoel crossed the finish line in nineteenth place, in a large group that finished two seconds behind Grégoire and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor). “I had a gear problem, which caused my chain to jump onto the outer chainring. That caused me to lose momentum, and others overtook me. Otherwise, I would have been able to sprint,” Evenepoel analyzed, quoted by Het Nieuwsblad.

According to Evenepoel, the gear problem is a common occurrence. With today's wattage, all those bikes are having a hard time. “Because I was putting in a lot of power, my chain didn't immediately hit the right chainring. I also ride with a 56, so maybe that's why. It's probably a combination of a mistake on my part, but also a bit mechanical.”

Evenepoel wanted to end the fourth stage on a positive note. “I had a good feeling. I felt good along the way, which you could see from that first attack, because I immediately had a big gap,” he said. According to the Belgian, his efforts could have paid off if UAE Team Emirates-XRG had raced a little smarter. “Some strange things were happening behind us,” Evenepoel also noticed.

“The UAE guys were riding behind the UAE guys. I thought that was strange to see. Maybe I should send a message to Florian to ask what the intention was,” Evenepoel joked about his compatriot and UAE rider Florian Vermeersch. “It was a strange situation. But if they don't ride, we might gain more time, and that's the end of the story.”