La Vuelta: Evenepoel solos to 50th pro victory

Remco Evenepoel became one of the youngest riders in history to amass 50 pro wins after another incredible display of strength on a tough day of racing that contained five classified climbs, including the brutally steep Puerto de la Cruz Linares, a 9.8km ascent averaging 8.6% which made its debut in La Vuelta.
The defending champion started the stage with two goals in mind: securing the KOM jersey, which was resting on his shoulders since last Saturday, and going for a third victory at this edition. Evenepoel was ready to attack from the start, and he didn’t waste any time when it came to showing his intentions, zipping away as soon as the flag was dropped and forming a strong breakaway group together with other riders.
With the peloton having no interest in chasing them down, the fourteen men in the lead built a considerable gap which at one point reached twelve minutes. Evenepoel was the driving force of the breakaway, taking some incredibly long pulls on both the flat and the climbs, on the latter passing first over the top to add more points to his already impressive tally in the mountain classification.
The strongest rider in the group, already victorious in Arinsal and Larra-Belagua, Remco led the break onto the first ascent of Puerto de la Cruz Linares, pushing a tempo that whittled down the group to just a handful of riders. Around four kilometers from the top, he made the decisive move, a short but powerful acceleration dropping all the other men, and putting him on course for a hat-trick of mountain victories at a single edition of the Spanish Grand Tour, something no other Belgian has achieved in the nine decades since the race was created.
Diving down the descent, but without taking any risks, Remco continued to increase his advantage, starting the final climb of the day two minutes clear of his nearest opponents. With each kilometer, the 23-year-old got closer to his seventh Grand Tour stage win, which he eventually got by a huge margin, pointing to his head to indicate his amazing mental strength before making a heart shape with his hands as he crossed the line.
“I dedicate this victory to my wife. I talked with her before the stage and said that if I would win again at this race, it would be for her. I felt really good today, I had very strong legs and am proud of what I did and achieved on such a tough parcours.”
“I won three of the most beautiful stages of this Vuelta, and even though the GC plan didn’t work out, I can call this an amazing race for us. We can be happy with these three weeks. When I attacked today on the penultimate climb, I felt that I was the strongest of the group, and once I had a gap, I just kept going. To take another victory and mathematically win the KOM jersey is just incredible”, added the first Belgian rider in the last 41 years to score a hat-trick of victories at the Vuelta a España.
Photo credit: ©Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
Race details
1 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal - Quick Step |
4:47:37 |
2 |
Damiano Caruso Bahrain - Victorious |
4:44 |
3 |
Andreas Kron Lotto Dstny |
5:10 |
4 |
Max Poole Team dsm - firmenich |
5:12 |
5 |
Paul Ourselin TotalEnergies |
5:17 |
6 |
Julien Bernard Lidl - Trek |
6:11 |
7 |
Egan Bernal Gómez INEOS Grenadiers |
7:01 |
8 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
9:29 |
9 |
Enric Mas Nicolau Movistar Team |
9:29 |
10 |
Sepp Kuss Jumbo-Visma |
9:29 |
40 |
Louis Vervaeke
Soudal - Quick Step |
20:36 |
65 |
James Knox
Soudal - Quick Step |
26:44 |
71 |
Pieter Serry
Soudal - Quick Step |
28:46 |
90 |
Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal - Quick Step |
30:52 |
99 |
Jan Hirt
Soudal - Quick Step |
30:52 |
132 |
Casper Pedersen
Soudal - Quick Step |
35:17 |
1 |
Sepp Kuss Jumbo-Visma |
65:31:27 |
2 |
Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen Jumbo-Visma |
0:17 |
3 |
Primož Roglič Jumbo-Visma |
1:08 |
4 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
4:00 |
5 |
Mikel Landa Meana Bahrain - Victorious |
4:19 |
6 |
Enric Mas Nicolau Movistar Team |
4:30 |
7 |
Cian Uijtdebroeks BORA - hansgrohe |
7:37 |
8 |
Aleksandr Vlasov BORA - hansgrohe |
8:35 |
9 |
João Almeida UAE Team Emirates |
10:20 |
10 |
Santiago Buitrago Sánchez Bahrain - Victorious |
12:20 |
13 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal - Quick Step |
27:53 |
37 |
Louis Vervaeke
Soudal - Quick Step |
1:58:18 |
40 |
Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal - Quick Step |
2:01:20 |
62 |
Jan Hirt
Soudal - Quick Step |
2:27:55 |
68 |
James Knox
Soudal - Quick Step |
2:35:57 |
95 |
Pieter Serry
Soudal - Quick Step |
3:14:02 |
142 |
Casper Pedersen
Soudal - Quick Step |
4:02:11 |
1 |
Kaden Groves Alpecin-Deceuninck |
228 pt |
2 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal - Quick Step |
192 pt |
3 |
Andreas Kron Lotto Dstny |
139 pt |
4 |
Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen Jumbo-Visma |
123 pt |
5 |
Primož Roglič Jumbo-Visma |
117 pt |
6 |
Sepp Kuss Jumbo-Visma |
112 pt |
7 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
105 pt |
8 |
Marc Soler Giménez UAE Team Emirates |
97 pt |
9 |
Lennard Kämna BORA - hansgrohe |
85 pt |
10 |
Marijn van den Berg EF Education-EasyPost |
85 pt |
36 |
Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal - Quick Step |
40 pt |
46 |
Casper Pedersen
Soudal - Quick Step |
30 pt |
1 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal - Quick Step |
129 pt |
2 |
Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen Jumbo-Visma |
51 pt |
3 |
Michael Storer Groupama - FDJ |
39 pt |
4 |
Romain Bardet Team dsm - firmenich |
35 pt |
5 |
Primož Roglič Jumbo-Visma |
33 pt |
6 |
Sepp Kuss Jumbo-Visma |
33 pt |
7 |
Damiano Caruso Bahrain - Victorious |
30 pt |
8 |
Andreas Kron Lotto Dstny |
28 pt |
9 |
Eduardo Sepúlveda Lotto Dstny |
23 pt |
10 |
Jesús Herrada López Cofidis |
22 pt |
23 |
Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal - Quick Step |
7 pt |
1 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
65:35:27 |
2 |
Cian Uijtdebroeks BORA - hansgrohe |
3:37 |
3 |
João Almeida UAE Team Emirates |
6:20 |
4 |
Santiago Buitrago Sánchez Bahrain - Victorious |
8:20 |
5 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal - Quick Step |
23:53 |
6 |
Einer Rubio Reyes Movistar Team |
41:26 |
7 |
Antonio Tiberi Bahrain - Victorious |
56:24 |
8 |
Attila Valter Jumbo-Visma |
59:54 |
9 |
Lenny Martinez Groupama - FDJ |
1:27:29 |
10 |
Finn Fisher-Black UAE Team Emirates |
1:43:01 |
1 | Jumbo-Visma | 196:00:56 |
2 | Bahrain - Victorious | 33:59 |
3 | UAE Team Emirates | 36:27 |
4 | BORA - hansgrohe | 38:13 |
5 | Movistar Team | 2:19:46 |
6 | TotalEnergies | 3:13:52 |
7 | Soudal - Quick Step | 3:39:11 |
8 | Groupama - FDJ | 3:42:24 |
9 | Lidl - Trek | 3:42:59 |
10 | Astana Qazaqstan Team | 4:09:10 |