Victory with blood by Evenepoel

taketonews

Blindly, with a punctured tire and blood on his face, Remco Evenepoel is not having a quiet start in the Vuelta and the truth is that the young Belgian star is coming across the big rounds this year because there is nothing worse than having Why abandon the Giro when you are the leader, you wear pink and it seems that you have everything under control? Everything? Everything except a stick in the nose that defines that the discomfort you suffer, which has not prevented you from winning the time trial, is caused by the covid. And goodbye to the first dream of 2023.

Evenepoel needs to show who he is in Andorra and that he does not get intimidated when he feels that the only one who responds to his final demarcation is Jonas Vingegaard. If the Dane has won the Tour, and twice, he has been world champion and wears the number one jersey because last year he won the Tour. It’s his race, wow, although it seems that everything has turned against him with just three days of competition. In the Barcelona time trial, his team started last and had to run in the dark because the sky went on strike. The second day some sheep threw nails on the road and the tubular burst. And in the third stage, he wins, he celebrates with rage, crosses the finish line without grabbing the handlebars of the bike and hits the group of assistants and policemen who are always waiting behind the finish line. He falls to the ground and opens his eyebrow, blood on his face. A disaster.

It is a day-to-day fight and not only against rivals, but also against the elements that are against him in Andorra, but at least it is not raining, although it had snowed at dawn. You don’t see, kilometers before winning in Arinsal, like a momentary hurricane blows up half the finish line of the Vuelta. Nor the work to put everything back together while he travels sheltered among the Soudal companions. And he does see that the Jumbo keeps vingegaard offensive now Cousin Roglic too conservative.

Ayuso’s courage

He also realizes the courage of Juan Ayusowho like him does not cringe before anyone and that the Alicante cyclist is still three years younger than Evenepoel (23 for flamenco for 20 for Alicante), two jewels placed on a bicycle.

Ayuso to the attack, a joy for the Vuelta. They are only fireworks because it is the third stage, because nobody wants to burn everything down and neither want to show their weapons or tactics to the opponents too much. “It will be a tactical game and we will have to be patient,” he warns evenepoel after the victory, after assuring that he was not angry about the blow that occurred at the finish line and before announcing that the red jersey must be handed over because not even crazy will burn the team when the entire Vuelta remains to be played.

enric mas It is another breath of fresh air in Andorra, like the temperature of Arinsal, like the irrigated forests that are already waiting for the arrival of the mushrooms. Mas has returned after the Tour accident. He hasn’t raced at all since he withdrew on July 1 from the French round. But in the Vuelta he seems to be someone else and he is already second overall, just 5 seconds behind evenepoel. If he was quick on arrivals, if he had that magical change of pace that envelops the Flemish star, which even Vingegaard can’t counter, then it would be easier for him. The ascent to Arinsal is enough to verify that Further he is there and is expected in this Vuelta.

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“It would have been stupid not to try to win, even though it wasn’t planned in advance. We already knew that the victory would be in a sprint among few. Now the red jersey will have to be delivered intelligently.” evenepoel he does not stop drinking from his team’s jerry can, dressed in winter clothes, wool cap on his head. It is proof of how crazy time is and evidence that he has been the hero of the day in the first real battle, at least with some serenity, in a Vuelta that began with a crooked foot.

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