Remco Evenepoel isn’t in the same sparkling form that carried him to Liège-Bastogne-Liège victory this spring, but the world champion remains in the hunt to win the Tour de Suisse after placing second on stage 4 to Leukerbad.
As on the previous afternoon at Villars-sur-Ollon, Evenepoel was unable to track the winning move on the final climb as Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) soloed clear to stage victory and overall lead. The Belgian instead opted to dose his effort carefully before outsprinting Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) for second place, 1:02 behind Gall.
Speaking after the finish, Evenepoel explained that he had mimicked the tactics of his former teammate João Almeida rather than try to respond to the accelerations of his rivals. The Tour de Suisse marks Evenepoel’s return to competition after a positive test for COVID-19 forced him out of the Giro d’Italia while wearing the maglia rosa.
“It was the Almeida tactic,” Evenepoel said, according to Het Nieuwsblad. “At the moment, I can't do anything else. I have trouble with changes in tempo, but I know I can keep up the pace – a comfortable, painful pace. With the form I have now, survival is the only correct tactic.”
Although Evenepoel occasionally looked in difficulty on the first section of the two-part climb towards Dorben, he fared rather better on the second, and then outstripped Skjelmose on the final kick to the line in Leukerbad.
“The last ten kilometres of the climb went a lot better, so that’s a sign that I’m certainly not bad,” said Evenepoel, who now lies third overall, 16 seconds behind Gall and 14 down on Skjelmose.
“I am actually having a good week. I’ve finished second twice, and I was fourth yesterday. Of course, I'm not at my peak, not like at the Giro or Catalunya, where I could play with the pedals.”
With a 25.7km time trial to come on Sunday, Evenepoel remains well placed to claim the overall title, but only if he remains within touching distance of Gall and Skjelmose in the days ahead, starting with Thursday’s demanding stage to La Punt, which brings the race over the hors categorie Albulapass.
“If I do the maths quickly, Gall lost 1:10 in the opening time trial, and Sunday’s time trial is twice as long, so we're talking about two minutes and twenty seconds,” Evenepoel said. “But I can't lose any more time tomorrow. I would, of course, like to take something back.”
The 2,433m-high Furkapass comes early in the stage, followed soon afterwards by the Oberalpass. The summit of the Albulapass (17.4km at 6.8%) comes just 10km from the finish in La Punt.
“Those are three long and high climbs, and with the shape I have now, that suits me best,” Evenepoel said of stage 5. “It will be a completely different race to the past two days. It won’t be à bloc, but there’ll be a constant, high pace.”
