Evenepoel headed straight for a Tour podium finish, but will he ever be able to really win? 'Those other two are incredible'

Rest day in the Tour. And so there is mostly talk and writing. In Belgium it's always about two riders: Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel. The first feels good and is competitive, the other is heading straight for a place on the Tour podium. Evenepoel stands in no man's land between Jonas Vingegaard and Joao Almeida and is the best of the rest. In his homeland, they are proud of it, especially since the best two riders simply seem untouchable to the rest of the peloton.

Marc Sergeant saw that Evenepoel did an excellent job on Plateau de Beille as well. 'Remco also did what he had to do in the second Pyrenees stage. He limited himself to following and the moment Vingegaard accelerated, he didn't make the mistake of going along but immediately chose his own pace. And just as Remco can't keep up with Vingegaard and Pogacar, the rest can't keep up with him," stated the former team leader in Het Nieuwsblad.

Pure bad luck for Evenepoel? 'He clashes with two unprecedented talents who are not even much older'

According to Sergeant, we are dealing with a unique generation of cyclists. His compatriot may not win the Tour at all, even though the young time trialist has what it takes. When you make your debut like that, you have simply done very well and he more than lives up to expectations. But Remco wants to win the Tour one day, it's simply in his DNA. Only he has the misfortune to collide with two incredible talents who are not even that much older,' he refers to Pogacar and Vingegaard. 'There are guys with less talent than Remco who once won the Tour. How much stretch is left on Remco, where can he improve? Someday he's going to set the bar higher than place three.'