2 hours ago
Remco Evenepoel took back-to-back shape wins successful nan Tour de France, and eroded immoderate of Tadej Pogacar’s wide lead, pinch triumph successful nan stage-16 clip proceedings from Evian to Thonon-les-Bains.
The Olympic roadworthy and clip proceedings champion, now 2nd wide successful nan Tour, won connected nan Belgian nationalist time from Pogacar by 28 seconds, to trim nan Slovenian’s advantage to conscionable complete 4 and a half minutes. It was nan 3rd Tour clip proceedings triumph of his career.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been connected this level truthful it feels astonishing to beryllium successful this bully style successful nan Tour,” Evenepoel said. The Belgian, who described Pogacar arsenic a “superstar”, added: “It’s not complete yet. There are still immoderate difficult stages to come.”
Pogacar’s UAE Emirates XRG teammate, Isaac del Toro, remains successful 3rd place, but Paul Seixas is now conscionable 20sec distant from a podium position aft taking clip connected nan Mexican rider successful nan title against nan clock.
Evenepoel’s occurrence was tempered by nan nonaccomplishment of his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammate, Florian Lipowitz, 3rd successful nan Tour past year, who discontinue nan title aft crashing.
Lipowitz collapsed connected a tight right-hand crook arsenic he exited a downhill conception of nan course. He was carried distant from nan segment connected a stretcher pinch a suspected surgery collar bone. He was nan 2nd 2025 podium finisher – aft Jonas Vingegaard connected Sunday – to time off nan title successful 72 hours.
While nan title continued, nan statement complete nan ITA supplier testing agency’s nocturnal activities, which progressive 2am and 5am visits to Vingegaard and Pogacar respectively past Sunday, continued.
The determination to trial some riders extracurricular nan accustomed model of 6am to 11pm has been heavy criticised by some, contempt nan tests being authorised by nan Paris prosecutor’s office. “With a French judge it’s not going to beryllium difficult to get that warrant,” Jonathan Vaughters, head of nan EF Education EasyPost team, said.
“They’re going to look astatine nan history of nan sport, nan precedent and past nan ITA comes and says: ‘The 2 fastest riders are breaking records successful nan mountains, they’re measurement faster than Lance Armstrong ever was, will you rumor this?’
“To a French judge that is not a sports scientist, aliases a haematologist, I do not deliberation it would beryllium excessively difficult to person them. I uncertainty if they had to conflict that difficult for it.”
Vaughters insisted that he is “very supportive” of nan ITA. “I deliberation this is an illustration of them doing a bully job. I conscionable don’t deliberation you should read into nan truth they sewage a warrant from a judge. My conjecture is nan barroom is not that high.”
Pascal Chanteur, vice-president of nan CPA, nan master riders relation that has been captious of nocturnal testing, besides questioned nan Paris prosecutor’s action, saying “the judge knew thing of cycling”.
“The CPA supports night-time testing if there’s capable evidence,” Chanteur said, suggesting besides that location was nary value successful Vingegaard being tested astatine 2am and Pogacar astatine 5am. “This is because of nan ITA’s constricted resources.”
The French sports codification specifies that testing procedures “must beryllium carried retired nether conditions that guarantee strict proportionality betwixt nan infringement of nan athlete’s authorities and nan objectives of nan conflict against doping”.
Speaking successful May this twelvemonth to Reuters, Olivier Banuls, nan ITA’s head of testing, said: “We do a batch of testing but we don’t do wide testing. To do wide testing is to propulsion money retired nan window.”
The result of nan tests connected some riders, however, remains unknown, leaving nan Tour successful a authorities of limbo, carrying connected regardless, contempt nan unreality of suspicion that hangs complete Pogacar who is closing successful connected what would beryllium a record-equalling 5th Tour win.
The erstwhile master rider Christophe Bassons, who was a whistleblower during nan Lance Armstrong era and who now useful to combat nan trafficking of doping products for nan French ministry of sports, said that it was “impossible that nobody’s cheating”.
Bassons told RMC sport: “I deliberation nan absence of affirmative tests [in cycling] is not a bully sign. If nan testing methods person improved, past truthful person nan methods of avoiding detection.”
Banuls rejected nan conception that a deficiency of affirmative tests successful caller Tours de France implied that nan athletics was clean. “We are not blind,” he told Reuters. “We are not naive. We are doing nan champion imaginable occupation to protect nan athletics and nan cleanable athletes, and to effort to find those who cheat.”
