Soudal Quick-Step’s leader finds himself in a good position to triumph again at the Volta ao Algarve.
Remco Evenepoel took his first victory as reigning Time Trial World Champion on the fourth day of the Portuguese race. The stage held around Albufeira was 22.2 kilometers in length and consisted of a couple of short but sharp climbs as well as some technical sections, the latter coming in the second part of the course, but none of these could slow down the Belgian from his quest to claim the win.
The penultimate rider to roll down the start ramp, Remco produced a flying ride from the opening kilometers, going quickest through the first checkpoint. The route was hillier than in the past years, but that didn’t seem to bother Evenepoel, who increased his lead by the time he arrived at the second split, which put him in firm control of the virtual general classification. The 24-year-old maintained the average speed close to 50km/h and concluded the ITT with the fastest time by a large margin – 27:09.
“I was very motivated for this time trial, the first of the year in my beautiful rainbow jersey. There were a lot of strong guys at the start, but I immediately found my rhythm on the bike and produced a solid ride. The fact that I finished ahead of all of them makes me really proud. It’s nice to already have two victories from five days of racing”, said Remco after his fourth stage success at the Volta ao Algarve.
Saturday’s victory propelled him to the top of the overall standings with just one stage to go, which will finish on the Alto do Malhão, and the new leader of the race – who has a nice cushion over his opponents – believes in his chances of retaining the yellow jersey: “We have a very strong team and we’ll try to defend our position. I think that this result and what we showed two days ago serve as confirmation that we are ready. I love Portugal and it would be great to take this jersey home.”
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
