Defending champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) stamped his authority on the 2023 Vuelta a España at almost the first available opportunity as he sealed an emphatic victory in a small group sprint that decided the race's first summit finish stage in Andorra.
Not even a spectacular post-finish crash, when Evenepoel first collided with a team soigneur then hit a barrier, cutting his head, could stop the Belgian from celebrating his stage win and return to the race lead.
The crash with the soigneur, who was allowed to stand too close to the finish on a slight downhill, once again highlighted ongoing safety issues at the race.
Fortunately, the injuries caused by his double spill were minor, with Evenepoel joking about them later, and his victory confirms his status as one of the top favourites for an outright win in Madrid. It also allowed his team to show their collective strength, quietening criticisms about their climbing potential even if the biggest mountain tests of this year's race are yet to come.
Evenepoel had already demonstrated his ability to win uphill group sprints this season. In February, he overpowered his GC rivals at the UAE Tour’s Jebel Jais to claim second place on the stage behind breakaway Movistar climber Einer Rubio and move into the overall lead.
To do so on the much bigger stage of the Vuelta a España, at the top of a much tougher climb, and against rivals with renowned aptitude for winning such battles like Primoz Roglic, was a far more difficult task. But the ever-versatile Evenepoel, crowned world time trial champion just a few weeks ago, proved more than a match for such a challenge.
“Today we showed we can win in other ways than always attacking, and it’s good to beat the others in an uphill sprint,” Evenepoel said. “It’s good for the others to know that I can do that.
“My good friend [and teammate] Louis Vervaeke told me this morning I could win in a small group sprint, and he was right. It was a new strategy for me to ride defensively, though, so I had to be patient and time my final attack well.”
Evenepoel’s rivals could hardly have failed to notice the exceptional power of his uphill sprint, with the Belgian starting his final acceleration a good 300 metres from the line. “That’s how every climber wants to win a race,” he said. “I think it was perfect tactics from us to be patient and to wait. We took the descent of the Ordino in the front, which was a good decision. I felt super good on the final climb with a long and very strong sprint, so I’m super happy with this victory.”
Evenepoel also agreed that collectively Soudal-QuickStep had taken a step forward as well on the Vuelta’s first major mountain stage. “I think that’s a very nice answer from my teammates to all the comments we got before the race,” he said.
“They have really shown what they can do in these three days. I’m very proud of them. The two Italians [Andrea Baglioli and Mattia Cattaneo] controlled on the Ordino, Louis was great on the descent, Pieter [Serry] and Kasper [Pedersen] controlled everything on the flat and James [Knox] and Jan [Hirt] supported me when the big attacks started.”
What Soudal-Quick Step could not control, logically, was where the race organisation had let team soigneurs stand after the finish. Evenepoel, who came away with a cut in his head as a result of his crash, first reacted sharply to the situation before taking a more relaxed attitude afterwards.
“Again, there were some safety questions,” he said initially. “It was only 50 metres after the finish line, and it’s the third day in a row and it’s breaking my balls a bit now.”
Later, though, he joked about it a little: “There was not enough space after the finish line, and I went between the cameras and soigneurs. But it’s only some skin and meat gone for my head, but that’s good because it’s less weight for the uphills.”
What will remain with Evenepoel after Andorra is the red jersey of race leader, of course. But he had already said, pre-Vuelta, that in the event of taking jersey in the first week, he would try and ‘loan’ it to a non-GC threat, just as he did with the Giro leader’s jersey this May with Andreas Leknessund. After Andorra, Evenepoel said, that tactic remained in place.
“It was not really planned to take the red jersey this early but if you can fight for a stage victory you have to do it, and if then you take the red jersey it’s a nice bonus,” he said.
“So that’s something have to think about now, and we’ll have to make up a plan to give it away. For now, in any case, we can enjoy both having the lead and today’s victory.”
