Evenepoel smashes the clock
June 11 th 2025 - 17:27
The big showdown anticipated for day 4 of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2025 smiled on Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), powering to an impressive victory in Saint-Péray. Over the 17.4-km course of the ITT, the Olympic and world champion gained 21 seconds on Jonas Vingegaard, 38 on Matteo Jorgenson and 49 on Tadej Pogacar. Just like he did last year, the Belgian swaps his rainbow jersey for the yellow and blue jersey, ahead of Florian Lipowitz (+4'') and former leader Ivan Romeo (+9''). Evenepoel says he feels much stronger than a year ago ahead of the upcoming climbing challenges. The battle is full on and there won’t be many respites until the end of July!
The sun is out for a highly anticipated showdown pitting the riders of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2025 against the clock in a 17.4-km time-trial from Charmes-sur-Rhône to Saint-Péray. The course is straight but demanding, with a 2-km climb halfway through the stage to sap the legs.
Such a challenge is bound to deliver a major battle between the likes of Remco Evenepoel (winner of the ITT of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2024, Olympic champion and 2-time world champion), Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. Ivan Romeo (the 2024 U23 ITT world champion) wants to make the most of his abilities to defend the yellow and blue jersey claimed on Tuesday. Paul Seixas (2024 Junior world champion) completes an extraordinary rainbow cast.
Cavagna raises the bar
Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is the first rider off the ramp, at 14:15. His time at the finish (24’43’’) is quickly beaten by Norwegian national champion Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), setting a reference of exactly 23 minutes.
It takes a major effort from his countryman Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) to edge him from the hot seat. Remco Evenpoel’s predecessor, crowned ITT world champion in 2022, clocks a time of 22’00’’ (47.4 km/h).
Foss’ time resists until Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ) reminds everyone why he’s known as the “TGV from Clermont-Ferrand” (“high speed train”). After 10.5 km, the French specialist is 17 seconds ahead of Foss. At the finish, he maintains a gap of 3 seconds, with an average speed of 47.6 km/h.
Evenepoel at 50.1 km/h
The “Clermont-Ferrand TGV” enjoyed half an hour in the hot seat, but was knocked off the top spot by Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), who raised the bar even higher by improving the time to beat by 28 seconds.
However, we enter another dimension when Remco Evenepoel set off from Charmes-sur-Rhône, passed the intermediate time check 30 seconds ahead of the American rider from Visma-Lease a Bike, and crossed the finish line with a total lead of 37 seconds. It seems certain that the world champion has taken a step towards victory on the day, but his two prestigious rivals may well have what it takes to respond.
However, it is clearly too much for Jonas Vingegaard, who loses 20 seconds on the Belgian leader. The gap is even bigger for Tadej Pogacar, who has dropped out of the podium places, 11 seconds behind Jorgenson and 49 seconds behind Evenepoel.
Romeo loses the yellow and blue jersey
The battle for the overall classification is still wide open at this stage, given that Ivan Romeo is also the reigning U23 world champion in the discipline. At the start, he needed to finish no more than 1'17’’ behind Evenepoel to keep his yellow and blue jersey.
The Spaniard, tired from his efforts the day before, loses 1'25’’’ which still allows him to remain on the provisional podium, in third place behind Florian Lipowitz, who posted the fifth fastest time of the day.
