Remco Evenepoel lost 15 seconds to Primoz Roglic and 42 to Enric Mas on Sunday at the finish of the 15th stage of the Tour of Spain, at the top of the Sierra Nevada, where he crossed the line in 10th position. But the citizen of Scheepdael has maintained a good lead in the general classification. He is 1:34 ahead of the triple title holder in Vuelta and 2:01 over the leader of Movistar.
“It was the first time that I climbed so high“Evenepoel said after the finish.”I did pretty well. It was still very hard. Yesterday I had a bad day, today much better. I lost almost nothing. Roglic only attacked in the last kilometer. He has the right, but I managed well. Primoz let me do the whole climb with Louis. He took advantage a little in my wheel before this very very strong attack. But I always saw it and I never panicked. If I lost around a minute it was fine so 15 seconds is nothing on a monstrous finish like this.”
Evenepoel returned to his feelings. “I still have pain because of my fall (Friday, editor’s note) but it’s getting better and better. It was clear that I had better legs than yesterday but I’m not top top yet. I hope that the rest day and the sprint stage on Tuesday will allow me to recover well.”
It is therefore in red, for the 10th consecutive day, that the Belgian will approach the last week of the Vuelta. “The 3rd week is coming. It will be another story. But the climbs will be less difficult“, said the frontman of the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl resolutely optimistic.