Remco Evenepoel Flies to Stage 7 Time Trial Victory at the 2024 Tour de France to Capture his First Stage Victory

 

Stage 7 of the 2024 Tour de France was the first individual time trial stage of this year's race, covering 25.3 km between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin in Burgundy.

Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) was the first rider off the starting line on the day's time trial, while the man in the Maillot Jaune, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).

Victor Campanaerts (Lotto-dstny) put in a good ride early, holding the top of the board having finished his ride in a time of 29:43, and looking satisfied after the stage. 

Kevin Vaquelin (Arkea - B&B Hotels), winner of Stage 2 of this year's Tour de France, also put in a solid early time trial, finishing in a time less than one second behind Campanaerts.

Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe), as expected put in a strong showing on the day. The Slovenian reached intermediate checkpoint 2 in a time of just over 18:51. Roglič eventually took the lead spot overall on the time trial to the day at the time of his finish, reaching the line in 29:26. Roglič also was able to move up in the overall standings from 5th place going into the day to 4th place for the start of Stage 8.

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick-Step) blazed through the first time check, arriving in 9:39, 11 seconds faster than Jonas Vingegaard had done to this point in the trial, and continued to expand his time gap on previous riders through the second intermediate checkpoint. Evenepoel employed his top-tier bike handling skills but using the speedy descent with a tight chicanes to pick up speed while avoiding his wheel sliding out on any tight, fan-lined turns. The Belgian rider eventually flew through the stage at an impressive time of 28:52 to take the top time to that point, and eventually on the day. This feat was all the more impressive because Evenepoel was actually required to slow down briefly, thinking that he had popped a tire, but thankfully for Evenpoel and his Soudal-Quick-Step nothing was damaged and he flew into the finish line as the fastest man on the day. 

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), hoping to hold, or even more up from, his spot at third overall in the general classification going into the stage also laid down the hammer, reaching intermediate checkpoint 2 nearly 15 seconds faster than Roglic had done. Vingegaard eventually slowed a bit towards the end, the legs just failing him slightly on the day, but still ending with a solid and respectable time of 29:29. Vingegaard may have been a bit too eager on the first half of the time trial, not saving enough for the final 10 km and accurately pacing the day, but with a good enough time on the day, the former Tour de France champ will look to stay in the hunt moving forward, with double-digit stages left in the race.

Pogačar, looking to keep the Maillot Jaune, put in a consistent ride, eventually finishing the stage in a time of 29:04. Evenepoel would sit only 33 seconds behind Pogačar going into Stage 8 after his first stage victory at a Tour de France. Pogačar defended the Maillot Jaune, staying atop the leaderboard in the general classification and finishing second overall in the time trial.

Pogačar looks to be in strong and steady form through the first third of the 2024 Tour de France, and remains the favorite to cross the line on the final stage in yellow, but there are still 14 stages to go, and other rides will continue chomping at the bit to pick up time on the talented Slovenian rider.

Stage 8 will depart from Semur-en-Auxois, covering a relatively flat 183.4 km long stage which will involve 2,400 meters of elevation gain before arriving in the small commune of Colombey-les-deux-Églises.