Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl celebrates its first Grand Tour victory.

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day and they are right. The superpower that came to dominate most of Europe, as well as parts of Africa and Asia, needed centuries – sprinkled with defeats and numerous setbacks – to develop into the astonishing civilization that came to leave its mark over the world even now, more than fifteen centuries after its demise.

Keeping the proportions, the same can be said about the Wolfpack. What started out as a team focused on the Classics – which in time have become our bread and butter – has now fully grown into a versatile and mature squad capable of fighting for victory in any type of race and on any type of terrain, including the Grand Tours. From picking up stage wins and distinctive jerseys, our squad found itself attempting what many years ago looked like an improbable attempt of conquering the general classification of such a race.

The 2014 Giro d’Italia and 2018 Vuelta a España (and even the 2019 Tour de France) serve as examples of the team’s ability to morph into a real contender for these races which have mainly remained a dream, until this year, when a 22-year-old Remco Evenepoel turned them into something palpable, delivering a magnificent triumph that captivated an entire nation which had been waiting for a moment like this since 1978.

Demonstrating calmness, a clinical mindset, improved racing acumen as well as a fantastic ability to thrive under pressure, Evenepoel rewrote the cycling history books with each day spent in the lead in Spain, meeting all the hopes people had placed in him since his junior days and showing stage after stage that rare power to astonish that has led to all these expectations in the first place since his junior days.

His dazzling success wouldn’t have been possible without a team, and not any kind of team, but the Wolfpack and the amazing fighting spirit deeply ingrained in our DNA, showcased over the past three weeks by Julian Alaphilippe – a World Champion like none other – Rémi Cavagna, Dries Devenyns, Fausto Masnada, Pieter Serry, Ilan Van Wilder and Louis Vervaeke. His teammates joined him on the podium in Madrid, where Remco collected a historic red jersey – but also the white one for the best young rider of the race.

The emotions are still high. I can’t describe what it means to take my first Grand Tour and to be on the podium together with my outstanding teammates, it’s something really special that I will never forget.

“I worked hard for this, I made a lot of sacrifices and I’m happy it all paid off here in Spain. I’m proud to see the support of those at home, I’m thankful for that, as I am for the fantastic support I have continuously received the entire time from my team and my family. I’m happy to be part of this superb team and overwhelmed with what I achieved”, said one of the youngest riders in history to triumph in a Grand Tour, who raced the last stage of La Vuelta on a stunning red Specialized bike which matched his prestigious jersey.

“I worked hard for this, I made a lot of sacrifices and I’m happy it all paid off here in Spain. I’m proud to see the support of those at home, I’m thankful for that, as I am for the fantastic support I have continuously received the entire time from my team and my family. I’m happy to be part of this superb team and overwhelmed with what I achieved”, said one of the youngest riders in history to triumph in a Grand Tour, who raced the last stage of La Vuelta on a stunning red Specialized bike which matched his prestigious jersey.

“At the moment there’s a lot of joy and lots of emotions, but I think it will be only next week when we’ll realise what we all achieved here. It means a lot, it’s a collective victory. Coming into the race we believed in ourselves and in our chances of getting a good result, but it was after the time trial – when Remco gained so much time on the others – that we began thinking it was possible to keep red and take it to Madrid. It wasn’t an easy race, for half of the time we had to control it with just five guys, but both Remco and the team showed a lot of character and adapted to all the different situations we encountered, and if there’s one thing that makes me super proud, it’s this”, said Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sports director Klaas Lodewyck.

“Many people weren’t born the last time Belgium had a Grand Tour winner, so it’s quite a special moment. Remco surprised everyone, including us, and showed what a phenomenal rider he is”, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl CEO Patrick Lefevere explained in Madrid. “I am happy he believed in us when he was 17 and we started our beautiful collaboration. It wasn’t easy for him, especially with that crash in Lombardia which took away maybe a year of his career, but he proved his fantastic character and came back stronger from that. It’s a great moment for him, for our team and for Belgium, one that people will remember forever, and I’m proud of Remco and this incredible team that gave everything and did a great race!”

