Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) could hardly have come closer to clinching a fourth Vuelta a España stage victory on Saturday as the Belgian champion was just pipped at the line in the finale by Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious).
The a stage 20 profile was compared to Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which was appropriate for the two former winners of the Ardennes Classic, Poels and Evenepoel, as they came to the forefront in a five-man dash for the line at Guadarrama.
After Poels jumped away, Evenepoel was the quickest to react and the Belgian was closing down fast on the Dutchman as the line approached. However, there was to be no fairytale ending to Evenepoel’s Vuelta a España stage hunt as Poels narrowly, but clearly, fended off his rival.
“Poels surprised me and the group by starting just before that final bend,” Evenepoel told Sporza.be. “It was a very clever move.”
Evenepoel explained that he had been caught out because the phone app he used for getting all the details about the finish had not given a correct reading of the gradient. But he recognised that Poels had chosen exactly the right strategy to fend him off at the line.
“He deserved the win,” Evenepoel concluded, before paying tribute to his three teammates - Louis Vervaeke, James Knox and Mattia Cattaneo - who had accompanied him in the break of the day for their contribution.
Evenepoel’s absence of a final win in the Vuelta, assuming he does not pull off a breakaway in Sunday’s sprint stage in Madrid, cannot detract from the bigger picture.
The World TT champion said he was more than satisfied with how his Vuelta comeback had played out, give clinching three stage wins and the mountains ranking represents a major turnaround of events after his GC debacle in the Pyrenees.
Evenepoel also said that he had been learning from observing Jumbo-Visma about how to prepare next year for the Tour, when it’s expected he’ll do fewer races in the spring prior to heading to France, and spend more time training and focussing on specific targets.
“They had a fully drawn-out schedule, they almost didn't race, they worked very meticulously to build up for the Vuelta,” he told Belgian media. “That is something we have to learn from. I had one very disappointing day, but otherwise I was consistently up there.”
As for what’s left in this year’s calendar, Evenepoel is already making plans.
“My form got better in this last week, today [Saturday] my legs weren’t totally great, but due to a small error I didn’t get the win. If I get things right and rest enough, I’ll be ready for Il Lombardia.”
