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Two days after his victory at the Solaison plateau, Remco Evenepoel dominated the time trial and shored up his second place this Tuesday on the shores of Lake Geneva, but lost Florian Lipowitz to a crash. As for Paul Seixas, he clawed back five seconds from Isaac Del Toro, still 3rd.
His immaculate white skinsuit, as gorgeous as it was with its rainbow belt, hugged his waist and his minotaur-like thighs and showcased all the power of Remco Evenepoel, who did not miss his appointment at this Tour de France. The three-time world time-trial champion instead flew through the race against the clock over the 26.1 kilometers between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains, a balcony over Lake Geneva, and beat Yellow Jersey Tadej Pogacar by 28 seconds. Pogacar was inferior on the day but also did not want to take too many risks, five days before his expected coronation in Paris.
The day was marked by a few “malfunctions”: Thymen Arensman pulls a Delgado and leaves the start ramp eight seconds late; Brandon McNulty, Pogacar’s teammate, hit by a car on the way back from the course recon yet still managing to start. But for the Belgian, everything went off without a hitch. Evenepoel is untouchable in the discipline, and this performance says as much about his mastery in his specialty as it does about the excellent condition of his legs at the start of the third week—something we could see on his climb of the 9-kilometer hill that opened the time trial.
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We thought the rider from Brabant would be limited in the high mountains, especially against the firepower of the other favorites, but in his matchup with Isaac Del Toro he went toe-to-toe with the Mexican at Gavarnie, was better than him at Le Lioran and on the Solaison plateau, where he won on Sunday and where UAE’s lieutenant seemed, for his part, on the ropes. There was really only Markstein where Evenepoel came up short, but he will head into the Alps with 2'19'' in hand over his closest pursuer, and you can count on this wonderful old soldier to defend every second of it fiercely.
Del Toro-Seixas, the promise of a great battle
Del Toro therefore has quite a challenge ahead of him, because he has a superior natural talent, especially at high altitude, but he is up against an experienced, tough champion—and he won’t have too much help from his luxury aide-de-camp, Tadej Pogacar. People also often forget that the winner of the most recent Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is also discovering the Tour de France, at 22. He has already raced a Vuelta (36th in 2024) and fought for the win in a Giro (2nd last year), but it’s still not the same music—not the same efforts or the same tension, not the same competition as in the Tour.
With his long segments that gave the impression of weaving a web like a spider’s legs, Del Toro posted a good time trial, whereas one might have thought Paul Seixas would be better. He conceded only five seconds to the Frenchman, and the two are now separated by twenty seconds overall—promising a great battle at the end of the week. Seixas has thus finally put his wheels into the famous third week of the Tour de France, that hazy, mysterious, slightly frightening concept where the race becomes an ordeal, as a wise Sioux often summed it up for us.
You could say the rider from Lyon made a successful entry into this unknown world: 4th behind the two untouchables and a Mattias Skjelmose who delivered the time trial of his life. His protruding vertebrae under his tight skinsuit spoke to the tension of the effort, and Seixas did not look traumatized by his big crash in early June on the fast descent that was technical in places. On the contrary, the carefree nature of his 19 years pushed him. The French revolution is here—in this ability for a French rider targeting the overall to perform so high in a time trial. That’s what was missing, more than a great climber.
Skjelmose’s silent coup
Florian Lipowitz’s crash 6.4 km from the finish, in a tricky right-hander on a machine that isn’t easy to control—where Pogacar, moreover, also nearly went down—and his abandonment due to a fractured collarbone reshuffle the deck in the battle for the overall. For Remco Evenepoel first, because if the Belgian will, in a way, be freed from this false understanding with the German—which didn’t suit him anyway—he still loses a valuable ally in the high mountains, as do Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe with their double card for the general classification.
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The Tour de France general classification
For Paul Seixas next, because Lipowitz’s disappearance—he was just behind him in the standings on Tuesday morning—opens up space in his wake. Juan Ayuso is now the closest, but still more than two minutes back, and above all the Spaniard’s hull is breached: he’s taking on water every day, and Skjelmose seems to be leading a coup in silence, without waves at Lidl-Trek, to take the torch and the leadership. Lenny Martinez moved up one place overall, to 7th, but he doesn’t exist in this Tour and this defensive role seems against his nature, and Jordan Jegat, now 9th, followed the same mechanical movement after Lipowitz’s abandonment. Paul Seixas is therefore in a good position ahead of the final round. The Frenchman can look forward.
