The 19-year-old Belgian rode clear from the distance on the penultimate stage and nabbed his third victory since turning pro.
Remco Evenepoel continued to make waves, one month after capturing a stage win and the overall at the Belgian Tour, where he became the youngest ever winner in the history of the event. This time, he left his mark on the Adriatica Ionica Race, which on Saturday took the bunch from Padola to Cormons, not far from Gorizia, host of the last edition of the Giro del Friuli, some years back.
Ninth in the GC at the start of the day, Remco launched his move with more than 20 kilometers to go, on the San Floriano del Collio climb, and set off in pursuit of lone leader Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli). On the downhill, he made contact with the Italian, but didn’t remain too much there and attacked boldly and decisively inside the final 15 kilometers. Despite a concerted effort from behind, Evenepoel expanded his gap to more than two minutes and took his time to celebrate his third victory of the year on Monte Quarin.
“We controlled the stage, as the plan was to go for Philippe at the finish, but then several riders attacked, I countered and continued to press on, putting more and more daylight between us, as the advantage kept growing”, said Remco, who now holds both the points and best young rider jerseys. “I caught Masnada and put some pressure on him, before dropping him in the downhill. Then I just pushed myself and rode full gas until the finish. It’s really nice to take another win in my first race since returning to competition after the training camp in Livigno. It was another great day for the Wolfpack, we lead two classifications, got another victory and also three guys in the top 10, so we can be happy.”
Behind Evenepoel, the bunch split on the final hill and Philippe Gilbert emerged to take second from a group which contained also James Knox, who gained time on many of his rivals in the GC and jumped to third in the overall ranking, where Remco now lies in fifth and Mikkel Honoré in tenth place. At the same time, our squad strengthened the grip on the team classification, ahead of the final day.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claeesen/ Getty Images
