Vingegaard explains why he did not work with Evenepoel — and why he sat up after rival’s crash

It made for a striking image. Visma | Lease a Bike had already split the peloton in two, but Evenepoel’s acceleration was so powerful that only Vingegaard could respond. The two then drove on toward the finish together, but things went wrong at the final roundabout. The Belgian hit the deck hard and saw a shot at victory disappear. Vingegaard then decided not to sprint on for the win and was eventually caught by the fast finishers. The broader stage story on IDL Procycling confirms that the pair had gone clear in the wind before Evenepoel crashed inside the final kilometre, after which Vingegaard was swallowed up by the bunch.

But what exactly happened to Evenepoel? Vingegaard himself could offer little explanation afterwards. In the flash interview, he said: “To be honest, I don't know, he just went over the handlebars, and I just hope he's ok. It looked really crazy, and I hope he's ok. I didn't want to take advantage of a situation like that so I decided at that moment to just wait for the bunch. I hope he's ok, and he can continue tomorrow.”

Vingegaard himself was also briefly surprised by Evenepoel’s move. He had to close a gap to the world time trial champion after the Belgian launched on the flat. “I didn’t expect it to happen like that. I thought it would be a bigger group. But he went, and I jumped across to his wheel. He was very strong on the flat, he’s so aerodynamic. I’m happy I was able to hang on and take turns.” Still, the two-time Tour de France winner did not keep contributing all the way to the line.

At first he did work with Evenepoel, and together they built an advantage of around 25 seconds. But inside the final 10 kilometres, the Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe rider increasingly had to do it alone, something he clearly did not appreciate. Vingegaard understood that reaction, but insisted he had little choice. “At one point he wasn’t happy with me, but this is cycling, that’s how it works. We have our tactics.” The stage report on IDL Procycling likewise noted that once Vingegaard stopped taking turns, the move became much harder to keep alive, even though Evenepoel continued to press on alone before his crash.