Remco Evenepoel found the right answer and won the 14th stage of the Vuelta the day after his collapse at the Col du Tourmalet.
Last year’s winner from Belgium won the mountain stage over 156.5 kilometers from Sauveterre-de-Béarn in France to Larra-Belagua in Spain on Saturday (September 9th, 2023) ahead of Frenchman Romain Bardet. It is the Belgian’s second day victory at this year’s Vuelta. The day before, Evenepoel had lost more than 27 minutes to the top on the queen stage.
Lennard Kämna was unable to compete for the stage win on his 27th birthday. The professional from the Bora-hansgrohe team won the ninth stage last Sunday. At the beginning of the 14th stage, Kämna and Evenepoel made it into a breakaway group of 24. The time trial world champion from Belgium and Bardet broke away on the first of the three difficult mountains. On the almost ten kilometer long final climb, Evenepoel gave the Frenchman no chance and confidently took the day’s victory.
Sepp Kuss remains ahead in the overall standings
The American Sepp Kuss continues to lead the overall standings. A place in the chasing field was enough for the professional from the dominant Jumbo-Visma racing team on Saturday to defend the red jersey of the front runner. In the fight for overall victory, Kuss is still ahead of his teammate Primoz Roglic (+1:37 minutes) from Slovenia and the Danish Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard (+1:44).
On Sunday there is another mountain stage on the program of the Tour of Spain. The 15th stage leads over 158.5 kilometers from Pamplona to Lekunberri. The 78th Tour of Spain ends on September 17th in Madrid.