TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 7 | NUITS-SAINT-GEORGES > GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN
CHAMBERTIN, France (July 5, 2024) — Stage 7 of the 2024 Tour de France saw Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) take the win in the 25.3km ITT from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin. World time trial champion Evenepoel was 12” quicker than second placed Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) third by 34” and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in fourth, 37” down on the winner. Pogačar therefore keeps the Yellow Jersey, with his lead over Evenepoel now reduced to 33”, with Vingegaard third overall at +1’15”.
The early departees
The man who has made history already at this year’s Tour, Mark Cavendish, was the first of the 174 riders competing in the stage to start at 1.05pm local time. Along the time trial route the riders’ differences were officially timed at three intermediate splits, located in Messanges (km 8.6), Curley (km 14.4) and Morey-Saint-Denis (km 19.9). In reverse order of the general classification the riders started at intervals of one minute for the first 58 men to go down the ramp, then at 1’30” intervals. For the leading nine riders in the general classification the gap in departures between starters was two minutes, with Pogačar logically leaving last, at 5pm.
Provisional leaders
Good work by the young French Groupama-FDJ rider Lenny Martinez saw him set a 31’40”84 time, putting him top provisionally in the early running, having been the 12th rider to start. Just under an hour and a half after the stage commenced, the 45th starter Luke Durbridge from Jayco-AlUla then ousted the small climber from Groupama-FDJ with a time of 31’14″01, set at an average speed of 48.6 km/h. Durbridge was then unseated from the provisional top spot himself by German TT champion Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) by a 25” margin, before Stefan Bissegger (EF Education – EasyPost) went into the lead with a 30’06”66 best time, flying over the course at an average 50.4 km/h speed.
Things heat up
Then an excellent performance by Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea – B&B Hotels) produced the first sub 30′ time of the day. Vauquelin finished in 29’44″94 to lead from Bissegger by 21″, before the 97th man down the ramp Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny) took over from Vauquelin in the hotseat by less than a second, with just 0.72s between their times. Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) was hindered by a loose chain in the second sector and whilst it was difficult to accurately estimate exactly how much time that cost him, it was clearly detrimental to his progress, as he crossed the line in provisional third place, 8″ down on Campenaerts.
The favourites join the party
As the favourites flew around the course later in the afternoon the provisional lead at the intermediate timing points and the finish line changed hands several times but world time trial champion Evenepoel was too fast for his rivals. The Belgian even overcame a scare with a suspected puncture which appeared to distract him for a few seconds, but the Belgian finished the job in style to take 12 vital seconds out of Pogačar’s GC lead.
Remco Evenepoel became the first rider in history to have won a time trial at Il Giro, Le Tour, La Vuelta, the Worlds and the European Championships, a fantastic feat that came on the back of a phenomenal ride on the first stage against the clock of this Tour de France edition. The 24-year-old Belgian, a debutant in the race, proved he is currently the best time triallist in the world as he scored Soudal Quick-Step’s 51st Tour de France victory and cemented his place at the top of the youth classification.
The penultimate rider to leave the start house, the World ITT Champion produced one of the finest displays of power of his career, going fastest through all three intermediate checkpoints of the 23.4km undulating course between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin, before posting the best time at the finish thanks to a stunning 52.58km/h average speed.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step): “We Wanted A Stage Win And That Is Done”
“It’s crazy. I was on a good day. The climb was pretty tough, because I wanted to start fast but I wanted to keep something. The descent was technical and fast, you have to do it well. I enjoyed every metre of this TT. Coming out with the win is amazing so I’m super happy. I was pretty sure I had a puncture. Maybe somebody from the public dropped a glass or hit a fence – it made the same sound as a puncture! I was a bit scared, but after few metres I knew nothing was wrong. I kept pushing even with the scare, fearing that maybe it was a slow puncture so I was not as sure as before in the last few corners. I had to take risks, Tadej was close to me. Getting the victory by 12” is amazing. Tadej can do very good time trials, especially in Grand Tours. We weren’t really thinking about time gaps for GC. We wanted a stage win, and that is done. It’s a perfect day for me and my team. Mission accomplished. Now we focus on tomorrow and on Sunday. As for the rest of the Tour de France, I believe Tadej is going to be unreachable. But this is cycling, you never know what can happen. I think the further into the race we go, the better I will feel, so I’ll focus more on the podium because I feel I have the legs for it.”
On Becoming the Youngest Rider to Win Stages in All Three Grand Tours:
“It’s crazy! I enjoyed every meter of this time trial and coming out with the win is simply amazing. I wasn’t thinking of the GC, the only thing that I had in mind was the victory and it’s an incredible feeling now to be a stage winner in all Grand Tours. A big thank you to the team for all their support, and to Specialized and our other partners for the setup of the bike. It’s a very special day in my life and my career, one which I will always remember.”
“I had a very good day on this challenging course, which had a pretty hard climb and also some technical roads. I knew before the start that there wouldn’t be any big time gaps today, but I gave everything out there. I did a better time trial than the one in the Dauphiné. It ended up being a perfect day for me and my team, we took some time on the others, so it’s mission accomplished. We will celebrate this beautiful victory tonight, and from tomorrow, we’ll focus on the remaining stages of this week.”
