It was a new record for the fastest time trial at La Vuelta, as overall race leader Remco Evenepoel scorched through the course and the hot conditions to put more time into all of his general classification rivals and take the stage win by a comfortable 48-second margin over runner-up Primoz Roglic.
"48 seconds on Roglic,” exclaimed Evenepoel after the finish. “That’s a big surprise.
“I saw that my teammate Rémi [Cavagna] did really well. It was perfect that he did such a good time trial for me to know good times. When I was sitting in the bus, I could see that everybody was actually slowing down in the second part compared to his time.
“I knew I just had to push all the time because it was flat with a super hard finish. And my legs were so heavy on this last climb. It was actually really hard.”
At 55.7km/h over the 30.9-kilometre course, the Belgian star dominated everyone, and now sits as the deserved favourite to take out the final red jersey in Madrid. Evenepoel increases his lead at the top of the GC standings, 2’40’’ ahead of Roglic and 3’03’’ ahead of Enric Mas (Movistar Team).
“it’s super nice to win this time trial in the red jersey,” said Evenepoel. “It’s an amazing feeling. I knew it was going to be a super fast time trial. I’m just so happy to take the stage win. I think I achieved my dream. And now we’re going to fight and we’re going to try to win this Vuelta.”
Evenepoel became the first Belgian rider to win an ITT stage of La Vuelta since Fons De Wolf in Valladolid in 1979, though Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke won the prologue in Benidorm in 1987.
For the Australians, it was a good day for general classification hopeful Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroen) who finished 12th, 1’53 in arrears of the stage winner, moving up to 11th overall in the standings. In doing so, he leapt over fellow West Australian Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe). The Giro d’Italia winner was below his best, losing 3’48 to Evenepoel, and slipping down to 13th overall.
La Vuelta continues with Stage 11, an expected day for the sprinters as the peloton navigates a 191.2-kilometre stage to Cabo de Gata. Watch on SBS and SBS On Demand from 10.50pm AEST.
