Vuelta a España: Remco Evenepoel shockingly dropped on key Tourmalet stage

Belgian distanced on the first major climb with João Almeida

13:08, Friday 8th September 2023

Daniel Benson

Editor in Chief

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Remco Evenepoel began the day in the white jersey, and looked equally pale on the Col d'Aubisque

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) has become an early victim on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España with the Belgian losing contact on the Col d'Aubisque.

Evenepoel came into the key stage to the summit of the Tourmalet sitting fourth overall. The Belgian's race began to unravel halfway up the Col d'Aubisque and with 2km towards the summit, the GC contender was already a minute off the peloton.

All of Evenepoel's Soudal Quick-Step teammates dropped back to help pace their leader but by the summit of the first major climb, the white jersey was around two minutes clear as Jumbo-Visma continued to lift the pace for overall leader Sepp Kuss and third overall, Primož Roglič.

Evenepoel wasn't the only GC rider to suffer and lose contact with the race on the Col d'Aubisque with João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) also dropped and looking destined to fall outside of the top ten overall.

Evenepoel's demise within the race appears to have caught his team off guard too. GCN contacted team boss Patrick Lefevere, who was equally surprised to see his rider lose contact. When asked if Evenepoel was sick, Lefevere responded: "I have the same question. I’m in Belgium. This morning he was okay."

It is a disappointing debut in the French Pyrenees for Evenepoel, who prior to today had only ridden one elite race in France, the Chrono des Nations in 2021. All signs had pointed to a showdown between him and the Jumbo-Visma leaders over the final two weeks, but that now looks a distant dream.

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With 55km to go on the stage Evenepoel had lost 5:53 on Kuss and his other main GC rivals.

Evenepoel came into the 2023 Vuelta a España as the defending champion. He was forced to abandon the Giro d'Italia in May after testing positive for COVID-19.

Following Lefevere's comments to GCN, the Soudal QuickStep team confirmed during the stage that Evenepoel had not been sick before the stage.