Resurgent Remco Targets Glory on Last Day in Catalunya

Remco Evenepoel hasn’t had the results he wanted from the Volta a Catalunya, with a bizarre crash on Wednesday costing him a possible stage win and, it seems, also sapping his strength since then.

However he showed signs of a resurgence on Saturday and suggests that Sunday’s concluder might give him a chance to do something big.

“Tomorrow’s stage to Barcelona should suit me,” he said after Saturday’s race, according to Sporza. “The overall classification is more or less fixed, so I think there should be room to try something.”

Evenepoel looked incredibly strong on stage 3, breaking clear with Jonas Vingegaard and doing most of the work. He fended off a furious chase from the peloton and went into the final 500 meters with enough of an advantage to stay clear.

However he hit a hole in the road while moving his hands on to the drops and suddenly hit the deck.

He suggested on Friday morning that he was okay but, as things turned out, he faltered on the climb to La Molina/Coll de Pal and rolled in 1’38 behind.

“After that crash, I had a few difficult days,” he said. “The impact was somewhat greater than expected.”

As a result he started Saturday’s stage sixth overall, having slipped from third.

‘Better to have gone for the stage myself?’

Evenepoel’s big rival Jonas Vingegaard has been in dominant form Friday and Saturday but, in the second of those stages, the Belgian has shown signs of a possible resurgence.

He hit the front of the GC group on the day’s penultimate climb and began to drive the pace. He did the same on the descent, sending more riders out the back, and continued riding on the day’s final climb.

Jonas Vingegaard then made his big attack with 2.5km to go but Evenepoel only conceded 27 seconds in total, despite all the work he had done.

“It was really more of an impulse at the moment, as the plan was to try an attack on the penultimate climb,” he said of his decision to ride for Lipowitz.

“Halfway up that climb, I felt that my legs weren’t at their best. Good enough to ride hard, but I didn’t feel I could push beyond my limit. I also didn’t want to take any risks.”

Florian Lipowitz and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) rode together to try to limit Vingegaard’s gains and finally ended up just ten seconds back.

Evenepoel was fifth on the stage, 17 seconds behind that duo.

“On the last small climb I just rode a hard tempo upwards. In the end I only lost about ten seconds to ‘Lipo’ and Martinez,” he said.

“You could then ask yourself if I would have been better off going for the stage win myself. But then the race would have turned out differently. With this tactic I did a good job for ‘Lipo,’ but also for myself, because I gain a lot of time on the guys behind me.”

Still, given the amount of work he did, it’s clear he could have been close to Vingegaard had he saved energy rather than using it.

A big display on the way?

The Volta a Catalunya concludes Sunday on the tough Montjüic circuit in Barcelona. The riders will tackle the short, steep climbs there multiple times. Evenepoel has a strong ability on such ascents, as shown by his two victories in Liège-Bastogne-Liège plus his Olympic road race title.

He’s also a good descender and a powerhouse on the flat, all qualities that will be tested during the seven laps of the circuit.

He is sitting fifth overall but is 2’17 behind Vingegaard. That gives him room to maneuver as he won’t be considered a direct threat in terms of the GC.

If the legs are good, look for the Belgian to really shake things up. He came to the Volta a Catalunya to do something impressive and while the past two days haven’t gone to plan, he still has time to grab a win.

Given his strength of mind and his hunger, that could yet happen.