Evenepoel out sprinted Pogačar onstage 15, but still faces 'unfair' criticism: 'He was always a bit of a wimp'

Remco Evenepoel won stage 15 of the Tour de France in spectacular fashion. In the high mountains, he was able to keep pace with the UAE Team Emirates stars Tadej Pogacar and Isaac Del Toro, before beating them in the sprint. The Belgian rider from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe had a strong showing, but there were some criticisms of his sprint. Former pro Roxane Knetemann firmly rejects those criticisms.

Evenepoel won the sprint against Pogacar. The yellow jersey wearer had put himself at Del Toro’s service, so he didn’t attack at full strength: he even held back a few times to keep the Mexican with him. In the sprint, he was unable to get past his Belgian rival, but it seemed as though he wasn’t going full throttle. Did he let Evenepoel have the victory?

That’s the suggestion made by Daniël Dwarswaard and Niek Goedvolk on the Dutch podcast In de Waaier, but Knetemann counters. “I think this is just another one of those typically Dutch ways of thinking. We’re watching an amazing final, an amazing winner who’s fighting tooth and nail. Because we’re not used to seeing Pogačar get beaten, he just gave it away.”

"I was a little disappointed that UAE didn't go all out with an attack," she does note. “Del Toro made a move, and Evenepoel was able to respond. I did think Pogacar would go for it then, but he didn’t. Maybe he didn’t want to go all out to beat Evenepoel, but I think it’s just sour grapes to keep harping on that now. We’ve said it before: he doesn’t give anyone a break.”

For the first time since Le Lioran in 2024, Pogacar was truly beaten in a mountain stage of the Tour de France. Knetemann isn’t sure if the world champion could have done better. “I see it too, you know,” she says. “I just wonder what the difference is between letting Evenepoel win the stage now and not letting someone else win it.” The analysts cited Jonas Vingegaard’s crash as a possible reason, or the possibility that Pogacar wants to stay on Evenepoel’s good side.

Whether he was gifted the or not, Knetemann saw a phenomenal Evenepoel on the Plateau de Solaison. “This is the first time we’ve seen him compete with the best riders in the peloton. At first, he was always a bit of a wimp, even though he was still in good shape. But he’d drop off at the strangest moments—yesterday was no exception. He did manage to come back, though, so he’s definitely in decent shape.”

Evenepoel had to let go early in the Tour on the Col du Tourmalet, and he also struggled on the climbs to Le Lioran and Le Markstein. He had to let his rivals pull away, though he did manage to catch up again at his own pace later in the stage. This time, he didn’t have to let go. “He’s not giving an inch! This is the best Evenepoel we’ve seen in this Tour—and that’s not even counting yesterday! How strange is that?”

Knetemann dismisses the suggestion that the final climb of Stage 15 was truly different from the other climbs in the Tour. “Actually, there’s no real explanation for that. He did say he’d done twenty laps of it in training. But we also know that these guys do a lot of recon. I’ve never seen Evenepoel like the one we saw today, riding on Pogacar’s wheel.”