Pico Jano, Spain, Aug 25 (AFP\/APP): Belgian tyro Remco Evenepoel left his Vuelta a Espana title rivals trailing on a foggy climb in the Cantabrian mountains on Thursday on a stage won by Australian Jay Vine of Alpecin.<\/p>\n
Stage six of 21 left Bilbao for a 181.2km run through the Picos de Europa where rain and fog curtailed any daredevil descending after a downhill pile up within an escape group gave the peloton a stark safety reminder.<\/p>\n
The visibly thrilled Vine was an unexpected winner, and revealed his team had carefully planned the attack.<\/p>\n
“It was the team plan for me to attack on the final climb, it’s unreal,” said the 26-year-old from Townsville. “This is for my wife,” he said before quickly adding he would be buying a Corvette for himself.<\/p>\n
But Evenepoel was the star of the day, on the first major skirmish between the title rivals.<\/p>\n
Often billed as the new Eddy Merckx, Evenepoel leads the overall standings by 21sec from overnight leader Rudy Molard, while Movistar’s Spanish rider Enric Mas is third at 28sec.<\/p>\n
Evenepoel’s teammate Julian Alaphilippe led the peloton both up and down the penultimate climb before unleashing his young charge on the last one.<\/p>\n
A sustained acceleration from Evenepoel on the foggy slopes of Pico Jano dropped Simon Yates, Richard Carapaz and defending champion Primoz Roglic, but, with visibility limited to a few metres on the summit, he could not quite close the gap on Vine, who held on to win by 15sec.<\/p>\n
“I’m really happy and proud. It’s a big dream coming true,” said Evenepoel who was tipped for the top three years ago but fell into a ravine in Italy.<\/p>\n
“What I’m showing today is one of the best things I actually did on a bike. Uphill finish and putting in a strong performance thanks to the team is a dream come true. I hope we can keep it up,” he said.<\/p>\n
Pre-race favourite Roglic of Jumbo finished the final 12.6km climb 1min 22sec adrift of the 22-year-old Evenepoel (Quick-Step), who also picked up bonus seconds.
\n“There’s still a long way to go but today we lost a bit. (The others) go strong but I didn’t need that proof. Quite difficult weather for the Vuelta.”
\nThree-time defending champion Roglic is fourth at 1min 01sec, while Ineos pair Pavel Sivakov and Tao Geoghegan Hart are at 1min 27sec.<\/p>\n
Carapaz had a poor day and has dropped to 2min 56sec off Evenepoel’s pace in a race he started as sole leader for Ineos.<\/p>\n
Former Vuelta winner Yates now sits in ninth, but unlike Evenepoel and Roglic, could struggle to keep pace on a time-trial such as Tuesday’s stage 10.<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old Spanish hope Juan Ayuso of Team UAE Emirates had a day to remember as he climbed to fourth overall.<\/p>\n
Friday’s stage seven is a medium mountain run from Camargo to Cisternia, but Saturday and Sunday take the Vuelta into two crucial mountain stages.<\/p>\n
A day off Monday will be followed by a long individual time-trial where Evenepoel, on paper at least, should punish his rivals again before the Vuelta swoops into the south.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pico Jano, Spain, Aug 25 (AFP\/APP): Belgian tyro Remco Evenepoel left his Vuelta a Espana title rivals trailing on a foggy climb in the Cantabrian mountains on Thursday on a stage won by Australian Jay Vine of Alpecin. Stage six of 21 left Bilbao for […]<\/p>\n
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