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Juan Sebastián Molano Benavides
UAE Team Emirates
2:26:36
2 Mads Pedersen
Trek - Segafredo
0:00
3 Pascal Ackermann
UAE Team Emirates
0:00
4 Mike Teunissen
Jumbo-Visma
0:00
5 Danny van Poppel
BORA - hansgrohe
0:00
6 Kaden Groves
Team BikeExchange - Jayco
0:00
7 Fred Wright
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
8 Lionel Taminiaux
Alpecin - Deceuninck
0:00
9 Ben Turner
INEOS Grenadiers
0:00
10 Cedric Beullens
Lotto Soudal
0:00
37 Fausto Masnada
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
0:11
39 Ilan Van Wilder
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
0:11
40 Remco Evenepoel
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
0:11
56 Dries Devenyns
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
0:23
73 Rémi Cavagna
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
0:38
123 Louis Vervaeke
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
2:03
1 Remco Evenepoel
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
80:26:59
2 Enric Mas Nicolau
Movistar Team
2:02
3 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
4:57
4 Miguel Ángel López Moreno
Astana Qazaqstan Team
5:56
4 João Almeida
UAE Team Emirates
7:24
5 Thymen Arensman
Team DSM
7:45
6 Carlos Rodríguez Cano
INEOS Grenadiers
7:57
7 Ben O'Connor
AG2R Citroën Team
10:30
8 Rigoberto Urán Urán
EF Education - EasyPost
11:04
9 Jai Hindley
BORA - hansgrohe
12:01
39 Ilan Van Wilder
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
1:45:24
56 Fausto Masnada
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
2:38:11
57 Louis Vervaeke
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
2:38:29
99 Dries Devenyns
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
4:09:15
103 Rémi Cavagna
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
4:16:33
1 Mads Pedersen
Trek - Segafredo
409 pt
2 Fred Wright
Bahrain - Victorious
186 pt
3 Enric Mas Nicolau
Movistar Team
138 pt
4 Remco Evenepoel
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
133 pt
5 Marc Soler Giménez
UAE Team Emirates
133 pt
6 Danny van Poppel
BORA - hansgrohe
108 pt
7 Pascal Ackermann
UAE Team Emirates
106 pt
8 Richard Carapaz Montenegro
INEOS Grenadiers
105 pt
9 Kaden Groves
Team BikeExchange - Jayco
74 pt
10 Juan Sebastián Molano Benavides
UAE Team Emirates
69 pt
31 Fausto Masnada
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
36 pt
71 Rémi Cavagna
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
15 pt
1 Richard Carapaz Montenegro
INEOS Grenadiers
73 pt
2 Robert Stannard
Alpecin - Deceuninck
36 pt
3 Enric Mas Nicolau
Movistar Team
28 pt
4 Thymen Arensman
Team DSM
23 pt
5 Remco Evenepoel
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
23 pt
6 Marc Soler Giménez
UAE Team Emirates
23 pt
7 Sergio Higuita García
BORA - hansgrohe
18 pt
8 Miguel Ángel López Moreno
Astana Qazaqstan Team
17 pt
8 Jimmy Janssens
Alpecin - Deceuninck
17 pt
9 Rubén Fernández Andújar
Cofidis
15 pt
23 Fausto Masnada
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
5 pt
1 Remco Evenepoel
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
80:26:59
2 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
4:57
3 João Almeida
UAE Team Emirates
7:24
4 Thymen Arensman
Team DSM
7:45
5 Carlos Rodríguez Cano
INEOS Grenadiers
7:57
6 Gino Mäder
Bahrain - Victorious
52:25
7 Sergio Higuita García
BORA - hansgrohe
1:01:23
8 José Félix Parra Cuerda
Equipo Kern Pharma
1:05:02
9 Clément Champoussin
AG2R Citroën Team
1:24:39
10 Edoardo Zambanini
Bahrain - Victorious
1:31:40
12 Ilan Van Wilder
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
1:45:24
1 UAE Team Emirates 240:36:32
2 INEOS Grenadiers 55:35
3 Movistar Team 1:16:52
4 Bahrain - Victorious 1:17:36
5 Astana Qazaqstan Team 1:34:18
6 BORA - hansgrohe 1:38:20
7 Jumbo-Visma 2:12:14
8 EF Education - EasyPost 2:25:47
9 Groupama - FDJ 2:33:37
10 Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 2:47:09

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