Evenepoel Returns at Volta a Catalunya With Something to Prove

Dorian Godon denied Remco Evenepoel by a matter of centimeters in a spicy finale on stage 1 of the Volta a Catalunya.

The Frenchman won it on the bike-throw in Sant Feliu de Guíxols on Monday after Tom Pidcock and then Evenepoel lit the turbos early in a grinding uphill sprint.

It was the second win in three race days for Godon, who’s come in hot for his debut season at Ineos Grenadiers.

Evenepoel finished second after Godon overhauled him meters from the line.

“The last 800 meters were uphill, and that’s something that should normally suit me. I went for it, and in the end, it just wasn’t quite for me,” Evenepoel told Het Nieuwsblad after the stage.

“That’s a shame, but it is a good start to the week,” he said.

Pidcock – not so fresh out of a stunning second place to Tadej Pogačar at Milan-San Remo on Saturday – was third.

Pre-race favorite Jonas Vingegaard finished safe in the pack after he stamped authority over the final of Monday’s stage.

This newly assertive “Vingo 2.0” led the bunch down a twisting high-speed descent through the final kilometers after the day’s early break was all swept up.

The explosive finale sets the tone for an aggressive week of racing at Volta a Catalunya across a tough vert-loaded parcours.

Back with something to prove

Evenepoel faces a key test of his Tour de France credentials at this week’s Catalan tour.

He faces a deep field of GC hitters that includes Vingegaard, Pidcock, João Almeida, Oscar Onley, and Derek Gee-West.

A tough week in Spain marks Evenepoel’s first race since his classification aspirations at the UAE Tour last month evaporated under the desert sun.

Two high-profile mountaintop capitulations left him 2:25 back on race-winner Isaac del Toro and looking for answers after he had romped across low-key races in Mallorca.

Tenth in the UAE isn’t what Red Bull signed him to a mega-contract for.

Evenepoel is expecting – and will be expected – to be better in his comeback at Catalunya.

He descended out of his very first altitude camp of the season only this weekend.

“The UAE Tour wasn’t my best week. In Tenerife, I was able to reset a bit and work for a good month. I was able to do everything on my schedule,” Evenepoel said Sunday. “Now we want to see the benefit.

“Given the course this week, I’ve focused mainly on longer blocks, since there are finishes involving more than half an hour of climbing.”

Evenepoel vs. Vingegaard? Remco hopes so

Evenepoel pinpointed Vingegaard as the reference point for this week’s race.

The Dane dominated the washed-out Paris-Nice earlier this month in a major statement of intent for his Giro-Tour double.

For Vingegaard, the Volta a Catalunya is a final tune-up for the Giro’s grande partneza.

For Evenepoel, it’s a chance to see where he stands against the best – and to end a three-year drought without WorldTour stage-race success.

“I’ve come close a few times, but it hasn’t really worked out yet. The only two stage races [that worked out for me] are the UAE Tour and the Tour of Poland,” Evenepoel said, referring to GC victories in 2023 and 2020 respectively.

“But of course those aren’t races like Paris-Nice or the Tour of Catalunya. I’m critical enough myself to know that I need to win again.”

Three summit finishes in three days from Thursday through Saturday will show whether gains on Teide have translated to the open road.

Volta a Catalunya stage 1 results: