Evenepoel is riding his own race, as it turns out, after significant time loss: "All in all, it's been a positive day"

Remco Evenepoel losing 42 seconds is not typically a recipe for smiles in the always ambitious Belgian's camp. However, Friday at the Soudal-Quick Step camp was different. Evenepoel relinquished his yellow leader's jersey to Primoz Roglic in the sixth stage, but despite everything, he was quite satisfied with the day.

"It was tough, a hard day. In the valley leading to the final climb, I felt my legs getting heavy, so I already knew it would be difficult to follow the best. After four or five kilometers, I said over the radio that I didn’t feel fresh anymore and that I had to find my own pace. I told Mikel Landa he could go for it, but he also dropped back quickly and then supported me up to the last kilometer. There, I went all-out for a good two minutes to limit the time loss," Evenepoel analytically tells Eurosport.

Evenepoel remains second in the GC after the sixth stage, although Roglic clearly proved superior in the mountains. With two more mountain stages over the weekend, this spells trouble for the Belgian, who is now 19 seconds behind the new leader of this Dauphiné. Third-place Matteo Jorgenson is still 39 seconds behind Evenepoel.

Evenepoel is making strides, but not there yet (by a long shot)

"We expected this, that I wouldn’t be at my best here," he emphasizes. "I need time to improve, but we are on the right track. Two weeks ago at altitude, I couldn't achieve the numbers I reached today for ten minutes. All in all, it's been a positive day; the time loss isn't the most important takeaway from today. I'm not going to blame my shoulder, which I fell on Thursday—this is just part of my journey to peak level. We have time, no reason for panic."

Laurens De Plus, who finished a solid sixth in the stage, tells Het Nieuwsblad that he knew Evenepoel wasn’t at his best for this Dauphiné. "He honestly told me that he hadn’t come to the start in top condition. But even then, he’s better than the rest. I knew he would perform in the time trial, but come up a bit short in the mountains. He is indeed in good form and thus on an upward trend towards the Tour. The fact that he’s losing time here? It’s not worrying, I think he had a good feeling and that he’s on schedule."