Evenepoel suffers injuries after late crash in Catalunya stage, doubts over continuation
It appeared that Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard were set to contest the stage win on stage 3 of the Volta a Catalunya, until a late crash brought an abrupt end to their move.
The pair had animated the finale after breaking clear in the crosswinds, building a small advantage over the peloton heading into the final kilometre. That advantage disappeared just before a roundabout, where Evenepoel lost control and hit the ground.
Speaking after the finish, the Belgian pointed to an unexpected cause. “I wanted to move to the drops and at that moment there was a hole in the road that I didn’t see, and it wasn’t marked. Then I lost my handlebar,” Evenepoel explained to Sporza.
The crash left visible damage. “I have pain everywhere. My elbow is open, my back is open and my hips are open,” he said. “My elbow is quite badly hit, so we have to see what is possible and what is not.”
Despite the fall, Evenepoel managed to finish the stage, but his condition remains uncertain ahead of the coming days. “Now I need to let my body recover a bit and then we will see this evening and especially tomorrow morning what it says.”
Evenepoel had been one of the key instigators of the decisive move, attacking with around 30 kilometres to go as the race split in the wind. “I rode to win. That was the plan today with the echelons,” he said.
Only Vingegaard was able to follow, but the cooperation between the two appeared uneven. “What others do tactically is not my concern. That’s their problem. It was clear who wanted to ride for the win and who didn’t,” Evenepoel added, who is still second in the GC despite the crash.
Vingegaard, for his part, had earlier described the incident briefly, saying: “He just went over the handlebar and I hope he is okay.”
As for the visible tension between them in the closing kilometres, the Dane kept it simple. “At some points he wasn’t too happy with me, but that’s cycling,” he said. “We all have our tactics.”
The Volta a Catalunya continues tomorrow with its first real mountain test, finishing atop Vallter at over 2,100 metres, where an 11.4 kilometre climb at 7.6 percent is set to decide the outcome.
Race result: Stage 3 Volta a Catalunya
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