Evenepoel waited cleverly for the sprint, but later faced criticism for 'brake check' on final climb

The final climb was completed 50 kilometers from the finish. Evenepoel was able to do a recon there, after which the plan was drawn up. “We wanted to see how the climb went the first time,” Evenepoel said in the flash interview. “We went pretty fast, but in the last 3 kilometers, the headwind was quite strong. I realized pretty quickly that we had to wait for the sprint.”

“It would be difficult to get away, as you could see when Sivakov and Onley tried to get away: they were blown back,” analyzed Evenepoel, who thanked teammate Ilan Van Wilder for his work. “Ilan did a great job bringing the guys back. Then I knew it was up to me in the sprint. I know that after a tough day and a difficult climb, I still have a good sprint. I focused on my start, gave it a try, and came away with the victory.”

The acceleration of Pavel Sivakov and Oscar Onley did not tempt Evenepoel. “It was a magnificent climb, the first part in the forest was very steep. When we got to the open sections, it became less steep. We rode at a very fast pace for the first 8 minutes of the climb, but after that it was more of a cat-and-mouse game: jumping, waiting, attacking. With the headwind, we had to play it smart. I waited for the sprint, which turned out to be the right tactic.”

In the GC, the Belgian still has to make up two seconds on leader Romain Grégoire, with one stage to go. “I'm definitely going for the leader's jersey. It's going to be a tough day, with a lot of rain expected. It will be tricky; I'm not going to risk my life for a victory. However, winning the classification would be a boost to my confidence after being out of competition for a while. We're going to give it our all again, we'll see how it ends.”

The overall victory would be a nice bonus, but the Olympic champion is in the Tour of Britain to prepare for the World Championships in Rwanda. “Everything is going smoothly. I'm recovering well every day, and the numbers are good, as is the feeling. I did a lot of work for Luke Lamperti in the first few days, and some days I trained a little extra. Everything is going well, I'm pleased with that.”

It was a fine victory, but praise was not only offered to Evenepoel. With a mile and a half to go, he was behind the leading group. In the second group, he wanted help from other riders, and when that didn't come, he slammed on the brakes: a brake check. Mathys Rondel (Tudor) was just able to avoid a crash, but fans were not impressed: there were multiple calls on X for the jury to intervene.