Remco Evenepoel never hid his intention to hand over the red leader’s jersey in the 6th stage of the Vuelta a España 2023. However, the way everything unfolded was certainly not how the Belgian had planned.
“I felt good, but I just couldn’t follow when the others went,” Evenepoel said in an honest and open interview after the stage, referring to Primoz Roglic’s attack on the final climb of the stage that initiated the battle for the general classification.
“I rode at my own pace and ended up being 30 seconds slower than the best climbers. It didn’t feel like I had to give it my all; it was more of a controlled effort. I couldn’t push past the limit; sometimes you have these days. I didn’t have the best legs.”
After initially falling behind, Evenepoel managed to regroup, catch his breath, and actually looked strong as he crossed the line just 32 seconds behind Roglic and teammate Jonas Vingegaard, still positioning himself better than both in the general classification.
Watch how Evenepoel, Roglic, and Vingegaard finished:
The 20-year-old Frenchman, Lenny Martinez, has taken over the lead in the general classification, with the stage winner, Sepp Kuss, currently in second place, 6 seconds behind. Evenepoel is now ninth in the general classification with a 2 minutes and 47 seconds disadvantage, so everything is still in play.
“If this was a bad day, then it’s okay,” he concludes. “I had some heavy legs during the ride, but I hope this was one of the worst days of these three weeks.”