Remco Evenepoel is still finding his top form following an off-season training crash and a late start to the season. Currently racing at the Tour de Romandie, his first stage race of the year, the double Olympic champion has shown encouraging progress with several top-10 finishes but admitted that, when it comes to climbing, he had "a lot of work to do" in his revised build-up to the Tour de France.
"It was OK. I still have a lot of work to do, but it was OK. We couldn't hold the pace, I think, halfway up the climb somewhere, and then we tried to do our own pace," Evenepoel explained his performance following stage 4 at the Tour de Romandie that finished atop Thyon 2000, where he was supporting his Soudal-QuickStep teammate Junior Lecerf.
Evenepoel appeared to struggle partway up the final 20.2km ascent and was eventually distanced when Bahrain-Victorious and then UAE Team Emirates-XRG increased the pace with approximately 8km to the top.
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He also explained that he was riding for Lecerf, 22, who started the stage in second overall but slipped three spots to fifth by the time he reached the top 1:29 behind stage winner and new overall leader Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious).
He finished alongside Lecerf at Thyon 2000, the pair crossing the line in 10th and 11th place, respectively.
"I knew what pace he [Junior Lecerf] wanted, and I tried to give the maximum to keep it as stable as possible," Evenepoel said in an interview with Cycling Pro Net.
"In the end, we lost some time, but in the end, also not crazy much. We lost a lot of time, we lost too much time, probably, to win the GC tomorrow, but I think Junior is still quite high up there."
Lecerf sits in fifth overall at 54 seconds behind Martinez, while Evenepoel is in ninth overall at 1:41 back, as the Tour de Romandie heads into the finale stage 5 time trial on Sunday.
The peloton will compete across a 17.1km race against the clock in Genève, where Evenepoel, the reigning World and Olympic champion, hopes to gain some time back in the GC. "For myself, I just have to give the maximum tomorrow to gain some time back," he said.
Evenepoel had a strong start to his revised schedule when he rejoined the peloton at De Brabantse Pijl and took the victory. He then went on to finish third at Amstel Gold Race and ninth at Flèche Wallonne.
While Tour de Romandie is his first stage race of the season, he is next expected to compete at Critérium du Dauphiné and then the Tour de France, a race he finished in third overall in 2024.
