2024 Tour de France: Stage 7 Results

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) set a blistering pace in the first time trial of the 2024 Tour de France to take the win today. Tadej Pogacar came in 12 seconds behind the Belgian to hold onto the maillot jaune for another day.

Jonas Vingegaard, still coming back from a bout of Covid, put in a solid performance, finishing just off the podium at 37 seconds.

Evenepoel Makes History

With today’s win, Evenepoel becomes the first rider in history to have won a time trial at Il Giro, Le Tour, La Vuelta, the Worlds and the European Championships. The 24-year-old Belgian, a debutant in the Tour de France, proved he is 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.

“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,” Evenepoel said. “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.”

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. Following this impressive win, Remco gained twelve seconds on the yellow jersey wearer, only half a minute separating him from the first place in the overall standings.

“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,”  Evenepoel concluded.

Pogacar Retains Yellow

Finishing just 12 seconds behind Evenepoel, Pogačar succeeded in pedaling with an effective pace, covering perfectly the only downhill of the course, so he could finish off a better performance then other GC contenders such as Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora, +22”) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a bike, +25”).

“I started my time trial pretty well, feeling very good legs, and then went pretty hard on the climb. I think I was a bit too cooked at its summit, and that affected me towards the final. I didn’t know the exact gaps, but I got some nice encouraging words from the team car,” Pogacar said after the stage.  “I am pretty happy that I crossed the finish line in the position I did. 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 Primoz [Roglic] and Jonas [Vingegaard]. I think the TT in Nice should be nice for me too, as I know the roads quite well. Last year I lost 1’40” to Jonas and today I’ve beaten him by 25” – that’s pretty good. But Remco showed pretty good shape, too. I hope I can put some time on him in the coming stages.”

2024 Tour de France Stage 7 Brief Results

1. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) 28’52”
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) @ 12″
3. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) @ 34″
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) @ 37″
5. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-dstny) @ 52.2″
6. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) @ 52.8″

General Classification After Stage 7

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +33”
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1’15”
4. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1’36”
5. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2’16”
6. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2’17”
7. Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +2’31
8. Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) +3’35”