After losing time the day before, the Belgian professional cyclist Remco Evenepoel once again maintained his overall lead on the queen’s stage of the 77th Tour of Spain. However, the Slovenian defending champion Primoz Roglic was again able to reduce his gap to the 22-year-old Belgian on Sunday (September 4th, 2022).
After 152.6 kilometers from Martos to the mountain finish on the Hoya de la Mora in the Sierra Nevada at an altitude of 2,507 meters, the Dutchman Thymen Arensman secured the victory of the day as a soloist. Roglic, who had won the tour for the past three years, finished fifth, 1:44 minutes behind. Evenepoel crossed the finish line 15 seconds behind the Slovenian in tenth place and still has a lead of 1:34 minutes over Roglic in the overall standings. Third is Spain’s Enric Mas, 2:01 behind Evenepoel.
“I can’t believe I won the king’s stage. Actually, I didn’t feel that good, but the others probably had even heavier legs.”said Arensman at the finish.
Despite a weaker weekend, Evenepoel emphasized that he “really happy” be and added: “I lost almost nothing. Saturday was a bad day, but Sunday was much better.”
Monday rest day
After the third rest day on Monday, the Tour of Spain will continue on Tuesday. Then after the 189.4 kilometers from Sanlúcar de Barrameda to Tomares the sprinters could get a chance. The race ends next Sunday in Spain’s capital, Madrid.