
Among the general classification riders, the one who suffered the most from Pogacar's attack was undoubtedly Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian cannot explain what happened in the sixth stage, but what remains is his nearly two-minute deficit at the finish line.
"Initially I was feeling good and had good sensations, but apparently I was wrong" – Evenepoel said after the stage. "I became a bit more calm kilometer after kilometer. Perhaps it's the aftermath of Thursday's crash or maybe I don't have a great feeling with the climbs yet. Or it was just a bad day, which can happen."
At the finish line, Evenepoel arrived 1'50" behind Pogacar, and now in the general classification, the Slovenian has a 1'22" advantage over the Belgian.
"They started climbing the final ascent as if the finish line was just two kilometers away. Pogacar was simply superior once again. He demonstrated who the best rider in the world is. I was alone and had no other teammates with me, and that can also make a difference, as happened to others who were also alone."
Today the queen stage of the Criterium du Dauphine will be raced: 131.6 kilometers to Velmeinier, with three important Hors Categorie climbs and a mountain finish, with a total elevation gain of 5000 meters. Evenepoel is not too sad about yesterday's negative day and thinks something can still be done, because a bad day can happen to anyone.
"We have another day ahead. My legs might give me a completely different sensation with a definitely different, longer and less steep finale. Yesterday was a very explosive day: when Pogacar and the others pushed, I immediately understood it would be quite tough. Vingegaard also paid a bit, but I more so. I believe that yesterday Tadej showed he was superior and truly deserved to win."