Evenepoel says Van der Poel was the reason he only reacted and didn’t attack: "I’m happy he won"

Speaking to the Belgian media, Evenepoel was calm and positive. “It went as we had hoped. I was up front, and then it was difficult to do anything against teams with multiple riders. I just tried to finish safely, and that worked out well,” he said, reflecting on an attentive finale. Something that had been missing on day one. Because of that lapse, the leader of 'The Wolfpack' had immediately lost 39 seconds to riders like Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.

When the leaders from UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma | Lease a Bike started testing each other on day 2, Evenepoel was quick to jump along. For a brief moment, he was part of an elite group of six, but they were soon caught by the chasers. “I felt it didn’t really make sense to force anything. Visma | Lease a Bike had two riders in the front group, and Mathieu was too determined to win the stage. He was never going to let me ride off, but I’m happy he won.”

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The fact that Pogacar (6 seconds) and Vingegaard (4 seconds) gained a few extra seconds on him in the overall standings by finishing second and third didn’t bother the double Olympic champion. “I don’t think that’s important. Yesterday it was more. My positioning was pretty good today, everything was a bit sharper than yesterday. It’s good to finish like this.”

Team director Tom Steels was also satisfied with the team’s performance, telling Sporza: “This was a better day for us. In the Tour, you can’t expect everything to go perfectly. Today was good. Remco was strong and up front in the fight. That’s good for confidence. It was hectic, but everything went relatively well. The top riders went for it because of the course. In the end, only the strongest riders remained.”

That Evenepoel didn’t attack was something his team director approved of. “If there had been an opportunity, he would have decided to go, but there was little room. And some teams were still strong.”