La Vuelta Ciclista a España

Valladolid, the former capital of Habsburg Spain and the city where Miguel de Cervantes lived when his magnum opus “Don Quijote” was published in 1605, welcomed the peloton Tuesday afternoon, as the Spanish Grand Tour resumed after a rainy but well-deserved rest day. An almost flat individual time trial, held over 25.8 kilometers, promised to deliver the biggest gaps of the race, and Remco Evenepoel was keen on taking advantage of this opportunity.

The World Champion, wearing his new rainbow jersey for the first time, had a new Specialized bike for the occasion, and produced a solid effort that helped him conclude the ITT with a time of 27:55, only 16 seconds behind winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers). Runner-up on the stage as one of the only two riders to go under the 28-minute barrier meant that Evenepoel made an important jump on the general classification, where he now sits third.

“It’s a mixed feeling. I didn’t have my best day out there and after ten minutes I had a difficult moment, and I think that’s where I lost the time trial. After that, I managed to increase the speed and match Ganna’s time, while gaining seconds on the others. On the plus side, I extended my advantage over the other GC guys, which is an encouraging thing at the start of this second week. We’ll soon arrive in the high mountains and I hope to keep the momentum of last weekend”, explained Remco after his eighth Grand Tour stag finish.

The general classification remains condensed ahead of the uphill finish on Laguna Negra, five of the pre-race favourites being in the space of one minute. Evenepoel remains the highest-ranked of these, only 69 seconds behind the red jersey.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images