Remco Evenepoel rolled off the start ramp in front of the Les Herbiers town hall last of all and covered the 45.4 km of the Chrono des Nations in 49’53”, at an average of 54.6 km/h. On Sunday 18 October 2026 the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider beat Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates XRG) by 2’11” and Stefan Küng (Tudor) by 2’28”.
It is his first win in the Vendée in his third appearance among the elite, and the widest margin since 2010. Earlier in the afternoon, over the 27.2 km of the women’s race, Maëva Squiban (UAE Team L’IMAD) won in 35’36”, 24” clear of Nadia Gontova (Liv AlUla Jayco) and 38” clear of Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-SUEZ).
The Italian thread runs through two names: Alessia Vigilia, fifth among the women, and Luca Giaimi, ninth among the men.
Evenepoel wins at his third elite attempt
Five years to turn the gaps around
Evenepoel had already won in Les Herbiers in 2018, as a junior. Among the elite he was fifth in 2021, 1’22” behind Küng, and second in 2023, 13” behind Joshua Tarling. This time the Swiss rider who beat him five years ago finished third, more than two minutes down: a swing of 3’50” between the two gaps.
Between 2021 and 2025 the elite race was shared by Küng, three times, and Tarling, twice. The run ends with the Swiss on the start line and, for the first time since he began dominating it, only third on the podium.
Eight days after Il Lombardia, on a new bike
The Belgian was fourth at Il Lombardia on 10 October. He came to the Vendée to race the new time trial bike developed with Specialized, and the test went the way he wanted: after the finish he said he had felt at one with the bike and had found the power and speed he was looking for.
He rode flat out without using any rival as a reference. It was his last chance to win in 2026, and the season ends with a step forward on equipment ahead of 2027.
The lead grew in every sector
First check: 2.5 seconds per kilometre
At the first time check, after 10.5 km, Evenepoel already had 26” on Küng, the second fastest at that point. That is about 2.5 seconds per kilometre. Vine was only fifth there, and his race would come later.
Between the checks: 3.4 seconds per kilometre
At the second check, at km 34.2, the lead over Küng was 1’47”, with Vine third at 1’55”. In the 23.7 km between the two points Evenepoel took 81 seconds out of the Swiss, about 3.4 seconds per kilometre: this is where the race was decided.
The last 11.2 km: Vine takes second place
In the finale Evenepoel caught Vine, who had started ahead of him. The Australian did not give up: from there to the line he lost only 16” to the winner, about 1.4 seconds per kilometre, the best finish after the Belgian’s.
Küng, over the same stretch, lost 24” to Vine and 41” to Evenepoel. That is how the podium turned in the last ten kilometres: the Swiss was second at km 34.2 and finished third.
The same pace as Millar in 2010
In 2010 David Millar beat Edvald Boasson Hagen by 2’19” over 48 km. Since then no Chrono des Nations winner had put more than two minutes into the runner-up. Per kilometre the two margins are practically identical: 2.9 seconds for Millar, 2.9 for Evenepoel.
The comparison that says most about the day, though, is inside the result. Between Vine, second, and Rémi Cavagna, sixth, there are 52”. Between Vine and Giaimi, ninth, 1’43”. The gap Evenepoel opened on the runner-up is wider than the one between second and ninth.
Vine averaged 52.3 km/h, Küng 52.0, Maxime Decomble, fourth and the best of the French, 51.9. Evenepoel is the only one above 54.
Squiban wins a women’s race settled by a few seconds
Six riders inside a minute
Squiban covered the 27.2 km at an average of 45.8 km/h. Gontova, a Canadian, finished at 45.3 km/h, Berthet at 45.0. The winner’s margin over second place is about 0.9 seconds per kilometre: a third of Evenepoel’s over Vine.
The top six finished within 56”, with Célia Le Mouël fourth at 45” and Isabella Bertold sixth. Among the men, nobody finished within that time of the winner: second place is 2’11” down.
In percentage terms the gap is a quarter
The two time trials are not the same length, and the fair way to compare them is the gap as a share of the winner’s time. Squiban put about 1.1% of her time into Gontova. Evenepoel put about 4.4% into Vine: four times as much.
