The Belgian remains at the top of the GC after a hard and sweltering hot day in Sierra Nevada.

Remco Evenepoel defended himself superbly on the highest summit finish of the season, which featured at the end of stage 15 and took the riders at an altitude of 2512 meters, all the way to the top of the Sierra Nevada climb. Considered by many as being the hardest day of La Vuelta, stage 15 threw two hard climbs into the GC favourites way, but Remco didn’t flinch for a single moment despite the continuous pressure the other riders applied on him and kept the red jersey firmly on his shoulders.

The race got off to another crazy start on Sunday afternoon, and when a breakaway was finally established, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl had two delegates in the 28-man group: Fausto Masnada and Louis Vervaeke. Behind them, things remained quiet until the first classified climb, Alto del Purche, where a sudden injection of pace at the front of the peloton thinned out the group while eating into the escapees’ four-minute advantage.

Evenepoel found himself isolated, but only for a brief moment, as on the descent he linked up with Masnada, who in the meantime had slowed down and dropped out from the bunch. A group of around 50-60 men arrived at the bottom of the 22.3km Sierra Nevada climb, where things exploded in the first 500 meters on the viciously steep 20% gradient.

Immediately, Remco took to the front of the select group that emerged, showing his strength and determination as the others just sat on. The Belgian did the work until 14 kilometers to go, when Louis Vervaeke – who had been in the breakaway – took over and dug deep for his teammate, allowing the red jersey to keep his strength for the final part of this mammoth climb.

The 22-year-old produced an enormous effort, and at the same time a huge display of panache, to keep things under control, and even when three of his rivals jumped away and gained time as they got closer to the top, he remained as cool as a cucumber and made sure the elastic wouldn’t be snapped decisively, demonstrating his capacity for performing under pressure. At the finish line, only 15 seconds separated Remco from his nearest rival, which means that he will enter the third week of the race with an advantage of more than a minute and a half over the next rider in the standings.

“This morning I felt the legs were better than on Saturday, so I remained calm and confident the entire time even as the others were pushing that furious pace at the bottom of the last ascent. It was the first time in my career that I finished at this altitude and I kept fighting and pushing when the others tried to make things difficult for me. Remaining calm and confident was important, and I can be content with how things went, as I didn’t lose too much time.”

“Now it will be important to recover for the final week of the race and keep a fresh mindset for the remaining stages. My advantage is still a good one, the team continues to do an extraordinary work – you could see that again today – and we keep the same morale and motivation”, said the first Belgian rider in 44 years to lead a Grand Tour for ten consecutive days.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Thymen Arensman
Team DSM
4:17:17
2 Enric Mas Nicolau
Movistar Team
1:23
3 Miguel Ángel López Moreno
Astana Qazaqstan Team
1:25
3 Jay Vine
Alpecin - Deceuninck
1:30
4 Primož Roglič
Jumbo-Visma
1:44
5 Ben O'Connor
AG2R Citroën Team
1:44
6 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
1:55
7 Jai Hindley
BORA - hansgrohe
1:55
8 Louis Meintjes
Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux
1:55
9 Remco Evenepoel
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
1:59
22 Louis Vervaeke
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
8:00
57 Ilan Van Wilder
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
20:43
61 Fausto Masnada
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
20:45
112 Rémi Cavagna
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
32:35
113 Dries Devenyns
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
32:54
1 Remco Evenepoel
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
56:40:49
2 Primož Roglič
Jumbo-Visma
1:34
3 Enric Mas Nicolau
Movistar Team
2:01
4 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
4:49
5 Carlos Rodríguez Cano
INEOS Grenadiers
5:16
6 Miguel Ángel López Moreno
Astana Qazaqstan Team
5:24
7 João Almeida
UAE Team Emirates
7:00
8 Thymen Arensman
Team DSM
7:05
9 Ben O'Connor
AG2R Citroën Team
8:57
10 Jai Hindley
BORA - hansgrohe
11:36
43 Ilan Van Wilder
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
1:17:11
60 Louis Vervaeke
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
1:48:38
63 Fausto Masnada
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
1:52:11
111 Dries Devenyns
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
2:54:06
116 Rémi Cavagna
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
2:58:09
1 Mads Pedersen
Trek - Segafredo
284 pt
2 Fred Wright
Bahrain - Victorious
111 pt
3 Primož Roglič
Jumbo-Visma
107 pt
4 Remco Evenepoel
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
100 pt
5 Marc Soler Giménez
UAE Team Emirates
99 pt
6 Samuele Battistella
Astana Qazaqstan Team
91 pt
7 Enric Mas Nicolau
Movistar Team
88 pt
8 Jay Vine
Alpecin - Deceuninck
62 pt
9 Kaden Groves
Team BikeExchange - Jayco
60 pt
10 Lawson Craddock
Team BikeExchange - Jayco
57 pt
23 Fausto Masnada
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
36 pt
63 Rémi Cavagna
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
15 pt
1 Jay Vine
Alpecin - Deceuninck
59 pt
2 Richard Carapaz Montenegro
INEOS Grenadiers
30 pt
3 Thymen Arensman
Team DSM
22 pt
4 Robert Stannard
Alpecin - Deceuninck
21 pt
5 Marc Soler Giménez
UAE Team Emirates
20 pt
6 Enric Mas Nicolau
Movistar Team
19 pt
7 Jimmy Janssens
Alpecin - Deceuninck
17 pt
8 Miguel Ángel López Moreno
Astana Qazaqstan Team
16 pt
9 Primož Roglič
Jumbo-Visma
12 pt
10 Thibaut Pinot
Groupama - FDJ
12 pt
15 Remco Evenepoel
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
9 pt
24 Fausto Masnada
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
5 pt
1 Remco Evenepoel
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
56:40:49
2 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
4:49
3 Carlos Rodríguez Cano
INEOS Grenadiers
5:16
4 João Almeida
UAE Team Emirates
7:00
5 Thymen Arensman
Team DSM
7:05
6 José Félix Parra Cuerda
Equipo Kern Pharma
42:23
7 Sergio Higuita García
BORA - hansgrohe
42:47
8 Gino Mäder
Bahrain - Victorious
46:24
9 Edoardo Zambanini
Bahrain - Victorious
59:06
10 Clément Champoussin
AG2R Citroën Team
1:11:54
12 Ilan Van Wilder
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
1:17:11
1 UAE Team Emirates 169:17:58
2 INEOS Grenadiers 29:50
3 Astana Qazaqstan Team 43:48
4 BORA - hansgrohe 51:12
5 Movistar Team 52:39
6 Bahrain - Victorious 1:01:05
7 Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux 1:01:09
8 Jumbo-Visma 1:23:29
9 EF Education - EasyPost 1:23:37
10 Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 1:58:36

Our road wolves

Related products

Related items

La Vuelta: Evenepoel defends red on La Pandera

La Vuelta: Evenepoel defends red on La Pandera

03/09/2022 - Race report
Link
Vuelta a España: Evenepoel writes more history

Vuelta a España: Evenepoel writes more history

02/09/2022 - Race report
Link
Davide Bramati: “What Remco is doing in La Vuelta is special”

Davide Bramati: “What Remco is doing in La Vuelta is special”

01/09/2022
Link
Vuelta a España - stage 15

Vuelta a España - stage 15

04/09/2022 - Road
Link