The bar has always been set a little bit higher for Remco Evenepoel.
Early success brought him acclaim, but it also created more expectation. He could win as much as he wanted, it seemed, but never enough to prove himself.
Even when Evenepoel won the Vuelta a España two years ago, the thesis persisted in some quarters that he wasn’t really a Grand Tour rider at all. The question lingered after a 2023 season where COVID-19 cut short his Giro d’Italia and a ‘jour sans’ ruined his Vuelta defence. It even endured as far as his Tour de France debut this summer.
After reaching Nice in third place overall, Evenepoel has surely allayed those who doubt his ability.
Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard were, by Evenepoel’s own admission, operating on another level here but the Belgian was full value for his podium place, navigating the three weeks without any obvious crisis and coming home with a buffer of almost ten minutes on fourth place.
Without the men he referred to as “the two big boys,” this would have been a Tour debut for the ages.
“Honestly, this podium is one of the highest achievements of my career,” Evenepoel said in his final Tour de France press conference at the Nice Palais des Expositions late on Sunday evening.
“I think becoming world champion is still another level, but completing my first Tour de France and being third behind the two best riders in the world is a huge accomplishment.”
Evenepoel shed tears on crossing the finish line at the end of the final time trial as the sun set on Sunday. The overflow of emotion, he explained, stemmed partly from thoughts of his crash at Itzulia Basque Country in April but largely from a sense of relief, as though his successful debut Tour had lifted a burden of sorts.
“Everybody is always doubting me, and I think from today on, that should be finished,” Evenepoel said with pride.
“I’ve taken a step forward, finishing third behind the best two riders, with a big gap behind me, and being on a very consistent level.
“I was in a rush to get in shape, and after Dauphiné there were again questions about whether we knew what we were doing, so it was a bit of everything. This was my first Tour, and there was a lot of pressure from my home country.
“I think sometimes people don’t realise how much pressure can weigh on the shoulders, with negative comments already starting from Paris-Nice, where second place was not good enough. So I think that’s where the emotions and the tears came from.”
Next goal: Olympic gold
Evenepoel’s successful debut Tour confirmed his aptitude for three-week racing but it also starkly illustrated the ground he needs to make up if he is to win the yellow jersey in the future.
Time, of course, is on his side. Evenepoel won the white jersey of best young rider here, and he is eligible again next year.
“I think being third in my first Tour de France is already pretty good. That shows that the base is there to maybe become once a Tour de France winner, but for sure the gap is still big,” Evenepoel said.
“So, what do I need? First of all, I need to work on my capacities, by doing more specific climbing training, probably. Maybe I need to leave the TT work aside a little and focus on longer climbs, bigger efforts, more specific training at altitude.
“I think this is all knowledge that we can use a bit with the team, which is not a bad comment towards my team, it’s just a realistic thing. UAE, Visma, Ineos, all those teams, have much more experience of riding Grand Tours, but if this is the first step, then it’s already a good one. I think I just need to become stronger.”
From an athletic standpoint, Evenepoel indicated that his podium finish at the Tour was a loftier achievement than his victory on the Vuelta. On stage 15, for instance, Evenepoel climbed Plateau de Beille faster than Marco Pantani did in 1998, but he still reached the summit almost three minutes down on Pogačar.
“The numbers I did now were way higher than the ones in the Vuelta I won, so that means the level is just higher at the Tour,” Evenepoel said.
“Maybe this podium weighs on my future plans about becoming a pure GC rider. It means more to me than winning a Vuelta.”
Those thoughts can wait, even if Soudal-QuickStep manager Patrick Lefevere smilingly noted in Nice that Evenepoel’s podium finish here had come “a year ahead of schedule.”
Over the next fortnight, Evenepoel has the more pressing goal of trying to win Olympic gold in Paris. He lines up as the favourite for the time trial on Saturday, while Eddy Merckx himself reckons him to be the man to beat in the road too.
With those appointments in mind, Evenepoel took a relatively conservative approach to the descents in Sunday’s final time trial to Nice, where he placed third behind Pogačar and Vingegaard.
“I knew third overall was quite safe and second was unreachable, so why risk my life on pretty dangerous roads?” he said.
“I still have quite some big races coming up.”
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