Remco Evenepoel blitzes his rivals with dominant TT win

Remco Evenepoel blitzes his rivals with dominant TT win

This story first appeared on VeloNews.com.

Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) made his biggest deposit on the red jersey as he blasted to victory in the time trial on stage 10 of the Vuelta a España, beating his nearest rival by almost a minute.

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) was the next best rider. The Slovenian finished some 48 seconds behind Evenepoel while Remi Cavagna (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) was third and a minute slower than the Belgian.

Evenepoel was 36 seconds up on his teammate Cavagna at the intermediate time check and continued to add time to his buffer over the second half of the course. Roglič gained time on Cavagna following the first check, having been a second slower than the Frenchman, but he gave away an extra 11 seconds on Evenepoel on the way to the line.

Roglič now moves into second overall but Evenepoel drastically extended his advantage in the GC and he now takes a 2:41 lead into stage 11. Enric Mas (Movistar), who started the day in second place, limited his losses as much as possible but dropped down to third after giving away 1:51 to Evenepoel in the TT.

“That’s a big surprise,” Evenepoel said when he was told of the 48-second margin of victory. “I saw that my teammate Remi did very well and, actually, it was perfect that he did such a good time trial for me to know the good times. When I was still sitting on the bus, I could see that everybody was actually slowing down in the second part compared to his time.

“I knew I just had to push one power all the time because it was flat with a super hard finish. My legs were so heavy on this last bump, it was really hard, but it was super nice to win this time trial in the red jersey. It’s an amazing feeling.

“I’m just so happy to take a stage win. I think I achieved what I came to do and now we’re going to fight and try to win this Vuelta. The pressure is off, I won a stage, so now the whole team is super confident. Everyone is performing so well, now we just need to fight to keep this jersey and take it home to Wevelgem.”