‘I’m fighting for the podium, it’s clear’ – Remco Evenepoel revises Tour de France ambitions upwards at Pla d’Adet

Best of the rest. Remco Evenepoel conceded ground on the Tour de France’s opening day in the Pyrenees, but the Belgian has formally revised his ambitions for the race upwards after his resolute display on the slopes of Pla d’Adet on stage 14.

Not for the first time in this race, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) were operating on an entirely different plane from everybody else in the closing kilometres. In his younger and more vulnerable years, Evenepoel might have been tempted into reaching out to touch the flame, but these days, he has developed the knack of meting out his effort sagely on ascents such as this.