It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new Remco Evenepoel.
The day after losing almost 27 minutes to the Jumbo-Visma trident on the first day in the Pyrenees, the 23-year-old – back in the Belgian national champion’s jersey – was a different rider on stage 14. Clearly keen from the start of the day, he made it into the breakaway and was instrumental in whittling it down in the high mountains, eventually reducing the 30-odd riders to two. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich) was the best of the rest, but the Frenchman could not hang on in the last 4 km of the Puerto de Belagua (9.4 km at 6.3%), and Evenepoel climbed away to take his second stage win of the Vuelta.
How it happened:
- Evenepoel was a picture of determination from the very start, despite advice to the contrary from Soudal Quick-Step sports director Klaas Lodewyck who apparently told his charge, “There is no point in joining the breakaway today.” The 23-year-old was part of several early formations, including the first two-man move along with Nelson Oliveira.
- The move of the day eventually went away towards the end of the flat ride out from the start. It was eventually whittled down from about 25 to a solid 15 on the first of three major climbs (four in total including third-category Puerto de Laza 35 km from the finish), including Bardet, Evenepoel and loyal Soudal Quick-Step domestique Mattia Cattaneo.
- It seemed that a combination of heat, cumulative fatigue and the gradients of the HC climbs conspired against much of the breakaway, with visibly tired bodies dribbling out the back there and in the peloton too. Evenepoel though, was a rider reborn, and the Belgian went clear on the descent of the first climb of the day after taking maximum KOM points over the top. Only Romain Bardet could follow and the pair raced into the latter half of the stage with a growing advantage.
- The GC race was kept on pause for most of stage 14, the only flurry of action coming on the second HC climb. UAE Team Emirates had looked determined earlier in the day when they took over from Jumbo-Visma to keep the breakaway in check, but their matches were burned through fast. Seeing an opportunity only visible to him, or just feeling backed into a corner by isolation, Juan Ayuso made a couple of ill-fated attacks in the last few kilometres of the Puerto de Larrau (15.1 km at 7.8%), but he barely gained more than a wheel before a Jumbo-Visma rider was on his case. For the remaining 50 km, the GC group backed off, allowing several domestiques to regain contact and the gap to the leaders bounced out to uncatchable.
- It appeared that Evenepoel was doing the lion’s share of the work at the front – not just in the move with Bardet, but he’d been filling the TV coverage from kilometre zero. Bardet said after the finish that, “Sitting on his wheel was like riding into a headwind he was going so fast. He did 80 per cent of the work and there’s no doubt that the strongest rider won. It was mad following him. When he was on the descents he was so aero that I was having to pedal to stay with him, and that was the same on the flats.” The pair stayed together until 4 km to go where one look over the shoulder showed that Bardet was done. Evenepoel stamped on the pedals to consolidate his advantage, and climbed away to take victory by over a minute, and the polka-dot jersey with it.
- Davide de la Cruz (Astana Qazaqstan) led home the GC group after a late attack – an attempt to clamber into the top 10 – but his one second was the only time gained at the end of a very tough day in the Pyrenees, and the main GC players remain the same with one day to go before the rest day.
Brief results:
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Brief analysis
- After the end-to-end action of stage 13, there’s much less to say about stage 14, which is hardly surprising given the convergence of challenging terrain, the aftershock of Friday’s drama, and the heatwave that’s blanketing Europe just now. The performance of Mr Remco Evenepoel, though, deserves attention, perhaps more for his mental resilience than the clear physical form that he evidently still carries. No one would have blinked had he buried himself in the peloton for the duration of Saturday’s stage, letting go when he felt like it towards the finale while looking ahead to the opportunities to come. But after a near-sleepless and teary night in the team hotel, Evenepoel showed he’s resolutely still here, and boy, is he going to race. He may even still get a visit to the final podium in Madrid if his new target of polka dots works out.
- In the GC race, Jumbo-Visma was naturally ever-present near the front of the peloton, and though several other jerseys made themselves known during the stage – Bora-Hansgrohe and Bahrain Victorious included – it was UAE Team Emirates that seemed to have the most clear plan, even if it didn’t really work. With João Almeida now firmly in domestique duty after his own capitulation on stage 13, and Marc Soler seemingly beginning to flag, UAE seemed eager to set something up for Ayuso. But was his attack planned for where it happened (over 50 km from the finish) or was he forced into accelerating by running out of teammates? Looking at the profile, and indeed with the benefit of hindsight, good legs and a brave head would likely see this as the only place to attack and go on a flier, the last climb being more of a power grind. Perhaps the best young rider and his team hoped to draw out moves from the likes of Enric Mas (Movistar), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), and batter one or more of the top dogs into submission, but only De la Cruz was tempted to accelerate before the continued marking of the Jumbo-Visma trio forced them back into stalemate. It might have been in vain – not to mention burning some much-needed energy stores in his team – but Ayuso tried, which is more than you can say for anyone else. That’s good news for the remainder of the race, and hopefully next time he’ll have company.
Quote of the day
Evenepoel can nearly always be counted on for a decent quote, and after stage 14 the 23-year-old was open about what he went through mentally after losing time on stage 13, before explaining his knowledge of Saturday’s stage.
“I had a very bad night and a lot of negative thoughts in my head. Today, I woke up, and I thought to myself, ‘Just go for it and make the best of it.’
“I did a recon of this stage because it was important for the GC and because it was a super hard stage. I knew it perfectly: how the climbs were, how hard they were because it was a super tough stage. I think it’s just super nice to take a second stage win. I can be very proud of this answer after yesterday.”
What’s next?
Stage 15 takes the Vuelta peloton onto rather more gentle terrain between Pamplona and Lekunberri. There’s very little flat terrain on Sunday’s 159-km race, but with just three categorised ascents among the lumps and bumps along the way, it’ll be more one-day classic than GC showdown, and the Lekunberri laps – feat. the second-category Puerto de Zuarrarrate (6.3 km at 5.1%) – will favour an attacking breakaway. Look out for the likes of Einer Rubio (Movistar), Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe), and hey, what about stage-hunter extraordinaire Remco Evenepoel? If he’s still feeling good, and resplendent in the big blue polka dot jersey, who would bet against him?
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Speculation continued the morning after Evenepoel’s precipitous drop out of GC contention, and having offered no words to media on the day itself, the young Belgian champion kept it simple before stage 14.
But it was a new day, and Evenepoel entered into a heated mano-a-mano battle with Bardet on a very very hot day in the mountains.
It wasn’t just the riders looking for respite from the heat of the sun.
Chapeau, Remco.
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