Vuelta a España Stage 15: Evenepoel Reaches Remaining Relaxation Day In Pink… For Now

September 4, 2022

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Fast Step’s Remco Evenepoel continues to be on monitor to turn into Belgium’s first grand tour winner in 44 years if he can survive another hellish week on the 2022 Vuelta a España, following in the present day’s efficiency the place he ceded minimal time to his rivals atop the Sierra Nevada. Enric Mas of Movistar enlivened the motion on the ultimate climb with a counterattack to observe Astana’s Miguel Angel Lopez, after Roglic’s Jumbo workforce did not launch their chief at the beginning of the climb as anticipated. Evenepoel, then in control of the teammate-less leaders’ group, let Mas go and saved on his tempo, neutralizing Roglic till the ultimate 2km when the Slovenian and three-time defending winner lastly received clear with Ben O’Connor of AG2R. However no person actually made main headway towards Evenepoel on the day, with Mas gaining 36 seconds to drag inside 2:01 of the Belgian, and Roglic securing one other 14, getting into the remainder day 1:34 off the tempo.

DSM’s Thymen Arensman grabbed the stage win, coming round a faltering Marc Soler on the ultimate climb and soloing dwelling safely forward of the remainders of the breakaway, conserving a remaining cushion of 1.23 over the chasing group of GC riders. For the Pelican of Deil, it was his second win on the World Tour degree in his third full season on the high degree, and moved him into eighth total, signaling his rise into grand tour rivalry at age 22. Mas held off Lopez for second place on the stage.

For all of the expectations coming in, the race ended up being a gentle disappointment to Evenepoel’s rivals, who had him on the ropes simply 24 hours in the past. Jumbo was spoiling for this struggle, surrounding Roglic with helpers at the beginning of the ultimate climb, solely to see all of them soften away over the 20% gradient, leaving their captain alone to struggle with the leaders. To his credit score, Evenepoel was undaunted by the maneuvers, and whereas his remaining time loss wasn’t supreme, it was quite a bit lower than anticipated after yesterday’s struggles. The remainder day will provide him an opportunity to regroup after the toughest part of the Vuelta (on paper anyway), as he hopes the ultimate three mountain phases, that includes no scarcity of climbs however nothing of the altitude or problem confronted during the last two phases, provide too little area for his rivals to claw again their appreciable deficits. Evenepoel could have been hampered yesterday by a crash suffered on Thursday, and even that limitation ought to be pale into historical past by the point the peloton rolls out once more Tuesday.

One of many extra heroic rides of the day featured 19-year-old Juan Ayuso, struggling for seemingly ages off the again of the leaders’ group, solely to maintain his head and even come previous Evenepoel to stay in fourth place total. His UAE workforce appears extra intent on letting riders chase stage victories than serving to their total chief, making Ayuso’s effort all of the extra spectacular, defiant even. Alpecin’s Jay Vine grabbed just a few extra mountain factors and now leads Richard Carapaz of INEOS by 59-30, whereas Mads Pedersen prolonged his insurmountable lead within the factors competitors.

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