While Pogacar and Visma were advancing during the twelfth stage, Remco Evenepoel seemed to be one of the day's big losers and yet the Belgian managed to limit the damage on Hautacam, maintaining third place in the general classification. What happened yesterday during the race partly brought relief to Soudal Quick-Step, but at the same time, the Belgian team experienced a difficulty they did not expect.

The Soudal Quick-Step captain stated what everyone noticed: he lacked the legs to keep up with Pogacar and Vingegaard.

"I hope this was my worst day at the Tour," Evenepoel said. Giving up would have been the easiest solution, and I didn't do that. I continued to fight as long as I could. Evenepoel crossed the finish line 3'35" behind and is now third in the general classification, 4'45" behind the Slovenian.

"Okay, I lost a lot of time on Tadej. But the time lost on Jonas isn't that much, especially since I had already lost a minute and a half on the Col de Soulor. So the damage isn't that serious. It was clear that it wasn't my best day. I hope this was my worst day at the Tour, then this delay could be good news."

The heat had an impact, and then Pogacar's attacks did the rest, putting the Belgian out of contention, who had to struggle with himself to maintain concentration.

"It wasn't my best day, that's clear. But I had to mentally fight with myself. I didn't stop and always kept the big picture in mind. This still means being on the podium."

Today the time trial commitment returns. Although there will still be the challenging climb to Peyragudes, the world time trial champion is looking forward to running another time trial. "We'll have three relatively flat kilometers, then eight kilometers at full gas. The last two kilometers will be really tough. It will be all about pedaling as fast as possible from bottom to top. We must also consider the heat and altitude and try not to explode. But of course, I hope to go faster than yesterday. Changing gear won't be too difficult and tomorrow I'll start quite late, so I'll have some time to recover."