Race leader Remco Evenepoel showed the first wobble to his superiority in this year’s Vuelta a España, the Belgian rider dramatically weakening on the final climb of Saturday’s stage 14 and losing time to several key rivals.
The Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider began the stage with an advantage of close to three minutes over his closest challenger Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma). The Slovenian is the winner of the past three editions of the race but has been below his usual level due to the injury which forced him to withdraw from the Tour de France, plus disrupted preparation since.
However Roglič appeared back to a strong level on Saturday’s stage, attacking on the final climb of La Pandera and drawing steadily clear of Evenepoel. The young Belgian rider cracked and was distanced by six of his rivals, with Miguel Ángel López (Astana Qazaqstan Team) and Roglič finishing 48 seconds ahead of him.
They also took time bonuses of six and four seconds for second and third on the stage, with the breakaway rider Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) the first across the line.
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Evenepoel retained his red leader’s jersey, but his advantage over Roglič is now down to one minute 49 seconds.
“It wasn’t my best day for sure,” he admitted. “I didn’t have the best legs, I couldn’t accelerate when Roglič went.
“I’m still 1′50″ ahead in GC [general classification], so nothing to really panic about. I’ll try to recover as much as possible and survive tomorrow.”
He crashed on a corner on Thursday and said that this was a factor in losing time on Saturday’s stage.
“I have some sore muscles but it should be gone by tomorrow or after the rest day. For sure it’s the second day after the crash and that’s often the day you don’t feel really good. I’m not gonna use that as an excuse. I just didn’t have my best legs today. I hope this was my bad day for these three weeks.”
Spain’s Enric Mas (Movistar Team) remains third overall and has also reduced his deficit. However he is two minutes 43 seconds behind Evenepoel, making Roglič the biggest danger heading into Sunday’s gruelling stage, a 152.6 kilometre race to the top of the 2501 metre-high Sierra Nevada climb.
