Remco Evenepoel Says Crowds Blocked His Move in Tour de France Podium Battle

Remco Evenepoel tightened his grip on second place but said massive crowds prevented him from launching his attack on Alpe d’Huez when he wanted to.

The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe star said a line of motorcycles squeezed in by throngs of fans delayed his acceleration in the chaotic closing kilometers of stage 19.

“I decided to attack five kilometers from the top. It took me two times, because I was blocked by the fans and the motos,” Evenepoel told VTM. “If I could have done that attack in one go, I think I would have yielded a different result.

“[I thought] that something would go a bit wrong with all those people. Sorry it happened to me, but in the end I have to be satisfied.”

He finally launched once the barriers created more room to accelerate on the upper reaches of the climb.

The Belgian crossed the line sixth at 2:29 behind winner Tadej Pogačar, who extended his lead to 7:11 with two stages left to go.

Evenepoel emerged relieved after defending second place and taking 11 seconds out of third-place rival Isaac del Toro and 16 seconds on fourth-place Paul Seixas.

“I take back 10 seconds. I showed that I was better than the rest for the stage, and I got through this day well,” Evenepoel said.

Paris podium edging closer

The Red Bull star said he never considered following Pogačar when the yellow jersey attacked out of the chasing GC group at the base of Alpe d’Huez to erase more than three minutes to the lead break featuring Sepp Kuss, Richard Carapaz and Lenny Martinez.

“It was to be expected that Tadej would perform a crazy song to try to win today. It was a good chance that he would go all-in today, and he did,” he said. “Everything went well with myself. Following him was a mission impossible.”

Evenepoel’s decision to skip racing for more than two months before the Tour and shed 4kg appears to be paying off.

He now leads Del Toro by 2:31 and Seixas by 2:55 heading into Saturday’s queen stage.

Evenepoel knows the Tour podium is within reach. If he survives stage 20, he will ride into Paris second overall, improving on his third-place Tour debut in 2024 and erasing the disappointment of last year’s abandonment.

“Tomorrow go full one more time. We have a good eye on it,” Evenepoel said. “A lot can always happen. But the feeling is good, the legs are good and the teammates are good. Overall we are super satisfied. Tomorrow is a different stage: less explosive and longer. That should be better for me. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Evenepoel spoke to reporters wearing a face mask and admitted he was relieved to have survived his first ascent of the pandemonium of Alpe d’Huez.

“By the way, my right ear is still ringing”, Evenepoel said. “But it was a nice experience.”