Excellent Evenepoel storms into GC lead with stage 4 victory at Volta Comunitat Valenciana

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) continued his exceptional start to the season with another statement victory, against his strongest competition yet on stage 4 of the Volta Comunitat Valenciana.

The Olympic champion struck the decisive blow towards the summit of the Puig de la Llorença with just over 10km remaining, and powered his way to a solo victory. 

Behind, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) led home a chasing group of three riders at 0:24 behind Evenepoel, with the Olympic Champion’s Italian teammate Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) taking third on the stage, and fellow Italian Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) in fourth.

It’s now five victories in seven race days for Evenepoel since his switch to Red Bull, who in the process also moved into the lead of the general classification with one final stage remaining, which is likely to favour the sprinters. 

Evenepoel could become the first Belgian since Eddy Merckx in 1969 to win the Volta Comunitat Valenciana general classification on Sunday. He leads Almeida in the general classification by 0:29 and 0:31 to his teammate Pellizzari in third.

An eight-rider breakaway formed in an attritional opening to the stage, which featured both the Coll de Rates, or Alto del Miserat. In the breakaway were Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Steff Cras (Soudal Quick-Step), Lewis Askey (NSN), Danny van der Tuuk (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Fernando Tercero (Polti-VisitMalta), Carlos García Pierna (Burgos Burpellet BH), and Tommaso Nencini (Solution Tech Nippo Rali). 

Race leader Biniam Girmay (NSN) was among those distanced from the peloton on the early ascents.

A combination of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and UAE Team Emirates-XRG set the tempo on the front of the peloton to keep the breakaway in check. In the end, Bernard and Cras were the only two riders remaining inside the final 30km following the Alto de La Fustera, and the peloton was reduced to around 25 riders following this ascent.

With 20km remaining, the front duo were continuing to cooperate well and held around 0:30 over the peloton, still led by Red Bull, UAE, and Movistar.

Onto the steep Puig de la Llorença with 15km remaining, Bernard pushed clear from Cras, whilst the peloton whittled down in size to less than 10 riders due to the pace of Red Bull. The catch to Bernard was made with 13km remaining as Evenepoel accelerated in the saddle. 

Tiberi was the only rider able to follow the wheel of the Belgian before being quickly dispatched. Almeida settled into his tempo alongside teammate Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

Evenepoel was motoring and began to get out of the saddle as he quickly increased his advantage over the summit and onto the descent. 

Meanwhile, Almeida, Tiberi and Evenepoel’s teammate Pellizzari formed the second group on the road behind the rampant Belgian, who continued to power his way up the multiple steep walls that littered the run-in to the finish. The gap to the chasers looked to have stabilised by this point.

Evenepoel had to continue to keep pushing the pace, with Almeida and Tiberi riding together behind, and Pellizzari able to play the team card. With 2km remaining, McNulty returned to the Almeida group, and the American rode straight to the front to contribute to the chase. Ultimately, Evenepoel had too much in the locker and was able to solo to victory, setting himself up for a likely GC win on Sunday, whilst Almeida sprinted to second from the chasers.