{"id":1855251,"date":"2026-03-28T18:05:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T15:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1855251"},"modified":"2026-03-28T18:05:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T15:05:20","slug":"a-remco-resurgence-belgian-planning-glory-on-final-day-in-catalunya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1855251","title":{"rendered":"A Remco Resurgence: Belgian Planning Glory on Final Day in Catalunya"},"content":{"rendered":"
Remco Evenepoel hasn\u2019t had the results he wanted from the Volta a Catalunya, with a bizarre crash on Wednesday costing him a possible stage win and, it seems, also sapping his strength since then.<\/p>\n
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However he showed signs of a resurgence on Saturday and suggests that Sunday\u2019s concluder might give him a chance to do something big.<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow\u2019s stage to Barcelona should suit me,\u201d he said after Saturday\u2019s race, according to Sporza. \u201cThe overall classification is more or less fixed, so I think there should be room to try something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evenepoel looked incredibly strong on stage 3, breaking clear with Jonas Vingegaard and doing most of the work. He fended off a furious chase from the peloton and went into the final 500 meters with enough of an advantage to stay clear.<\/p>\n
However he hit a hole in the road while moving his hands on to the drops and suddenly hit the deck.<\/p>\n
He suggested on Friday morning that he was okay but, as things turned out, he faltered on the climb to La Molina\/Coll de Pal and rolled in 1\u201938 behind.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAfter that crash, I had a few difficult days,\u201d he said. \u201cThe impact was somewhat greater than expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result he started Saturday\u2019s stage sixth overall, having slipped from third.<\/p>\n
\u2018Better to have gone for the stage myself?\u2019<\/h2>\nRemco Evenepoel reaches the finish of stage 6 of the 2026 Volta a Catalunya (Photo: Josep Lago \/ AFP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Evenepoel\u2019s big rival Jonas Vingegaard has been in dominant form Friday and Saturday but, in the second of those stages, the Belgian has shown signs of a possible resurgence.<\/p>\n
He hit the front of the GC group on the day\u2019s penultimate climb and began to drive the pace. He did the same on the descent, sending more riders out the back, and continued riding on the day\u2019s final climb.<\/p>\n
Jonas Vingegaard then made his big attack with 2.5km to go but Evenepoel only conceded 27 seconds in total, despite all the work he had done.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really more of an impulse at the moment, as the plan was to try an attack on the penultimate climb,\u201d he said of his decision to ride for Lipowitz.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHalfway up that climb, I felt that my legs weren\u2019t at their best. Good enough to ride hard, but I didn\u2019t feel I could push beyond my limit. I also didn\u2019t want to take any risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florian Lipowitz and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) rode together to try to limit Vingegaard\u2019s gains and finally ended up just ten seconds back.<\/p>\n
Evenepoel was fifth on the stage, 17 seconds behind that duo.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the last small climb I just rode a hard tempo upwards. In the end I only lost about ten seconds to \u2018Lipo\u2019 and Martinez,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could then ask yourself if I would have been better off going for the stage win myself. But then the race would have turned out differently. With this tactic I did a good job for \u2018Lipo,\u2019 but also for myself, because I gain a lot of time on the guys behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, given the amount of work he did, it\u2019s clear he could have been close to Vingegaard had he saved energy rather than using it.<\/p>\n
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A big display on the way?<\/h2>\nRemco Evenepoel impressed on the penultimate stage of the Volta a Catalunya (Photo: Szymon Gruchalski\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Volta a Catalunya concludes Sunday on the tough Montj\u00fcic circuit in Barcelona. The riders will tackle the short, steep climbs there multiple times. Evenepoel has a strong ability on such ascents, as shown by his two victories in Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge plus his Olympic road race title.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also a good descender and a powerhouse on the flat, all qualities that will be tested during the seven laps of the circuit.<\/p>\n
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He is sitting fifth overall but is 2\u201917 behind Vingegaard. That gives him room to maneuver as he won\u2019t be considered a direct threat in terms of the GC.<\/p>\n
If the legs are good, look for the Belgian to really shake things up. He came to the Volta a Catalunya to do something impressive and while the past two days haven\u2019t gone to plan, he still has time to grab a win.<\/p>\n
Given his strength of mind and his hunger, that could yet happen.<\/p>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2268772320.jpg”] Shane Stokes Updated March 28, 2026 06:18PM Remco Evenepoel hasn\u2019t had the results he wanted from the Volta a Catalunya, with a bizarre crash on Wednesday costing him a possible stage win and, it seems, also sapping his strength since then. However he showed signs of a resurgence on Saturday and suggests […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1855251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1855251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1855251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1855251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1855251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Remco](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2268290472.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
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