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The Massif Central, and stage 11 of the Tour de France, isn’t particularly close to Belgium. It’s not a bus or bike ride away, but 700km between the two.
Despite this, it was the Belgian fans who were out in force in the ski station in central France which briefly paid host to some of the best bike riders in the world.
Even 100m away from the podium, it was clear which rider the fans favoured, with chants of “Remco! Remco! Remco!” audible over the never unexciting Tour de France presentation music.
And, although their favourite, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), lost time on Wednesday, he did so in a controlled manner, without disaster, one which suggested he is coming of age as a general classification rider.
When Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) attacked on the Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol, only Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) could follow, with Evenepoel and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) immediately on the back foot. However, the pair limited their losses, combining together well on the next climb, the Col de Pertus.
Vingegaard might have won the stage, but Evenepoel was only 25 seconds behind, and with bonus seconds added, now trails Pogačar, in the race lead, by 1:06. It is far from game over for the former world champion.
“If you see how Jonas and Tadej are riding, they’re in another league, so I’m satisfied with my performance,” the Belgian, still in the white jersey, said post-stage. “Maybe I didn’t have my best legs today… I was on the limit, I had to do my own battle. I put in a hell of a performance, I kept pushing, I kept believing that we could stay quite close. It’s quite a positive result for me.
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“I felt on the moment that Tadej attacked that he was going full gas, and I knew if I tried to follow I would not be able to stay that close to them in the final results, so I decided to do my own rhythm, and it was a good decision.”
The theme of the Vingegaard and Pogačar being better riders is something Evenepoel has referenced before, and while he sits in second overall, it feels like he is already preparing to slip back. However, this is clearly not seen as a disaster, but the plan.
“Tadej’s attack was very brutal, he went from quite far away, and if you see that the only rider who could go across was Jonas, then we know who the two best riders in the race are,” he said.
“It’s mainly me and Primož who are battling for third spot. We’re doing well, we need to focus on the podium.”
It’s an improvement for a rider, who, while a former Vuelta a España champion, has at times seemed overeager to follow attacks while riding at stage races. He is maturing into the GC rider Belgium hoped he would be, even if he sits behind Pogačar and Vingegaard in the current pantheon of greats. He already looks better than the rider at the Critérium du Dauphiné last month who shipped time to Roglič on climbs.
“We came here for top five, and we’re getting closer and closer,” Tom Steels, sports director for Soudal Quick-Step, said. “Now it’s more about the recovery, we can’t have a really bad day, and to compete with the guys we want to compete with.
“He has more of the mentality of a GC rider, which means you don’t have to be one day good and one day bad, you have to stay within the limit of 95-100% of the effort, so you can do it the day after. That’s what it is about. He has a very good mind. As a TT rider, he knows perfectly where his limits are. He can ride just to the limit, and then he knows where to back off.
“He is serene, he is very calm. He’s in the game, and step by step he’s getting more into it.”
The next danger for Evenepoel lies in the Pyrenees, with stages 14 and 15 seriously difficult days to contend with. This will be the true testing ground of Evenepoel the Tour de France racer.
“Both are very difficult,” Steels added. “A climb is a climb, legs are legs, and there’s not one which is an easy one or a bad one. You follow or you don’t follow.”
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