Remco Evenepoel couldn’t hold back his tears after finishing third in the Tour de France. The Belgian cyclist finished behind Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard in the final standings.

“I’ve been through a lot this year. I’ve faced immense pressure and doubts from outsiders,” said Evenepoel. “People sometimes don’t realize how much pressure can affect you. That’s where the emotions and the tears came from.”

This was the first Tour de France for the 24-year-old Evenepoel. He won a stage and finished over nine minutes behind the untouchable Pogacar to secure third place.

Some cycling followers had doubts about Evenepoel’s ability to perform well in the overall standings. “This is a nice response to my doubters and critics,” he said. “I hope everyone continues to believe in me and stops saying that I can’t compete in grand tours. There’s still room for improvement, and I’ll come back to try to win.”

“It’s special to finish behind the two best riders in the world,” Evenepoel continued. “It confirms the hard work I’ve put in. It wasn’t easy, especially after my crash in the Basque Country. It was a rush, but it ended well, and this is only promising for the future.”

In April, Evenepoel suffered a severe crash in the Tour of the Basque Country, resulting in collarbone and shoulder blade fractures that sidelined him for nearly two months.

Jonas Vingegaard, who also crashed hard in the Basque Country, finished second in the Tour, over six minutes behind Pogacar. Vingegaard, the leader of Visma-Lease a Bike, suffered a collapsed lung, broken ribs, and a broken collarbone from his fall.

“At the start of the year, I would have been disappointed with second place,” Vingegaard admitted. “But if you had told me three months ago after the crash that I would finish second in the Tour, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“I didn’t even know if I would ever ride a bike again. To finish on the podium and win a stage is more than I could have hoped for. It’s possibly a more remarkable achievement than winning the Tour under perfect preparation.”

Vingegaard managed to compete with Pogacar for nearly two weeks but acknowledged that the Slovenian was stronger this year. “I want to congratulate Tadej,” he said. “He is the deserved winner. We made it a good fight in the first two weeks. In the third week, I didn’t have the legs anymore, and there wasn’t much of a fight left.”