An important test awaits the general classification riders in the Tour de France on Friday with a 25km time trial to Gevrey-Chambertin and Remco Evenepoel is the favourite for the victory.
“I think the favourite is Remco Evenepoel for the time trial, he’s a rider with the condition for this course,” says UAE’s sports manager Matxin Fernandez.
“Tadej will be fighting for the best result. He has worked and worked and worked on his time trialling, he’s got the condition, he’s got a comfortable position, but I don’t know how he’ll go in comparison to the favourites. I trust in Tadej but how he’ll fare against the rest, I don’t know.
“I think Remco looks good, motivated, I think to be with the top two on the Galibier will motivate him for a time trial, terrain he is more suited for.”
“I think 29-30 minutes for the winner. I think around this margin, 15-20 seconds between Remco and Pogacar, if all goes well it should be around there. But a good day and good sensations for Tadej, he could be closer; a really good day for Remco and it could be bigger for him.”
“I’m not thinking about time gaps yet,” Remco Evenepoel says. “I just have a stage win in my mind. I’m just fully focused on the stage win and then the big goal of this Tour de France will be accomplished and after that if I get the win then we will see about the gaps. We are focusing on the stage win.”
“For sure I am better than in the Critérium du Dauphiné. The last two days helped me to recover a bit from the hard start. Today was good to have some speed in the legs, a bit like motor-pacing training, so I think until here it has been a pretty perfect start for us and tomorrow is the first day I really have to try and go for the stage.”
