The world champion dominates the 45.4 km French race with an average speed of 54.63 km/h, Vine and Küng once again settle for the lower steps of the podium
Last race, last roar. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) bid farewell to the road season with a cannibalistic performance in the Chrono des Nations , where he showed up wearing the rainbow jersey and left his rivals at a sideral distance: more than two minutes ahead of his closest pursuer.
The Belgian covered the 45.4km of the undulating course in western France in 49:54 (the official timesheet reads 49:53), at an average speed of 54.63 km/h . The closest rider to him was Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), 2:11 behind, while third place went to Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro), 2:28 behind, a further 17 seconds behind.
For Vine and Küng, it's déjà vu: the two have exactly repeated their placings from last year, when they had to bow to the best time of Josh Tarling (Netcompany Ineos). Evenepoel's pace this year has been just over 2 km/h faster than Tarling's, a figure that gives an idea of the level of superiority displayed by the world champion.
"It was our last chance to get a win this year, so we came here very motivated to give ourselves one last strong performance. The course really suited me," Evenepoel said in a team statement. He added: "I'm happy to finally win here. The handling, the speed, and the feeling of being at one with the bike were really great."
The success is also a matter of personal revenge: Evenepoel had only raced the Chrono des Nations twice in his career, finishing second in 2023 and fifth in 2021. This time the missing piece has finally arrived.
The Belgian thus ends 2026 without ever being beaten against the clock: his fourth victory in an individual time trial of the season, a haul that includes victory in stage 16 of the Tour de France and the fourth world time trial title of his career.
Behind the podium, the signs were good for the French: Maxime Decomble (Groupama-FDJ United) finished fourth at 2:34, followed by Mikkel Norsgaard Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in fifth at 2:58, and Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United) in sixth at 3:03. Rounding out the top 10 were Stefan De Bod (Modern Adventure), Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious), the young Italian Luca Giaimi (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Samuel Leroux (Totalenergies). These are names to keep an eye on as potential outsiders in next season's time trials.
Sports journalist and cycling enthusiast, following professional cycling for over 10 years. Collaborates with FantaCycling to bring you the best analysis and news from the world of cycling.
The world champion dominates the 45.4 km French race with an average speed of 54.63 km/h, Vine and Küng once again settle for the lower steps of the podium
The world champion wins ahead of Charmig and Sivakov
The Belgian takes his second stage victory, with Campenaerts taking the overall victory.
In Utsunomiya, the American from Lidl-Trek beats the Irishman from EF Education-EasyPost.
