'The main goal is to hold onto second place' - Evenepoel outlines Tour de France final week ambitions

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) has made defending second place overall his priority heading into the final week of the Tour de France after climbing to victory on Plateau de Solaison on Stage 15.

Evenepoel outsprinted Tadej Pogačar and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) atop the hors catégorie climb on Sunday to claim his first non-time trial stage victory at the Tour, a landmark result that moved him into second overall and strengthened his position in the podium hunt.

The result lifted him to second overall, five minutes behind Pogačar, after Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) crashed on the run-in to the final climb and was forced to abandon the race with a fractured collarbone.

The final week begins with a demanding 26.1km individual time trial from Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains, featuring a near 10-kilometre opening climb, a technical descent and a fast run-in to the finish.

Given his prowess in the discipline as an Olympic and three-time World champion, it presents Evenepoel with an opportunity to claim back-to-back stage wins, something only Tim Merlier has achieved so far in the 2026 Tour, as well as a chance to make further gains in the GC.

Speaking at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s second rest day press conference, Evenepoel stressed that his focus was on consolidating second place overall rather than looking beyond his current position in the general classification.

“My mindset is to hold onto second place, starting tomorrow [stage 16]. That’s a crucial one,” Evenepoel told media including Het Laatste Nieuws. “After that, two days of conserving energy so I can give it my all in the mountain stages heading into the weekend. I’m not suddenly going to get carried away and hope for a Tour victory.”

Evenepoel is well aware of the importance of Tuesday’s time trial and the potential for significant gaps to emerge, particularly on the opening climb.

“Real differences can definitely be made on the short climb,” he said. “It’s going to be unique, with plenty of intermediate time checks. It’s also the day after the rest day, and different riders react to that in different ways. We could well see some surprises.”

Meanwhile, Florian Lipowitz sits fifth overall, 1:48 behind his teammate and 50 seconds from Del Toro in third. While the pair remain co-leaders, Lipowitz acknowledged that Evenepoel currently has the strongest position in the team’s podium battle.

“We were thrilled with the stage win. I knew Remco was in great form, so there was certainly no doubt,” Lipowitz said. “The goal remains the same: getting someone on the podium in Paris. Remco has the best chance of doing that right now.”

With the time trial and Alpine stages still to come, and just 2:28 separating Evenepoel in second from Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) in sixth, Lipowitz highlighted how open the podium fight remains.

“We’re teammates, so we’ll help each other and fight together all the way to Paris,” he said. “We mainly need to keep an eye on Seixas, Del Toro, and perhaps Ayuso for the podium spots.”