La Vuelta: A tough day in Aragon

Remco Evenepoel made sure of limiting the losses after an insane day of racing which culminated in a ruthless climb that, as expected, led to some noticeable changes in the general classification, which our rider was leading at the start of stage six.
Crashes, splits in the peloton, countless attacks, abandons – including one of Andrea Bagioli – all these happened in the first hour of racing Thursday afternoon. An incredibly high pace meant that all the breakaway attempts were doomed from the start in the first 50 kilometers of the stage, but once things calmed down a bit, a massive 42-man group got away and put a maximum gap of seven minutes between them and the bunch.
Soudal Quick-Step had Mattia Cattaneo and Louis Vervaeke there, and they both proved of great help on the final climb, where they dropped down from the break to work for Remco Evenepoel. When the going got tough and attacks started flying from all over the place with four kilometers remaining, the Belgian Champion initially relied on the Italian to guide him, before taking matters into his own hands and going at a steady tempo on the steep double-digit gradients of Pico del Buitre.
Remaining calm in these tough moments allowed Evenepoel to limit the losses, which at one point were close to 50 seconds, and conclude the stage only half a minute behind his main rivals, thus keeping a small advantage over them in the overall standings.
“I felt good, but I just couldn’t match the others when they went. I am glad I could limit the damage, riding at my own pace and making a controlled effort. I didn’t have the best legs today, it’s something that happens in cycling, but at least I could find a good tempo in the final kilometers and could even accelerate a bit at one point. Hopefully, this was my bad race of this race”, Remco said at the finish.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
Race details
1 |
Sepp Kuss Jumbo-Visma |
4:27:29 |
2 |
Lenny Martinez Groupama - FDJ |
0:26 |
3 |
Romain Bardet Team dsm - firmenich |
0:31 |
4 |
Mikel Landa Meana Bahrain - Victorious |
0:46 |
5 |
Marc Soler Giménez UAE Team Emirates |
0:46 |
6 |
Wout Poels Bahrain - Victorious |
1:03 |
7 |
Einer Rubio Reyes Movistar Team |
1:05 |
8 |
Cristián Rodríguez Martín Team Arkéa Samsic |
1:12 |
9 |
Steff Cras TotalEnergies |
1:12 |
10 |
Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda Hernandez Caja Rural - Seguros RGA |
1:26 |
24 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal - Quick Step |
3:24 |
36 |
Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal - Quick Step |
7:46 |
45 |
Louis Vervaeke
Soudal - Quick Step |
10:31 |
46 |
Jan Hirt
Soudal - Quick Step |
10:31 |
93 |
James Knox
Soudal - Quick Step |
24:35 |
136 |
Pieter Serry
Soudal - Quick Step |
29:20 |
137 |
Casper Pedersen
Soudal - Quick Step |
29:27 |
DNF |
Andrea Bagioli
Soudal - Quick Step |
-04:27:29 |
1 |
Lenny Martinez Groupama - FDJ |
21:40:35 |
2 |
Sepp Kuss Jumbo-Visma |
0:08 |
3 |
Marc Soler Giménez UAE Team Emirates |
0:51 |
4 |
Wout Poels Bahrain - Victorious |
1:41 |
5 |
Steff Cras TotalEnergies |
1:48 |
6 |
Mikel Landa Meana Bahrain - Victorious |
1:58 |
7 |
Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda Hernandez Caja Rural - Seguros RGA |
2:06 |
8 |
David de la Cruz Melgarejo Astana Qazaqstan Team |
2:23 |
9 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal - Quick Step |
2:47 |
10 |
Enric Mas Nicolau Movistar Team |
2:50 |
36 |
Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal - Quick Step |
14:58 |
37 |
Jan Hirt
Soudal - Quick Step |
15:34 |
63 |
Louis Vervaeke
Soudal - Quick Step |
31:27 |
82 |
James Knox
Soudal - Quick Step |
37:51 |
147 |
Casper Pedersen
Soudal - Quick Step |
56:16 |
154 |
Pieter Serry
Soudal - Quick Step |
57:36 |
1 |
Kaden Groves Alpecin-Deceuninck |
122 pt |
2 |
Andrea Vendrame AG2R Citroën Team |
62 pt |
3 |
Marc Soler Giménez UAE Team Emirates |
52 pt |
4 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal - Quick Step |
45 pt |
5 |
Andreas Kron Lotto Dstny |
45 pt |
6 |
Dries Van Gestel TotalEnergies |
38 pt |
7 |
Lenny Martinez Groupama - FDJ |
36 pt |
8 |
Sepp Kuss Jumbo-Visma |
35 pt |
9 |
Edward Theuns Lidl - Trek |
35 pt |
10 |
Juan Sebastián Molano Benavides UAE Team Emirates |
30 pt |
29 |
Casper Pedersen
Soudal - Quick Step |
15 pt |
1 |
Eduardo Sepúlveda Lotto Dstny |
21 pt |
2 |
Sepp Kuss Jumbo-Visma |
10 pt |
3 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal - Quick Step |
10 pt |
4 |
Matteo Sobrero Team Jayco AlUla |
6 pt |
5 |
Javier Romo Astana Qazaqstan Team |
6 pt |
6 |
Lenny Martinez Groupama - FDJ |
6 pt |
7 |
Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen Jumbo-Visma |
6 pt |
8 |
Damiano Caruso Bahrain - Victorious |
6 pt |
9 |
Marc Soler Giménez UAE Team Emirates |
5 pt |
10 |
Jesús Herrada López Cofidis |
4 pt |
25 |
Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal - Quick Step |
1 pt |
1 |
Lenny Martinez Groupama - FDJ |
21:40:35 |
2 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal - Quick Step |
2:47 |
3 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
3:06 |
4 |
Cian Uijtdebroeks BORA - hansgrohe |
3:08 |
5 |
João Almeida UAE Team Emirates |
3:17 |
6 |
Einer Rubio Reyes Movistar Team |
3:22 |
7 |
Santiago Buitrago Sánchez Bahrain - Victorious |
3:58 |
8 |
Thymen Arensman INEOS Grenadiers |
5:10 |
9 |
Attila Valter Jumbo-Visma |
6:24 |
10 |
Sean Quinn EF Education-EasyPost |
9:58 |
1 | Bahrain - Victorious | 64:31:40 |
2 | Jumbo-Visma | 0:03 |
3 | UAE Team Emirates | 1:15 |
4 | BORA - hansgrohe | 4:04 |
5 | INEOS Grenadiers | 8:53 |
6 | Movistar Team | 15:35 |
7 | Soudal - Quick Step | 23:34 |
8 | Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | 25:47 |
9 | EF Education-EasyPost | 26:22 |
10 | Groupama - FDJ | 31:30 |