Evenepoel blasts to TT win on wind-neutralised Valenciana stage

Remco Evenepoel clearly doesn’t take a day off. On a stage that was neither fish nor fowl, many riders opted to use the 17km course from Carlet to Alginet as a glorified training session, but Evenepoel’s intent was clear from the moment he sprinted out of the start gate.

The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider was the quickest at the intermediate check atop the climb to Els Lacs, eight seconds clear of Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and teammate Aleksandr Vlasov, and he maintained that rhythm all the way to the line to take the honours.

The decision to neutralise the stage was taken late, shortly before the start, after riders encountered dangerous conditions during the recon, with reports of barriers being swept into the road.

It was agreed that riders would compete aboard their road bikes rather than their time trial machines for safety reasons, and it was also decreed that the times would not count towards the overall standings.

That detail persuaded men like João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to soft-pedal along the course, but others pressed on in search of his stage victory, including his teammate Brandon McNulty, who finished with the provisional best time.

McNulty’s time was later superseded by Ben Turner (Ineos) and Vacek and Vlasov had brief spells in the hot seat, but it was soon apparent that nobody would hold a candle to Evenepoel.

The world champion averaged 51.9kph stopped the clock eight seconds quicker than Vlasov and 15 clear of Vacek to take his fourth victory from his first five race days with Red Bull.

Stage 1 winner Biniam Girmay (NSN) made it safely around the course, and he will retain the yellow jersey ahead of Friday's stage to San Vicente del Raspeig.