Remco Evenepoel, third in Tour de France, abandons the race after three bad days –
The winner of Tour de France 2025 seems decided: after Saturday’s stage 14, Tadej Pogacar retained his yellow jersey and increased his distance over his main pursuer, Jonas Vingegaard. The Slovenian and the Danish had been carrying an exciting rivalry for the last few years, but it seems more and more apparent that Vingegaard falls short of Pogacar’s dominance, who will clinch his fourth Tour de France.
The only one who some could have thought would challenge Pogacar or Vingegaard was Remco Evenepoel, twice World Champion, Gold medal in Paris and winner of La Vuelta 2022, as well as two stages at Tour de France. The Belgian excells in time-trials, winning the first time trial of the Tour this year, and was standing third in the General Classification. But after two stages with disappointing results, he has decided to throw the towell.
It happened during the climb to Col du Tourmalet. With still 99 km to go, he stepped off his bike, handed his bottle to a kid watching the race, and entered his team’s car. “Yesterday was bad, today was worse”, he said on Friday. At least before his withdrawal, he was not expected to take part in this year’s Vuelta a España, race he won in 2022, and some reports (via AS) say that he will not fulfill his current contract with his team Soudal.
