'Lack of competition' takes its toll on Remco Evenepoel in the final of Tour de France stage 3

Remco Evenepoel had made a bid for the stage win on Sunday at Montjuic during the second stage of the Tour de France. But he struggled a bit on stage 3 on the way to Les Angers. The Belgian finished eighth, while Florian Lipowitz came in seventh. Both Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe riders were satisfied, however.

After a grueling ride with 3,850 meters of elevation gain, the sprint was still a bit different from the one on the city circuit in Barcelona. “I felt like I’d run out of steam. As I approached the final climb, I felt like I could ride hard, but that I wouldn’t be able to sprint for the win.”

"That had been the plan, though, if I’d been feeling really good. Now I just had to follow along," Evenepoel admitted candidly in an interview with Sporza. "It wasn’t a bad feeling, but I just lacked a bit of punch after being out of competition for so long. These kinds of tough days will only make me better."

Evenepoel everyone xplains what the difference was compared to Sunday. “That was a different kind of effort. Before, it was 700 meters of pushing hard. Now it was 300 meters of full-out sprinting. So it was tough, but everything’s still very close. All the team leaders are clearly up to the challenge,” he sums up.

Still, Evenepoel sees what everyone else sees: “UAE looks very strong again, as usual. It’s a bit of a shame they didn’t let the breakaway go. That would have been a great opportunity for them. But it’s like Tadej said after the finish: if you feel like you can win, you shouldn’t pass it up.”

"In principle, we're in for two slightly calmer days. I'll try to get through them as relaxed as possible so I'm ready for Stage 6," says Evenepoel, referring to the next mountain stage, which includes the Aspin and Tourmalet.