The day after the second day of rest, the young 22-year-old nugget gleaned her first stage victory in the Vuelta, ahead of the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) at 48 seconds and the French Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step) 1 minute away.
In the general classification, Evenepoel widens the gap significantly since he is now ahead of Roglic, the three-time defending champion, by 2 min 41 and the Spaniard Enric Mas by 3 min 03.
The Briton Simon Yates, author of a good time (7th at 1.42.), entered the top 5 in place of the young Spaniard Juan Ayuso, only 17th at 2 min 17 from Evenepoel.
Despite a few drops on the course, Evenepoel took the lead in all sectors, gradually increasing his lead – from 21 seconds in the first intermediate to 36 seconds in the second then 48 seconds on the line.
On the French side, Rémi Cavagna, French road champion in 2021 and stage winner on the Vuelta in 2019, had the best time for a long time, before being dethroned by Roglic. Pavel Sivakov (Ineos) finished fifth at 1 min 27 sec and found himself 9th overall, more than 7 minutes behind Evenpoel (7:06.)
Tuesday was also marked by the revelation of new cases of Covid in the peloton, bringing to at least 17 the total of riders tested positive since leaving the Netherlands on August 19.
Four riders had to give up competing in Tuesday’s time trial: Briton Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), Australian Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Soudal), Spaniard José Herrada (Cofidis) and Irishman Sam Bennett (Bora), winner of two stages and in the race for the green jersey.
After this time, the runners will enjoy a route without major difficulty on Wednesday between El Pozo Alimentacion and Cabo de Gata (191.2 km), before a new arrival at altitude at the Peñas Blancas on Thursday. Evenepoel, winner of the time trial, consolidates his red jersey
