{"id":306871,"date":"2025-07-31T15:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T15:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/306871\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T15:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T15:14:10","slug":"he-was-probably-already-carrying-it-more-information-explains-evenepoels-nightmare-in-the-pyrenees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/306871\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe was probably already carrying it\u201d \u2013 More information explains Evenepoel\u2019s nightmare in the Pyrenees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soudal \u2013 Quick-Step left the 2025 Tour de France<\/a> with a mixed
\nbag of glory and disappointment. Remco Evenepoel<\/a> started strong with a stage 5
\nwin and briefly held third overall, only to abandon in the Pyrenees after a
\ncrash aggravated a rib fracture. Tim Merlier sprinted to two victories,
\nincluding head-to-head wins over green jersey winner Jonathan Milan. And
\nValentin Paret-Peintre gave French fans a rare celebration on Mont Ventoux,
\nsalvaging national pride in the mountains.<\/p>\n

Team CEO Jurgen For\u00e9 called the Tour a success, despite
\nEvenepoel\u2019s early exit. “After his crash at the Belgian Championships,
\nRemco’s symptoms weren’t that severe. It wasn’t until further examination after
\nhis new crash on the third day of the Tour that a small fracture in one of his
\nribs was discovered. Fortunately, it hadn’t displaced, so taping provided
\nrelief and we were able to continue treating it.”<\/p>\n

The team had deliberately kept the injury quiet, to avoid
\nrivals from taking advantage of him. “Of course, we didn’t go around
\nsaying it, so as not to give the competition any ideas,\u201d For\u00e9 said. \u201cIt
\ncertainly wasn’t a gift, something like that is frustrating. But I don’t think
\nwe should see it as the main reason for his withdrawal.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For\u00e9 also confirmed there were no signs of illness at the
\nstart. “Until the day he dropped out of the race, his blood sugar levels
\nwere perfectly normal and at the same level as last year \u2013 Remco has never
\nstarted a stage sick. But that changed in the days that followed. So he was
\nprobably already carrying it.”<\/p>\n

Despite the disappointment, For\u00e9 remains proud of the team’s
\nperformance. “Absolutely. We’re living a bit of a dream. Four stage wins
\nin a Grand Tour: that’s the exception rather than the rule. There are fourteen
\nteams that haven’t won anything in this Tour. That’s the story, isn’t it?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Soudal \u2013 Quick-Step left the 2025 Tour de France with a mixed bag of glory and disappointment. Remco…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-306871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114948503355960799","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}