Evenepoel triumphs on Vuelta summit finish, takes red jersey

Remco Evenepoel took a big step in defending his title on Monday’s third stage of the 78th La Vuelta Ciclista a España, winning on a Andorran summit finish and seizing the red jersey from Andrea Piccolo (Italy/EF Education-EasyPost). He also grabbed the KOM and young rider classification leads. Enric Mas is his closest GC pursuer five seconds back and the Jumbo-Visma pair of Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič are 31 seconds and 37 seconds in arrears respectively.

Evenepoel didn’t have it all his own way. He was unhappy with his squad having to finish Saturday’s opening team time trial in the dark, and he wasn’t pleased with crashing into a spectator after the finish, coming away bloody from a cut on the head.

Remco Evenepoel has cleaned up the blood from his face and this is the damage following his crash.

Speaking about the turn after the finish (and wider in regards to organisation at this Vuelta), he said: “It’s a bit breaking my balls now.” #LaVuelta23 pic.twitter.com/cP3r1Q8fX1

— la vuelta a robyñ (@robynjournalist) August 28, 2023

The Course

Day three was all about two mountains in the final third of the day. After a long uphill drag, Cat. 1 Coll d’Ordino would warm up the legs. The first summit finish of the 78th edition was Cat. 1 Arinsal (8.2 km of 7.9 percent) in Andorra. It finally stopped raining but a headwind sapped everyone’s energy.

First big day of #LaVuelta23 takes the peloton to Andorra for a finish atop Arinsal, an 8.3km climb averaging 7.7% which they will tackle after Coll d'Ordino. pic.twitter.com/FHVNoESl7b

— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) August 28, 2023

It took a while for a breakaway for form, and for a third stage escape it was pretty big. Eleven chaps including Damiano Caruso, Pierre Latour and Lennard Kämna shook loose and headed for Andorra. Jumbo-Visma, Soudal-Quick Step and Ineos drove the peloton, and by the foot of Coll d’Ordino the eleven were 3:20 ahead.

The first ascent fragmented the break, as Caruso and Kämna and three others took their leave. Jumbo continued its presence at the front of the peloton until DSM-Firmenich took over. Caruso, Kämna and Argentinian Eduardo Sepulveda decanted the fugitive group. Piccolo fell away from the peloton, his time in the red jersey over.

Although Sepulveda snagged the KOM points and snatched the polka dot jersey from Sunday escapee Matteo Sobrero, Caruso attacked over the top 1:10 ahead of the diminished field. Sepulveda couldn’t hang on the descent.

Andorran Summit Finish

The Italian-German duo started up Arinsal with the same advantage it had at the crest of Coll d’Ordino. Kämna couldn’t drop the dogged Caruso. No team pushed the pace in the favorites group in the first half of the climb before UAE-Emirates grabbed the reins and whittled down the numbers. Finally, Kämna popped off Caruso, but his bid for glory was doomed.

Juan Ayuso attacked and Sepp Kuss took it up. Jumbo’s American and Marc Soler pulled back the German, with Mas powering the other favourites. When it came all together, Soler skipped clear. Again, Kuss ran him down. About 15 fellows went under the red kite together.

Evenepoel opened it up and Vingegaard tried to stay with the Belgian champion but could only muster second place. The world time trial champion then crashed into a what looked to be a soigneur after his celebration. Vingegaard, Ayuso, Roglič and Mas were all in a group of ten finishing a second behind.

Tuesday’s climbs are twin Cat. 3s in the final third of 185 km, the final one peaking from the finish in Tarragona.

78th La Vuelta Ciclista a España Stage 3
1) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Soudal-Quick Step) 4:15:39
2) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Jumbo-Visma) +0:01
3) Juan Ayuso (Spain/UAE-Emirates) s.t.

78th La Vuelta Ciclista a España GC
1) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Soudal-Quick Step) 8:43:11
2) Enric Mas (Spain/Movistar) +0:05
3) Lenny Martinez (France/Groupama-FDJ) +0;11