Les Praeres, Spain – Remco Evenepoel’s hold on the Vuelta a Espaa lead tightened on Sunday, when stage nine concluded on a difficult ascent won by South African Louis Meintjes from a breakaway.
On a potentially critical stage, the 22-year-old Belgian Evenepoel was 52 seconds faster than the defending champion Primoz Roglic.
The most difficult climb of the day was the fifth and final ascent, which is 4 km long but has an average gradient of 12.5%.
Evenepoel extended his overall lead to 1min 12sec over Enric Mas and 1min 53sec over Jumbo-Roglic Visma’s on the 171km route from the Cantabrian coast to the inland summit of Les Praeres de Nava.
Tao Geoghegan Hart and Pavel Sivakov of Ineos are currently almost five minutes behind the leader, while Britain’s Simon Yates is three minutes and eight seconds behind the leader.
Carlos Rodriguez, a 21-year-old Spaniard riding for Inoes, is placed sixth with a time of 2 minutes and 8 seconds. He praised Evenepoel, but he has his own aspirations.
Rodriguez stated that finishing on the podium in a Grand Tour would be a dream come true.
“Those four kilometers up to Les Praeres were ridiculously difficult.
“Remco Evenepoel is head and shoulders above the competition. But we must all carry on and do our best, even though he is on a different level.”
Meintjes was a member of a 10-man breakaway that escaped on the day’s first of five hills. He ultimately finished 1 minute, 34 seconds ahead of the overall winner.
“Everything went perfectly today. The winner stated, “I was extremely fortunate, my team did a good job controlling the ball, and I attempted once and chose the correct breakaway, so that was good teamwork.”
Evenepoel was again set up superbly by his diligent mentor, world road race champion Julian Alaphilippe, who pursued any escape attempts from competitors before unleashing the prodigy on the last ascent.
Evenepoel remarked, “Julian has really impressed me, and I’m extremely proud of my squad.”
“It really moves me to see the people working for me in such a manner.”
Evenepoel accelerated with 2.5 kilometers remaining on the final ascent to pass everyone.
“I was quite exhausted, but as my legs began to feel like that, I realized that everyone is extremely exhausted. It’s also a matter of power when it comes to those percentages, and I’ve worked so hard for it; the previous two years have completely transformed me. Evenepoel said, “I’m a new person.”
During a race in Italy two years ago, the former player fell into a gully, broke his pelvis, and endured months of physical therapy.
Evenepoel and the rest of the peloton can take advantage of Monday’s rest day following a long trip across Spain to the Mediterranean coast in preparation for a 30km individual time trial in which the leader could further tighten the screws.