In the same way Vigilia, fifth, is about 2.4% behind Squiban, while Bjerg, fifth among the men, is about 5.9% behind Evenepoel. In the women’s race the fifth-placed rider is closer to the winner than the men’s runner-up is to his.
Three French riders in the top four
In the Vendée the women’s race was a home affair. Squiban, Berthet and Le Mouël are French and fill three of the first four places. Only Gontova slipped between them, losing 24” to the winner and taking 14” from Berthet.
Vigilia fifth and Giaimi ninth, the Italians of the day
Alessia Vigilia 14 seconds off the podium
Vigilia (Uno-X Mobility) finished fifth, 52” behind Squiban, at an average of 44.7 km/h. She was 14” from Berthet’s third place and 7” from Le Mouël’s fourth: over 27.2 km that is about half a second per kilometre. She is the best Italian in the result, in a race where the podium was decided inside half a minute.
Luca Giaimi ninth among the men
Among the men the first Italian is Giaimi (UAE Team Emirates XRG), ninth at 3’54”, at an average of 50.6 km/h. He finished ahead of Samuel Leroux and 17” behind Alec Segaert, eighth: at the bottom of the top ten the gaps are as tight as in the women’s race.
Behind him came two MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort riders: Lorenzo Nespoli seventeenth at 6’36”, about 48.2 km/h, and Matteo Ambrosini eighteenth at 7’01”, about 47.9 km/h.
The time trial season ends in Les Herbiers
The Chrono des Nations is the last time trial of the year, and this year it said two different things. Among the men there was a rider on another level, who turned an end-of-season race into an equipment test won by a historic margin. Among the women there was a real race, settled by a few seconds.
For Evenepoel it is a win that changes nobody’s ranking but says a lot about the equipment he will start 2027 with. For Vigilia and Giaimi it is a top-ten place against time trial specialists at the end of a long season, and a benchmark to start again from.
Before the start the preview had Evenepoel as the name to beat: Chrono des Nations 2026: Remco Evenepoel in Les Herbiers eight days after Il Lombardia. Il Lombardia eight days ago is told in Paul Seixas wins Il Lombardia solo, aged twenty.
Results
Elite men, 45.4 km
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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” |
| 6 | Rémi Cavagna | Groupama-FDJ United | +3’03” |
| 7 | Stefan de Bod | Modern Adventure Pro Cycling | +3’36” |
| 8 | Alec Segaert | Bahrain Victorious | +3’37” |
| 9 | Luca Giaimi | UAE Team Emirates XRG | +3’54” |
| 10 | Samuel Leroux | TotalEnergies | +4’07” |
Elite women, 27.2 km
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maëva Squiban | UAE Team L’IMAD | 35’36” |
| 2 | Nadia Gontova | Liv AlUla Jayco | +24” |
| 3 | Juliette Berthet | FDJ United-SUEZ | +38” |
| 4 | Célia Le Mouël | Ma Petite Entreprise | +45” |
| 5 | Alessia Vigilia | Uno-X Mobility | +52” |
| 6 | Isabella Bertold | Torelli | +56” |
| 7 | Lotte Claes | Fenix-Premier Tech | +1’11” |
| 8 | Noémie Abgrall | Ma Petite Entreprise | +2’14” |
| 9 | Lauren Dickson | FDJ United-SUEZ | +2’16” |
| 10 | Gwen Nothum | Minimax Cycling Team | +2’27” |
News written with the help of Mnemosyne.
Sources
- DirectVelo, “Chrono des Nations 2026”.
- Velo-Club, “Chrono des Nations 2026: Remco Evenepoel vainqueur”.
- Velo-Club, “Chrono des Nations: Maeva Squiban gagne, classement femmes”.
- Escape Collective, “Evenepoel wins Chrono des Nations by over two minutes”.
- CyclingFlash, “Remco Evenepoel wins Chrono des Nations by over two minutes”.
- Photo: Denismenchov08, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
