On the Vuelta a España stage 13 summit of the Col du Tourmalet on Friday night, the protocol ceremonies had been all however winding down and the crowds had been starting to maneuver away when a knot of 9 riders handed behind the road of photographers and the winners’ podium.
Amongst them had been 4 Soudal-Fast Step riders, and one, clad within the white jersey of finest younger rider, Remco Evenepoel.
Evenepoel and his crew didn’t want the booming commentaries of the Vuelta podium audio system congratulating the winners and jersey holders to inform them what they already knew.
Greater than 27 minutes down – and inside 10 minutes of the time reduce for the stage – the day began to unravel badly for Remco Evenepoel on the primary main climb of the day, the Col d’Aubisque, the place he was dropped alongside fellow GC hopeful João Almeida (UAE Emirates).
Over the 90km slog left to the end, Almeida fared higher, managing to restrict his losses to only below seven minutes. However for Evenepoel, the state of affairs was unimaginable to avoid wasting. After his bitter exit from the Giro d’Italia after catching COVID-19 whereas main the race, his tried fightback and defence of his 2022 Vuelta title had proved to be unimaginable
Within the mish-mash of crew automobiles some 300 metres on from the summit, Soudal-QuickStep did their finest to provide their defeated chief and his teammates some sort of safety from the dozen or so reporters who waited for Evenepoel to reach.
Obstacles had been positioned between two crew automobiles to create a digicam and microphone-free zone, opening just for the riders to wheel their bikes inside, obtain some heat clothes and a primary restoration drink, earlier than heading down the mountain street to the crew buses, ready some 4km under.
His face, like his teammates, drawn and drained from the trouble of greater than 4,000 metres of climbing in simply 134 kilometres, Evenepoel rapidly spoke to crew employees, certainly one of whom helped him don a Belgian nationwide champion’s rain jacket, and after simply a few minutes contained in the Soudal-QuickStep compound, he was able to go.
One shouted remark or query from a journalist in Flemish was resolutely ignored, however then the makeshift barrier opened and the Belgian champion rode by way of the double line of journalists and away from the race, his descent initially traceable because of a smattering of applause from followers additional down the mountainside as they noticed him pedal previous, however after that – silence.
‘We’re attempting to show the swap and go for stage wins’
Stage 13 was the primary time on this 12 months’s Vuelta that Evenepoel hadn’t spoken after a end, and it was left to his teammates and directeurs sportifs to supply some restricted explanations as to what had occurred.
“A foul day in such a stage is tough,” teammate Pieter Serry, one of many few riders who responded to reporters, advised Sporza. “We fought, but when it would not work, it would not work. He simply mentioned ‘sorry’.
“What ought to he additionally say? There isn’t a disgrace. We’ve executed our greatest. Simply because it would not work at this time doesn’t suggest it will not work sooner or later. We’re attempting to show the swap and go for stage wins.
“Remco was not in a great place at this time and we needed to take it simple,” he concluded.
A press launch from Soudal-QuickStep offered the important thing clarification reporters had been on the lookout for, albeit not from Evenepoel himself.
“Not a lot could be mentioned about this stage. It was only a unhealthy day for Remco – he was not sick or injured”, mentioned Soudal Fast-Step sports activities director Klaas Lodewyck.
“It is unlucky and it could actually occur. Biking just isn’t racing on a simulator and we’re all human beings. We are going to sit down as a crew tonight, assess what occurred and have a look at our targets for the remainder of the race.”
On the finish of the day, one a part of Evenepoel’s prediction for the stage did show to be 100% appropriate.
“It’s going to be all in regards to the legs,” he advised reporters the day before today when requested what would occur on the hardest Pyrenean stage of this 12 months’s Vuelta. However as Lodewyck identified, a foul day can occur to anybody.
How briskly Evenepoel can bounce again from such a tough defeat stays to be seen, although and whether or not he’ll now search for stage wins within the Vuelta is only one query that must be resolved. However both approach, the occasions of stage 13 won’t be simply forgotten.