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Enric Mas glanced over his shoulder in the finishing straight and saw the train a-coming fast behind him. Last year in Santiago di Compostela, it was Primoz Roglič, but at least the race was already over. On Tuesday in Alicante, it was Remco Evenepoel, and there are still almost two weeks of the Vuelta a España to come. A daunting sentence.
Unlike on the final time trial of the 2021 Vuelta, Mas at least managed to fend off the chasing red jersey on stage 10 of this year’s race, but that was a scant consolation. He conceded just under two minutes to Evenepoel on Tuesday – 1:51, to be precise – and drops to third overall, 3:03 off the maillot rojo.
Afterwards, Mas dutifully trotted out the right lines about being satisfied at limiting his losses on unfavourable terrain, but the problem for him – and for everybody else – is that he has already shipped time to Evenepoel in the high mountains too. So far, the red jersey has betrayed no weaknesses. There are still eleven stages to go, but the Vuelta increasingly feels as though it is Evenpoel’s to lose.
Roglič, who restricted the damage to 48 seconds to move up to second overall, 2:41 behind Evenepoel, confessed that the Belgian is simply “on a different level” to everybody else. Asked if he now had to rely on Evenepoel enduring an unexpected crisis to win a fourth straight Vuelta, Roglič was typically vague – “We need to look day by day” – but he must know that the winning of the race is effectively out of his hands.
The deficits are forbidding for all the riders trailing Evenepoel, and things might yet get worse before they get any better. After leaving his rivals behind on the short but vertiginous slopes of Les Praeres on Sunday, Evenepoel could well do it all over again at Peñas Blancas on stage 12 if the mood strikes him.
“If Remco is riding the way he is, then he can ride away,” admitted Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën), 11th overall at 7:46, although Evenepoel himself hinted that he would adopt a more defensive posture for the remainder of the Vuelta. In footballing terms, Evenepoel has built up a hefty advantage in the first half and he can afford to park the bus in the second, even if his default setting is to attack.
Week two
The sparkling form of Evenepoel has been paired agreeably with the solidity of his QuickStep-AlphaVinyl squad through the first ten days of the…
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