Evenepoel Has No Answer as Vingegaard Stamps Authority on Catalunya Summit Finish

Jonas Vingegaard romped to solo victory on a gruelling multi-mountain stage of Volta a Catalunya on Friday.

The Dane attacked a group of elite climbers 6.5km from the summit of the Coll de Pal, and none of them could answer. He rode the bunch off his wheel and soloed to the line 52 seconds ahead of the chasing Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM).

It was a brutal show of climbing force that put the 29-year-old firmly in control of the race’s classification.

Those hoping to beat “The Iceman” at the Giro d’Italia in May should consider themselves warned.

“I didn’t feel the best in the beginning, but I felt very, very good on the last climb,” Vingegaard said at the finish.

“I wasn’t expecting to make such a difference on that last climb,” he continued. “I was feeling really strong. I’m really happy with the gap I made today.”

Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) were next-best in third and fourth respectively.

Evenepoel gapped and out of GC contention after Vingegaard’s masterclass

Vingegaard’s superstar GC rival Remco Evenepoel suffered a devastating 1:38 loss after he was gapped by Vingegaard’s searing attack.

Evenepoel slid to a second chasing pack and was caught in a position where he couldn’t pull. His teammate Lipowitz was in the next group, 30 seconds up the road and riding himself up the hierarchy in the Red Bull team bus.

Evenepoel wasn’t panicked by how things unfolded when he spoke after the stage.

“I did what I had to do: wait,” he told Sporza. “For the last two kilometers I pushed a bit and waited for my sprint. And that was certainly still OK.”

“Once the groups formed, I had a few kilometers where I wasn’t suffering. Maybe there was more I could have gotten out of it, but this is still a good result for the team,” Evenepoel said Friday from the Pal summit.

Evenepoel will be facing more questions about his climbing capacity on Friday afternoon. Red Bull’s marquee signing collapsed in spectacular style in the two mountaintop finishes of his last race, the UAE Tour.

There may be speculation whether the 26-year-old was suffering the hangover of his bizarre crash in the final 500m of Wednesday’s stage.

However, he had suggested ahead of the stage Friday that he was over the worst.

“I feel normal, the night [of sleep and recovery] wasn’t any different than usual,” Evenepoel told reporters Friday morning.

Evenepoel is now 1:38 back on Vingegaard in GC.

Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) also suffered a shocker day and crossed the line in one of the last groups on the road, 30 minutes behind Vingegaard.

The Brit was caught in a crash in the run to the sprawling 16km Coll de Pal summit finish and was dropped soon after he made contact with the lead pack.

Canadian GC hopeful Derek Gee-West did not start the stage Friday.

“Derek has not been feeling good all week so is heading home to prioritize recovery abead ahead of future goals,” Lidl-Trek confirmed.

Vingegaard: ‘I’ll not rule out going for another’

A second monstrous mountain stage comes on Saturday, and Vingegaard isn’t done yet.

“I’ll not rule out going for another stage,” he said at the finish. “First we have to recover and see how we feel tomorrow. But of course there are a lot of other riders in the bunch, also.”

Volta a Catalunya wraps up Sunday on the race’s trademark Montjuic circuit in Barcelona.

Volta a Catalunya stage 5: Vingegaard takes control