Evenepoel Misses Tour Queen Stage Win with Delayed Attack, but Makes a Big Statement

Remco Evenepoel crossed the finish line on stage 20 of the Tour de France shaking his head in show of regret. The Belgian rider had just sealed his second place overall in the race but had the feeling he’d chucked away an important opportunity.

Evenepoel rolled in 26 seconds behind the winner Richard Carapaz at Alpe d’Huez, having been 1:05 seconds back when he attacked the GC group with 2.7km to go.

The rapid time gain on Carapaz left him wondering what might have been.

“It is a shame that I came really close to the stage victory but in general I need to be happy with my second place in the GC,” he said after the finish. “But it would have been amazing to win this queen stage. We came really close but… Next year.”

Evenepoel has made rapid improvement in terms of his climbing at this Tour de France. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe leader took a ten week break from competition, spending time at altitude and losing almost four kilograms from his springtime weight.

That helped him outsprint Tadej Pogačar to win stage 15 at Plateau de Solaison, his first-ever road stage win in the Tour, and it also helped him on Saturday on the hardest day of the race.

Considering his struggles in the mountains last year, plus the progression he has made uphill since 2024, he can take clear encouragement from those performances.

“It was very difficult to get to this level,” he said, according to Sporza. “With the necessary patience and the necessary work behind the scenes, it has succeeded. I am super satisfied with that.”

“It is also proof that the disbelief in me is unjustified.”

It certainly is. When he got into difficulties and ultimately withdrew from last year’s Tour, some labelled him as simply a time triallist and too stocky to ever climb the high mountains well.

He has proven them wrong this July.

‘Super comfortable all day’

Evenepoel was unable to stay with Tadej Pogačar when he put in his big move on Friday’s more traditional climb of Alpe d’Huez. He did kick clear of the GC group closer to the finish and while he was held up by race traffic, he did gain a dozen seconds on Del Toro and a little more on the other rivals.

Saturday’s stage was more authoritative, although Pogačar did work for Del Toro and stay with the Mexican rather than target the stage win himself.

“I had a better day today than yesterday, so very, very happy to finish the Tour like this,” he said.

It felt good to prove the doubters wrong.

“I remember everybody after 10 days saying he will still have this moment of cracking, dropping and losing a lot of time,” he said.

“But we really kept confidence and we really stuck to the plan to in the first 10 days never go over the limit because I needed those days to get into the rhythm. I was getting better week by week.

“I think my best performances were on Monte Solaison and then in the TT. And also today I was feeling very strong.”

He looked it too, appearing to be riding well within his limits.

“I was super comfortable all day,” he confirmed. “On the last climb there was the battle between Isaac and Seixas. I was feeling very comfortable on the climb. In the end I also didn’t want to mess up situations between both of them. So I just waited until the last 3k. Luckily I had Jai in the front so we really gave it a big, big push.”

Clear progress made

In the end waiting until the final three kilometers was the wrong decision, with an earlier attack quite possibly something that could have resulted in the stage victory.

He won’t mull over that too much, being happy with his two stage wins in the race and with what he achieved over the past three weeks.

Third in 2024, now runner-up; even if Jonas Vingegaard’s absence made that more possible, he has undoubtedly made progress.

That’s underlined by his 6:26 deficit to Pogačar, a solid improvement over his 9:18 loss two years ago.

“Second in the Tour, not everyone can say that,” he said. “Certainly not the last few years. There has only been two [Vingegaard and Pogačar]. I am very proud after all the work of the team and everyone around me: Oumi, my family, my parents, …”

Evenepoel does have one more opportunity: the final stage in Paris. That has emotional significance for him, as it uses the same Montmartre climb that helped him take Olympic gold in 2024.

The three ascents also suit his punchy nature, although it is almost certain that Pogačar will go for the victory too.

“Tomorrow there will be another nice stage to try to win, but we’re definitely going to celebrate,” he said.