Evenepoel smashes the clock in Les Herbiers to win the 2026 Chrono des Nations by more than two minutes

Remco Evenepoel has closed his 2026 season with a performance at the Chrono des Nations. The Belgian has achieved victory in the elite category in this race for the first time after winning by a margin of 2 minutes and 11 seconds over Jay Vine and 2 minutes and 28 seconds over Stefan Küng.

Evenepoel leaves no options for his rivals and ends up overtaking Jay Vine

The world time trial champion has once again demonstrated his superiority in the specialty with an uncontestable performance over the approximately 45 kilometers of the course in Les Herbiers, France. Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) stopped the clock at 49 minutes and 53 seconds, leaving his main rivals with no options from the first kilometers.

The Belgian, the last rider to start, began marking differences from the first intermediate checkpoint, located at kilometer 10.5. There, he was already ahead by 26 seconds of Stefan Küng, who until then had set the best time.

But the most striking was yet to come. At the second timing point, the difference with the Swiss had grown to 1 minute and 47 seconds, an extraordinary advantage considering the level of the participants.

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Evenepoel maintained the pace until the end and ended up catching up with Jay Vine, who had started two minutes before him. The Australian from UAE Team Emirates-XRG managed, despite this, to keep the second position, 2:11 behind the winner, while Küng completed the podium at 2:28.

With this victory, Evenepoel finally manages to prevail in a competition that had eluded him among professionals. He had finished fifth in 2021 and second in 2023, although he already knew victory in Les Herbiers after winning the junior category in 2018.

The Belgian thus puts the finishing touch on his 2026 season with another victory against the clock and confirms his dominance in a specialty where he still finds no rival capable of matching his performance.

Men's elite classification

1. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) – 49:53
2. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – +2:11
3. Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) – +2:28
4. Maxime Decomble (Groupama-FDJ United) – +2:34
5. Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) – +2:58

Maëva Squiban wins the women's event

The women's competition also saw a French victory. Maëva Squiban (UAE Team L'IMAD) triumphed over a course of about 27 kilometers with a time of 35 minutes and 36 seconds.

The Canadian Nadia Gontova finished second, 24 seconds behind, while the French Juliette Berthet-Labous completed the podium 38 seconds later. Célia Le Mouël and Alessia Vigilia finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Women's elite classification

1. Maëva Squiban – 35:36
2. Nadia Gontova – +0:24
3. Juliette Berthet-Labous – +0:38
4. Célia Le Mouël – +0:45
5. Alessia Vigilia – +0:52