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “I Need To Keep An Eye On Remco Now”
“I started really well, with good legs. I went a bit too hard on the climb and then on the rolling part on the top I think I suffered the most. Towards the end was a nice parcours also and I really enjoyed today’s time trial. To lose against Remco, World Champion, the best time trialist right now, it’s still a pretty good feeling. I can be satisfied. I would have loved to have taken a stage win today but against Remco it’s a bit tough. But I can gained time on Primož [Roglič] and Jonas [Vingegaard] and the other guys so I can be really happy. I need to keep an eye on Remco now, he is a bit closer, but also Jonas and Primož I think they can show their good legs in the next mountain stages. I think in this Tour de France, the hard stages are coming really towards the end and the bodies will be really tired. So we could see bigger gaps. I would say that right now it’s really close and for me it’s better to be in the lead than be chasing. I already did two good time trials at the Giro, yet I rate this performance somehow higher as I only lost to the current World Champion by just a few seconds and was still above some tough guys like Primož and Jonas. I think the TT in Nice should be nice for me too, as I know the roads quite well.
TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 7 | NUITS-SAINT-GEORGES > GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN | DAILY STATS
109: EVENEPOEL JOINS A SELECT CLUB
Already a stage winner in the Giro and La Vuelta, Remco Evenepoel scores in his first Tour de France participation to become the 109th rider with victories in all three Grand Tours. His first Grand Tour, the Giro 2021, is the only one where he didn’t win a stage (DNS on day 18). Half of his wins (4/8) came in individual time trials.
12: THE WOLFPACK STRIKES AGAIN
For the 12th year in a row, Soudal Quick-Step win a Tour de France stage and bring their tally up to 52 successes. Their last Tour de France win dated back to stage 18 last year, when Kasper Asgreen delivered in Bourg-en-Bresse. Their last Tour ITT win was brought by Yves Lampaert on day 1 of the Tour 2022, in Copenhagen.
1-2-3: POGAČAR’S CONSISTENCY
Only beaten by Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogačar completed his set of strong results in Tour de France ITTs : 2 wins, 2 places of 2nd, 2 places of 3rd. The only time he didn’t finish in the top-3 of a Tour ITT was in Saint-Émilion, at the end of the 2021 edition, when he had already secured the overall victory and finished 8th of the stage.
6’29’’: EVENEPOEL AND VINGEGAARD FLEW OVER CURLEY
After he set the Strava KOM on the climb of the day during recons, Victor Campenaerts delivered a strong performance. But nobody could hold off Remco Evenepoel, who had the fastest time on the segment (4.3km at 3.3%), with Jonas Vingegaard also up there:
- Evenepoel, 6’29”
- Vingegaard, 6’29”
- Pogačar, 6’34”
- Vauquelin, 6’35”
- Campenaerts, 6’37”
- Roglič, 6’43″
3: ROGLIČ’S BEST ITT IN THE TOUR
Primož Roglič is a beast against the clock and the reigning Olympic Champion… But today is the first time he finishes in the top 3 of an individual time trial in the Tour de France! In his six previous attempts, his best result is not a good memory for the Slovenian star: 5th at La Planche des Belles Filles, when he lost the Maillot Jaune to Tadej Pogačar on the penultimate day of the Tour 2020.
24: EVENEPOEL IS A YOUNG BEAST
Remco Evenepoel (24 years, 5 months, 10 days) is the youngest Belgian to win an ITT in the Tour de France since Eric Vanderaerden’s historic performances in the 1980s, when he became the youngest winner ever against the clock at the age of 21 years, 4 months and 20 days in the Tour 1983. The second youngest winner of a Tour ITT is another Belgian, Raymond Impanis (21 years, 8 months and 29 days in 1947). And the third one is Tadej Pogačar (21 years, 11 months, 29 days), with his victory at La Planche des Belles Filles in 2020. When it comes to Belgian ITT winners, Evenepoel is the 5th youngest, after Vanderareden, Impanis, Michel Pollentier and Eddy Merckx.
2018: EVENEPOEL SUCCEEDS DUMOULIN
Remco Evenepoel is the first reigning ITT World Champion to win an ITT of the Tour since Tom Dumoulin in Espelette, 2018. The first rider to do so was Fabian Cancellara on the opening day of the Tour 2007. And he repeated this feat the very next year.
87.3: EVENEPOEL ALSO FLEW ON THE DOWNHILL
Apart from a little mechanical scare that saw his speed drop to 4.6 km/h lower than Tadej Pogačar’s over 500 metres, Remco Evenepoel was consistently fast across the 25.3km of the day, with an average speed of 52.6 kM/h according to Tissot Timing, slightly faster than the Maillot Jaune (52.4 km/h). Evenepoel and Pogačar hit similar top speeds: 87.3 km/h for the Belgian rising star, 87.1 km/h for the Slovenian cannibal according to the NTT Data trackers. Stefan Bissegger went even faster as he powered through the fastest lines on the downhill: 89.0km/h.
26: POGAČAR CLOSES IN ON VINGEGAARD
Tadej Pogačar collected his 26th Maillot Jaune on the podium of stage 7. One more and he’ll join Jonas Vingegaard at the 15th spot of the all time ranking for most days stages finished at the helm of the overall standings.
