Remco Evenepoel may not be having the Vuelta a España he envisioned at the start in Barcelona, but the defending champion is salvaging a solid result nonetheless after his GC hopes went up the road in week two. The Soudal Quick-Step leader won his third stage of the race and solidified his lead in the mountains competition after joining in the day's big breakaway and then going solo with 29 km to go on the first of two laps up the La Cruz de Linares climb.
Behind, the Jumbo-Visma team of race leader Sepp Kuss kept a close eye on affairs on the final climb, foregoing the intra-team attacks that had marked much of the race's third week. Instead, Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard mostly rode tempo on the climbs and let Kuss close down late moves from rivals. Vingegaard even let a slight gap open at the line, falling nine seconds further back in the general classification, although he remains second overall.
- For Evenepoel, the stage was something of a milestone, marking his 50th professional win. Regardless of his bad day in week two, 2023 has been a remarkably successful season for him, with a second Liege-Bastogne-Liege win, a world time trial championship, Belgian road title, and numerous other victories. He's also displayed impressive mental resilience at the Vuelta and looks set to take home the KOM jersey with a hefty lead over Vingegaard.
- Today's stage was a look at a kind of alternate reality of what the race would be like had Jumbo simply protected Kuss's lead instead of fighting it out amongst themselves. With the stage win out of reach, the only thing for the favorites group to ride for was the overall standings, and despite Bahrain Victorious riding aggressively into the final climb for Mikel Landa, none of the non-Jumbo riders high on GC could manage more than a few tentative attacks, all of which were easily closed down by Jumbo.
- Jumbo's new, more-traditional look apparently followed from an extraordinary meeting last night to quell the chaos around leadership questions. This morning, in an interview with Denmark's TV2, Vingegaard made a revealing comment that when Kuss began to slip back on the Angliru under Roglič's pace, "there wasn't anyone who told me what to do then and there." That seems to have changed as of today, but it's not assured yet whether that will hold.
- That's because there's one extremely hard stage left in the Vuelta, the 208 km stage 20. It features 10 climbs, and while none of them is especially long or steep, the short, explosive nature of the climbing recalls the finish at Bejes that Kuss said was less suited for his abilities. Rivals will doubtless attack him there, hoping to exploit lingering questions about his leadership and create uncertainty among the three Jumbo riders.
- Among "riders to watch" keep an eye on Max Poole. The 20-year-old Brit is racing his first Grand Tour, and the rookie DSM-Firmenich rider isn't just following wheels. Today marked his second time in the breakaway in the last three stages and third attempt overall, and the lanky climber was, for a time, the only one who could match Evenepoel.
Quotes of the day
"After my off day in Formigal I think I just had to turn the page and go for stages. I won three of the most beautiful stages and took the mountain jersey, so it's been an amazing Vuelta even though the GC didn't work out."
-Evenepoel on rebounding from his bad day on stage 13.
"I was a bit scared because [Jonas'] pace isn't always the easiest [to follow] but he rode super today. Today we rode a more defensive tactic, what we agreed on as a team in between us three."
-Kuss, on Vingegaard's pacemaking on the two laps of the La Cruz de Linares climb.
Worst of social
Jumbo's day on the road went more smoothly today, but one of its soigneurs had a rough go at the finish after getting manhandled by Spanish police. It's at least the second incident where Policia Nacional have been aggressively physical with official, credentialed team staff; a Cofidis soigneur was similarly accosted at the finish on stage 11 while cheering a win from his rider Jesus Herrada.
Up next: stage 19
The 2023 Vuelta takes a break from the mountains for a day with this 177.1 km stage from La Bañeza to Íscar. There are a few rollers, but no categorized climbs and the final 50 km or so are pretty much flat. The intermediate sprint comes late, at the 158 km mark. Expect an early breakaway, with pacemaking and control mostly from the sprinters' teams. Alpecin-Deceuninck will certainly put riders at the front to try to set up a fourth stage win for green jersey Kaden Groves, who may also want those intermediate sprint points as Evenepoel is getting uncomfortably close to his lead in that competition. UAE Team Emirates hasn't had as successful a Vuelta as it wanted, but Juan Sebastian Molano could give it a second stage win.
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