Remco gets the fangs out! Evenepoel, one of the favorites of the Tour of Spain cycling, won the third stage at the top of the climb of Arinsal, in Andorra, on Monday, ahead of the winner of the Tour de France Jonas Vingegaard, and already seizes the red jersey.
The Belgian champion settled the sprint of the group of cadors of this Vuelta, reduced to about twenty elements at the top of this first category pass. In the bonus game, he is now five seconds ahead of the Spaniard Enric Mas (Movistar); the young French hopeful Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) occupies the provisional third place on the podium, eleven seconds behind.
A few hundred meters from the finish line, the peloton caught up with Lennard Kämna, the last survivor of the day’s breakaway.
The Spaniard Juan Ayuso (20) then planted the first banderilla of the group of favorites, but was chased by the Jumbo-Visma, led by Sepp Kuss, usual lieutenant of the leaders Vingegaard and Roglic.
In the last 200 meters, Evenepoel, discreet during this stage which started from Suria and which arrived in the Andorran mountains, emerged 200 m from the final to win.
The Dane Vingegaard tried to jump into his wheel but the winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, who had to give up on the Giro, affected by the Covid, was indeed the strongest.
As a man in a hurry, Evenepoel seizes the red tunic even earlier than during the previous edition, where he had to wait for the sixth stage to take the overall lead.
The Italian Andrea Piccolo, red jersey since the arrival made chaotic by bad weather on Sunday in Barcelona, gave up 24 km from the finish.
The Dutch formation Jumbo, with four representatives in the first 15 of the general classification, made a big impression, it which arrives on this Vuelta with several potential leaders.
Lenny Martinez, the little climber of Groupama-FDJ (20 years old), did better than meet expectations by taking seventh place in this first mountain stage, settling in third place in the general classification.
Tuesday, the program promises to be less full-bodied for the peloton which will set off from Andorra la Vella to reach Tarragona, 184.6 km further on, on a slightly uneven route.
