'Remco 1 - Lipo 0'; Evenepoel vs Lipowitz gathers pace at the Tour de France: 'Nothing to complain about'

Remco Evenepoel showed on the first day of the Tour de France that he is in excellent form. The 26-year-old Belgian finished the team time trial in Stage 1 solo for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, after surprisingly dropping his teammate and co-leader Florian Lipowitz on the final climb.

Two days before the start of the Tour de France , Evenepoel gave a sharp response when asked about the division of roles with Lipowitz in this race. “You want to hear me say that I want to be on the podium and that Florian wants that too.” But he didn’t let himself be drawn into that.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe wants both riders to compete for the general classification, and the Tour de France will determine which of the two is the strongest. Ideally, that rider will then aim for the podium in Paris. The team time trial on Day 1 served as an initial test in that regard.

"Remco 1 - Lipo 0," wrote journalist Thijs Zonneveld wryly after the time trial. Evenepoel did manage to pull away from Lipowitz convincingly when the final climb of nearly 900 meters loomed in Barcelona. The margin at the finish line was 16 seconds.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe may have been hoping for a stage win, but the team still fell far short, finishing 19 seconds behind Visma | Lease a Bike and Jonas Vingegaard. They finished fifth in the day’s standings, after Evenepoel shaved off a few more seconds with his final climb.

He spoke to the French media after the race, calling it “a good result.” “We’re satisfied. We knew that some teams were stronger on the flat, and we did our best. We finished well and have nothing to complain about or be disappointed about.”

According to Evenepoel, not everything went according to plan. “We quickly lost two riders, but we had to accept that. In the final kilometer, everyone was going to ride at their own pace. I heard on the radio that Florian was falling behind. I tried to keep him with me as long as possible so we could finish together.”

It didn't work out, but: "Everyone can be satisfied. I felt good and I'm happy."