Supported by an outstanding team, Remco successfully defended the leader’s jersey on the queen stage.
Remco Evenepoel came out of the tough stage 4 of the Belgium Tour with a top 3 finish and the blue jersey firmly on his shoulders, but more importantly, with a huge boost of confidence after fending off all the attacks launched by his opponents on the tough hilly terrain around Seraing and asserting his domination over the race.
“Today is a day I will always remember. My team did a tremendous job – Eros, Pieter, everybody in the squad – they were all superb and I want to thank them for their help. From my part, I gave it my all on this legendary parcours, in front of an amazing public, and retained the leader’s jersey, which gives me a lot of joy going into the final day”, a smiling Remco said at the finish.
Featuring the iconic climbs of La Redoute and Roche-aux-Faucons, the 151.1km-long stage witnessed a brisk start to proceedings, as many riders tried to book a place in the breakaway. After 15 frantic kilometers, six men managed to get a gap and build a two-minute maximum advantage, but with Deceuninck – Quick-Step always present at the front, they were living on borrowed time.
Eros Capecchi and Pieter Serry put on display the amazing and unique Wolfpack spirit, chasing down the escapees and bringing everything back together with under 20 kilometers to go. Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) lifted himself from the saddle and attacked, but Remco remained calm and closed down the gap near the top of Roche-aux-Faucons, before exploding away from his rival with just two riders on his wheel: Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Soudal) and Andreas Kron (Riwal Readynez).
The young Belgian of Deceuninck – Quick-Step – who kept hitting new heights this week – continued to dazzle, relentlessly pressing on at the front and making sure the trio’s gap continued to extend in the closing kilometers, before taking third place in the sprint, a result which reinforced his position at the head of the general standings. Ahead of the last stage, a flat one between Tongeren and Beringen, Evenepoel has more than 50 seconds over the next rider in the ranking, but remains cautious.
“The stage wasn’t easy, as the guys from Lotto applied pressure immediately, but I could rely on a great team and that gave me a lot of confidence. In the final, when Wellens attacked, I didn’t panic, just tried to control the gap before attacking in the false flat near the top of the climb. We caught him, and when I saw he was losing ground after Campenaerts’ acceleration, I pushed as hard as possible. In the sprint, I didn’t have enough to fight for the win, but Victor was anyway stronger, so congrats to him. I still lead the GC, but there’s one more day to go and we must remain calm, continue to control things and hopefully deliver Fabio for a bunch sprint”, explained Remco, who tops also the points classification at the Belgium Tour.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen/ Getty Images
