Remco Evenepoel: I’ve shown Jumbo-Visma I’m not lying about Vuelta a España GC

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) soft pedalled over the line on stage 16 of the Vuelta a España almost 15 minutes down on stage winner and now race favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). Two weeks ago, when the Belgian was fighting tooth and nail for the red jersey, such a scenario would have seemed unthinkable but time moves on, and it's time that Evenepoel had on his mind when he crossed the line in Bejes alongside teammate Jan Hirt.

Those stage 16 time losses were not generated through exhaustion on behalf of the Belgian but through design, with the 2022 Vuelta champion aiming to create a big enough buffer between himself and the GC favourites in the hope of being allowed up the road to the summit of the Angliru on stage 17.

Evenepoel came into the race with the aim of winning back-to-back titles but since his capitulation on the Tourmalet stage the time trial world champion has had to plot a different path to success on this year’s race. With two stage wins in the bag and the mountains jersey up for grabs, the all-rounder still has plenty to play for but the Angliru stage would be a seminal moment in his career, especially given the respect and fear the legendary climb generates between riders and fans.

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At the finish in Bejes on Tuesday, as Vingegaard and race leader Sepp Kuss provided their daily media duties, Evenepoel tapped over the finish before giving his assessment on his plans for the coming two days. It’s a glaring state of his talent that Evenepoel can effectively tell a race his entire game plan for the upcoming stages and have the power to back it up.

At 29:39 down on the red jersey, Evenepoel’s entire race is about stage wins, the mountains jersey and anything else he can pick up between here and Madrid. It wouldn’t be a complete stretch to see him infiltrate the break for the next two stages.

"I just let it go in the end. It was a pretty relaxed day for myself. I took it easy because I’ve shown Jumbo that I’m not lying about going for GC anymore. To defend this mountain jersey it makes more sense to be in the breakaway. If it’s tomorrow, I don’t know, I can’t say. The day after is also a beautiful stage,” Evenepoel said.

“Today I tried to make sure that I could get more freedom for the breakaway. I’m now about 30 minutes down on GC and that’s quite a lot. To be able to get points for the mountain jersey, that’s also why I lost time today. I hope they’re not worried now. I hope they believe me.”

“Winning on the Angliru, it would mean a lot but that’s easy to say the day before. You just have to wait for the race situation and see what the leading team does. It would mean a lot to me because it’s a super famous climb. Everyone wants to win up there. We’ll see. The main goal is to try and grab some points for the jersey and then we’ll see about the stage win.”

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