Remco Evenepoel survived the opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve on February 14, 2024. It was a great feat, as the final stage of the race to Lagos was marked by chaos. “I’m happy that I managed to avoid the accident and reach the finish line without any problems,” commented team leader Soudal Quick-Step on the team’s website.
Falls on the stage
A major accident around 30 kilometers from the finish saw half the peloton blocked by a bridge, with Soudal-QuickStep rookie Warre Vangheluwe among those who fell, and Evenepoel managed to escape.
After that, despite a few more late falls that divided the group, Evenepoel emerged unharmed, protected by teammates Mattia Cattaneo and Louis Vervaecke from the accident that sent Tom Pidcock crashing to the ground.
“There was an accident and I managed to escape by a hair, so to speak, I think for us, so job done today,” Evenepoel told reporters afterwards.
“I’m going to try to recover well because tomorrow (Thursday) is going to be a great day.” Tomorrow’s stage ends in Alto da Foia, where Evenepoel took his first victory in 2020.
Understanding the dangers of running
“Everyone knows that the finish is quite dangerous, with these long round points in the last kilometer,” Evenepoel explained to the Belgian press after the race. “Fortunately, everything worked out for us. Anyway, we don’t have a sprinter anymore, so we didn’t really have the motivation to enter the last kilometer first. I also don’t like getting in the way of sprinters.”
High level of competition
“The level was immediately very high, there were many elite sprinters at the start,” he noted. “You notice that certainly towards the end you get nervous and really fighting for each position. But I think in the most important moments we were ahead and stayed out of trouble.”
Evenepoel’s first test
On Thursday comes Evenepoel’s first test at Alto de Foia. “It will be an important step. We know the climb. It’s a beautiful climb and we’re climbing the same way as when I won in 2020, so I’m very motivated.”