The Belgian suffers on stage 14, but fights admirably to keep a hefty advantage over his opponents.
The fifth summit finish turned out to be the most demanding stage of the race so far for Remco Evenepoel, who was put under pressure by his rivals, all of whom attacked in waves on the toughest part of the final climb. Remco however managed to limit the losses and remain at the top of the general classification with one stage to go until the third rest day.
A hard tempo from the bottom of Sierra de La Pandera ripped the peloton apart, leaving only a select group in pursuit of the breakaway. Having controlled the stage from the beginning, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl remained prominent with Ilan Van Wilder, who set the tempo for Evenepoel, burying himself for the red jersey. When the big moves came four kilometers from the top, Remco showed a lot of maturity, not panicking and riding his own tempo on the double-digit gradient that began to bite, despite losing contact with his rivals, who tried to make him crack, only to see a spirited and resilient response from the GC leader.
This allowed the Belgian not only to make sure the gap didn’t go over the psychological barrier of one minute, but also to bridge across to some of those that had initially dropped him, in the end coming home around 50 seconds behind his main opponents. Ahead of the toughest ascent of the race – Sierra Nevada, which will take the peloton at an altitude of more than 2500 meters – the 22-year-old has a buffer of 1:49 over the second-placed rider and remains optimistic about his chances of carrying la roja into the third week.
“It wasn’t my best day, that’s for sure, and I suffered a bit as I didn’t have my best legs, but there’s no reason to panic. If this was my bad day, then I can be content with that. It’s important to recover for Sunday and try to defend myself on the tough summit finish that we have at the end of the stage”, said Remco after donning the red jersey for the ninth consecutive day. “The last three kilometers of the climb were really steep, and the wind made it impossible to stay in the wheel, but I remained calm and kept fighting. I can’t say that I’m worried, because others lost time as well in the previous days, that’s how a Grand Tour works. The confidence remains at the same level and I’m ready to do my best on the last mountain stage before the rest day.”
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
