BELGIAN Remco Evenepoel abandoned the Tour de France on Saturday during the 14th stage, a 182.6-km mountain trek from Pau to Superbagneres.
The Soudal-Quick Step rider, who was third overall, stepped off his bike and entered his team car midway through the ascent of the Col du Tourmalet, the first of four climbs on the day’s menu.
Evenepoel had struggled in recent days, losing time in the first Pyrenean stage and in Friday’s uphill individual time trial.
“Yesterday was bad, today was worse,“ the Olympic champion, who won the stage 5 individual time trial, said on Friday.
It got even worse on Saturday as the 25-year-old could not sustain the pace in the gruelling ascent to the Tourmalet (19km at 7.4%) as dozens of riders whizzed past him.
After giving his bottle to a child on the side of the road, Evenepoel threw in the towel, a year after finishing third overall on his Tour de France debut.
Evenepoel won the Vuelta a Espana in 2022. – Reuters
