At the conclusion of the first week racing on Spanish soil, things are looking fairly ominous for the general classification contenders who aren’t called Remco Evenepoel.
The stages around the Basque Country were the ones supposed to be the least suited to the young Belgian, with their sharp gradients and the possibility of bad weather waiting to catch out the inexperienced. However, other than a brief glimpse of resistance from Primož Roglič in the uphill sprint to Laguardia on day four, the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl leader has looked at ease with the terrain and his rivals.
The worrying thing for those hoping to dethrone Evenepoel is that the next phase of the race, the middle week, contains stages which suit his characteristics better.
Barring any incident, they’re immediately going to lose more time to him after the rest day in the 30km time trial. He said it would be good to win a stage in the red jersey so he’s odds-on favourite to accomplish that wish.
As for the other twelve days of racing that lie ahead, the consensus before the start was that the longer climbs that are coming would mean the purer climbers could re-enter the GC competition.
But having watched Evenepoel operate so far, I see little chance of that immediately happening. It might later, once he’s been worn down by the pressures and responsibilities of the race lead, but he’s looking pretty reassured at this point in proceedings.
The fact that he’s ridden the majority of his rivals off his wheel without having to place an attack out of the saddle is the most worrying thing for them.
The strength shown in doing so is a sign that he sits a level above everyone else and he hasn’t felt the need to place a big acceleration to get rid of everyone.
A seated attack is doing the damage already and that’s why the mountains that are on the menu in the middle week become less of a concern, because they’re less steep and longer, the type that sees almost everyone sitting down and working away.
There’s no Alberto Contador types who are able to do 10 or 15 minutes en danseuse to upset the steady tempo in the Vuelta peloton. Therefore, Remco Evenepoel ought to be more at ease with his high cadence style.
He shouldn’t be too affected either by the change in temperature that’s going to happen with the 900km transfer to the Costa Blanca as he was there immediately before the race to acclimatise to the hot Spanish summer and train on some of the steeper climbs that lie…
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