Remco Evenepoel drops to third in Tour de France general classification but ready to fight after difficult day on Stage 12 as Tadej Pogacar wins
Published 17/07/2025 at 21:27 GMT+1
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Despite dropping to third place in the general classification after a tricky Stage 12, Remco Evenepoel is confident of standing on the podium for the second year running by getting his Tour de France back on track with the Stage 13 individual time trial. The Belgian was dropped twice as Tadej Pogacar dominated Stage 12 to pull away at the top of the GC, with Jonas Vingegaard second.
'Keep fighting' - Evenepoel inspired by Froome and Contador wisdom during Stage 12 struggles
Video credit: TNT Sports
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) remains optimistic about a podium finish at the Tour de France despite a tough day for the Belgian on Stage 12.
Evenepoel was dropped twice on the 180.6km route between Auch and Hautacam.
His first challenge came on the Col de Soulor climb but he fought back to reduce the gap on the leaders to 20 seconds by the next climb at Col des Borderes.
Evenepoel even managed to latch on to the group led by eventual stage winner Tadej Pogacar with 28km to go.
However, he was unable to challenge as Pogacar surged on Hautacam and Evenepoel lost a further 3'35'' to the defending champion.
Despite his disappointment, Evenepoel is third in the general classification and is confident he can maintain his place and equal his best result on the Tour, which he achieved last year.
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Stage 12 highlights: Pogacar detonates on Hautacam as Vingegaard and Evenepoel suffer
Video credit: TNT Sports
"It was not my best day on the bike so I just suffered my way through," Evenepoel said at the end of Stage 12.
"I just tried to keep the big image in mind with the podium in Paris and that’s what I was fighting for today.
"I always had wise words from guys like [Chris] Froome and [Alberto] Contador that they say if you have a bad day, just try to fight your way through and limit the time loss. That’s what I was having in my mind all day - keep fighting, keep pushing.
"I just hope I can put this bad day and bad feeling away pretty quickly and then I will go for it again tomorrow," he said.
- 'He makes everyone else look so amateur' - Pogacar dominates Stage 12
- Pogacar dedicates Stage 12 win to Privitera following teenager's death
Stage 13 sees riders take on a time trial and Evenepoel hopes to achieve the same result as when he won the last individual challenge on Stage 5.
He will again be backed by his team and Evenepoel has thanked them for keeping him motivated on a tricky day.
"The way that my team coached me and that my team-mates were around me. Ilan [van Wilder] really was just saying to me that everybody was suffering.
"I just wanted to keep pushing and never gave up and, in the end, it was a good decision because I’m still in the mix for the podium, so luckily I kept pushing," he said.
German rider Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is 49 seconds behind Evenepoel in fourth.
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