'Maybe I could have won' - Evenepoel rues final corner gamble on Montjuïc

Asked whether he felt he could have won the stage, Evenepoel did not disagree.

“Yes, I think so,” he told Sporza. “If they had slowed down a little, I could maybe have jumped from behind and won. If I had stayed on the wheel, maybe I could have won as well.”

Instead, the stage went to Del Toro, who delivered a perfectly timed sprint for UAE Team Emirates XRG after a tense finale on the punchy Montjuïc circuit. Pogačar finished second, with Evenepoel closing fast in third. Jonas Vingegaard came home fourth and kept the yellow jersey, although his lead over Pogačar was cut to six seconds. Evenepoel now sits third overall, 15 seconds down.

For Evenepoel, the disappointment came from a tactical call in the final corner. The Belgian deliberately left a small gap, hoping Del Toro and Pogačar would lose momentum before the line. His plan was to come from behind with speed and pass them in the final metres.

The problem was that UAE had no intention of hesitating.

“It was a kind of tactic to leave a small gap,” Evenepoel explained. “I hoped they would lose some speed so I could come from behind. But I immediately saw that del Toro and Pogačar had the same idea, to keep going all the way to the finish. In the end, it was about a one minute effort.”

Evenepoel came back onto their wheels, but only just as the line arrived. The gamble had been close to paying off. Close enough to sting.

“It is a shame that I only got back onto the wheel on the line,” he said. “It was a small gamble I took. Sometimes it is the right one and sometimes it is not. Today, unfortunately, it was not.”

There was another side to the afternoon, too. Evenepoel was well placed when it mattered, followed the right wheels on the Montjuïc circuit and still had enough left to sprint for the stage.

“It went very well,” he said. “I was never in trouble and I was always well positioned, both on the approach and on the circuit itself. Uphill, the feeling was good. It is a nice result.”

He also had no issue acknowledging the way UAE had finished the job. Del Toro and Pogačar had turned the finale into a show of timing and control, and Evenepoel had been close enough to see it better than anyone.

“It was nice to see that they could finish it off like that,” he said. “Their team took control from the moment we entered the circuit, so it is a deserved victory for UAE. Luckily, I could watch it from the front row and not from 50 metres back. That is a good sign.”