Evenepoel Secures Second Stage Win as Lipowitz Crashes Out of Tour de France
Remco Evenepoel achieved consecutive stage victories in the Tour de France, winning the stage 16 time trial from Evian to Thonon-les-Bains. This win allowed him to reduce some of Tadej Pogacar’s overall lead. Evenepoel, the Olympic road and time trial champion, now holds second place in the general classification. He finished 28 seconds ahead of Pogacar, narrowing the Slovenian’s advantage to just over four and a half minutes. This marks Evenepoel’s third time trial win in his Tour de France career.
Evenepoel expressed his satisfaction, stating it had been a while since he performed at this level, and he felt positive about his current form in the Tour. He referred to Pogacar as a “superstar” and noted that the race was not yet concluded, with several challenging stages remaining. Evenepoel’s victory on Belgian National Day was particularly meaningful to him, as he noted it had been some time since a Belgian rider won on that day.
Despite his success, Evenepoel’s victory was overshadowed by the withdrawal of his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammate, Florian Lipowitz. Lipowitz, who finished third in the previous year’s Tour, crashed and was forced to abandon the race. He sustained a broken collarbone after falling on a tight right-hand bend following a downhill section.
In the general classification, Isaac del Toro, Pogacar’s UAE Emirates XRG teammate, maintained his third-place position. However, Paul Seixas is now only 20 seconds behind a podium spot after gaining time on del Toro during the time trial. Evenepoel, despite being behind by 4 minutes and 32 seconds in the overall standings, indicated he was focused on his own performance rather than challenging for the overall victory, acknowledging Pogacar’s pursuit of a fifth Tour de France title.
Doping Test Controversy
While the race progressed, discussions intensified regarding the International Testing Agency (ITA)’s nocturnal drug testing activities. These included visits to Vingegaard at 2 am and Pogacar at 5 am on a recent Sunday. The decision to conduct tests outside the standard 6 am to 11 pm window has drawn significant criticism, despite being authorised by the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Jonathan Vaughters, manager of the EF Education EasyPost team, commented on the authorisation process, suggesting that obtaining a warrant from a French judge might not be difficult given the sport’s history. He expressed support for the ITA’s efforts but questioned the significance of a judge’s warrant, implying the bar for approval might not be particularly high.
Pascal Chanteur, vice-president of the CPA, the professional riders association, also questioned the Paris prosecutor’s involvement, stating that the judge lacked knowledge of cycling. The CPA supports night-time testing when sufficient evidence exists. Chanteur also suggested that the differing test times for Vingegaard and Pogacar were due to the ITA’s limited resources rather than any specific targeting.
The French sports code mandates that testing procedures must ensure a strict proportionality between the infringement of an athlete’s rights and the objectives of anti-doping efforts. Olivier Banuls, the ITA’s director of testing, previously stated that the agency conducts targeted testing rather than mass testing, which he described as inefficient. The results of the tests on both riders remain undisclosed.
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Source: theguardian.com
