Remco Evenepoel stamps authority on Tour de France runner-up spot

Remco Evenepoel's commanding victory in the time trial on stage 16 of the Tour de France was the his second stage win on the bounce, confirming his status as the best rider at the race not called Tadej Pogačar.

Despite taking 28 seconds off the race leader on the 26.1km course between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains, Evenepoel effectively acknowledged that, bar a major mishap, the Slovenian UAE Team Emirates XRG rider had an unassailable lead in the general classification.

While he might not be aiming for yellow any more, Evenepoel has now won two stages back-to-back, after his victory on the Plateau du Solaison on Sunday's stage 15.

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"Today was another planet," he said in his winner's press conference. "Now I'm focused on the second place overall, and I will do everything to defend it. That's my goal."

Today, though, showed that catastrophic mishaps are never too far away in elite bike racing, because it was a "bittersweet" day for Evenepoel and the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team. Evenepoel didn't know until he had finished, but behind him on the course, teammate Florian Lipowitz dramatically crashed and was forced to abandon the race with a broken collarbone, having started the day in fifth place in the GC.

The world time trial champion, Evenepoel has now won time trial stages at the Tour in three consecutive editions, and was the favourite on the stage today. He put in a stunning climb, but admitted there were moments of high jeopardy afterwards.

"You arrive a bit on the limit on the top of the climb, and then you need to find some recovery as quick as possible to go into that tricky descent," he recounted. "I just try to stay calm, to focus and trust my descending skills. I really wanted to take the decent as a bit of recovery without going over the limit in terms of taking risks.

"For me personally, the last 5km were more tricky and dangerous than the descent because it was like proper 90-degree corners with white lines on the roads, pretty slippery asphalt. It was a very beautiful TT, but also a very tricky one to manage."

Despite coming second today, however, Pogačar has never looked like slipping since he donned the yellow jersey. But, even while conceding that he would have to settle for second, Evenepoel was adamant that the Slovenian's dominance of the sport is not making the Tour dull.

"I don't see it as boring," he said. "I see it as being super impressive. The performances that he's putting out... I'm looking up to that, you know. I try to learn from that and I try to reach that level as well... I mean, he's a superstar.

"He's the best rider ever. So I don't think people should consider it as boring. For us, it's a challenge. It's a big honour to race against a champion like that. It's exciting to see it from very close by.

"You should not forget, we are witnessing history. Maybe he's going for a fifth Tour de France, which is going to be equal to the record. So, you should not consider that as boring at all."

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Having recently clipped in as News & Features Writer for Cycling Weekly, Pat has spent decades in the saddle of road, gravel and mountain bikes pursuing interesting stories. En route he has ridden across Australia's Great Dividing Range, pedalled the Pirinexus route around the Catalan Pyrenees, raced through the Norwegian mountains with 17,000 other competitors during the Birkebeinerrittet, fatbiked along the coast of Wales, explored the trails of the Canadian Yukon under the midnight sun and spent umpteen happy hours bikepacking and cycle-touring the lost lanes and hidden bridleways of the Peak District, Exmoor, Dartmoor, North Yorkshire and Scotland. He worked for Lonely Planet for 15 years as a writer and editor, contributed to Epic Rides of the World and has authored several books.