‘I deserve his prize money’ - Relaxed Evenepoel jokes with Philipsen before decisive Tour mountain weekend

Philipsen won Wednesday’s stage after reacting to an acceleration from Mads Pedersen, but Evenepoel claimed his compatriot had initially failed to notice the move.

“He was riding next to me and Pedersen had gone without him noticing,” Evenepoel said with a laugh to HLN. “I told him to get moving, and then he jumped across. He should actually thank me. I think I deserve his prize money.”

The light hearted moment came a day after Philipsen had spoken openly about the mental toll of his difficult Tour. In his flash interview following the stage win, he admitted that struggling to reach his usual level had made the race particularly hard.

“Mentally, it was a really tough roller coaster,” Philipsen said. “All the shit you get, deleting my Instagram and whatever. Just trying to be with my team members in our own bubble.”

Evenepoel was subsequently asked about the online abuse riders regularly receive. The Belgian said he had experienced it himself and revealed that he removed Instagram from his phone ten days before the Tour of Flanders.

“I have experience with it too,” he said. “Unfortunately, it seems to be part of it nowadays because everyone can reach each other so easily.”

The focus now shifts to the road, with Evenepoel sitting second overall ahead of the stage to Orcières Merlette, the first of three demanding days in the Alps.

After coming through Wednesday’s stage without any problems, the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe leader said he was feeling good and recovering well.

“I got through yesterday well and everything feels good going into today,” he told Sporza. “The most important thing for us is not to lose any time and to start tomorrow with the same gaps as we have now.”

With two much tougher mountain stages waiting on Friday and Saturday, Evenepoel expects many riders to see Thursday’s route as an opportunity for the breakaway.

“It looks like there is a very good chance that a break will make it, because everyone has tomorrow and the day after in the back of their minds,” he said.

“But when everyone says that, everyone also wants to be in the break. Then the race can develop differently. It can go in any direction, just like every other day.”

Evenepoel described the stage as a preview of what lies ahead. The final climb is not considered especially demanding, although he knows the favourites can still make the race difficult.

“It is a beautiful stage,” he said. “Maxim Van Gils is the local rider today, so he will be able to guide me. The final climb is not extremely hard, but the riders can make it as hard as they want.”

Evenepoel did not reconnoitre the stage in person, but studied the finale online.

“I did not ride it, but the final climb was clearly visible on YouTube,” he said. “We did reconnoitre Friday and Saturday thoroughly.”

There has also been speculation that rival teams could try to put pressure on UAE Team Emirates-XRG, with illness reportedly affecting members of Tadej Pogačar’s squad.

“Maybe Decathlon CMA CGM will try something if they know there is some illness at UAE,” Evenepoel said. “But that is not for me to comment on.”