The Jumbo signs peace

Remco Evenepoel signed the Cruz de Linaresan unprecedented finish that had raised great expectations for reasons that had nothing to do with the Belgian’s achievements. Remco runs another round, very far from the hot zone. Although there is merit in adding it his third victorywho continues to put on a show that has raised its head afterwards It’s sinking, we also have to be clear that if I had been more than half an hour away in the general classification, I would not have had the permission to win the last two. The expectation, we said, was there Jumbo’s trident stancewho deviated from the “law of the stronger” shouted and listed in Angliruto a unified and brotherly team attitude his red jersey, Sepp Kuss.

Neither Jonas Vingegaard nor Primoz Roglic attacked on the slopes of the Cruz de Linares, as they had already done on the previous two days in Bejes and Angliru. The only one who moved was the leader himself, but only in response to the attempts of the three Spanish rivals accompanying the jumbo: Mikel Landa, very active again, Juan Ayuso and Enric Mas. The statements in the finish have also changed. We no longer speak of the freedom of the strongest, but of put a kiss in it to compensate him for the community service he did for his two bosses in previous careers. Vingegaard even gave up nine seconds on the final climb to move up to 17th place in the standings. Let’s remember that Sepp accompanied Roglic in his victory at the Girowho accompanied Vingegaard in his victory at the Tour…And it runs, generously, his third big success of the year. A great performance. And even more so if he manages to win the crown in Madrid.

Far from the main focus, Evenepoel and the rest of the refugees They had the green light to enter the second Asturian chain, unlike what happened towards Angliru when Jumbo decided to fight for victory. The Belgian took advantage of the canter to surpass all the passes of the day and secure the blue polka dot jersey that distinguishes him King of the mountain. Evenepoel will be on the podium in Madrid. Not the way he imagined with the red tunic he wore in 2022, but it’s appreciated that he made the effort to look for alternatives to continue to shine.

Another alternative would of course be the stage victory. For this purpose he found a somewhat more theoretical competition between the 14 refugees of the day, although in practice no one could outshine him. The Belgian phenomenon was joined by veterans like Damiano Caruso and Imanol Erviti, famous stars like Egan Bernal, hunters like Andreas Kron and Nico Denz, a former Red Jersey like Andrea Piccolo and an up-and-coming young player like Max Poole. But When Remco accelerated on the first climb to Cruz de Linares, still 30 kilometers from the finish, no one could follow the slipstream of his motorcycle. Evenepoel added the Linares Cross his third victory in the current Vuelta, after those he won in Arinsal, when he was still fighting for everything, and in Belagua, where he made up for his collapse from the previous day. Nobody has won so many in this edition. Although I would certainly trade it for the red jersey, a higher goal.

General ranking

Pos Cyclist	equipment	Time
1 Remco Evenepoel	SOQ	4h:47:37
2 Damiano Caruso	TBV	+04:44
3 Andreas Kron	GMBH	+05:10
4 Max Poole	DSM	+05:12
5 Paul Ourselin	TEN	+05:17
6 Julien Bernard	TFS	+06:11
7 Egan Bernal	IGD	+07:01
8th Juan Ayuso	UAD	+09:29
9 Enric Mas	MOV	+09:29
10 Sepp kiss	TJV	+09:29

Pos Cyclist	equipment	Time
1 Sepp kiss	TJV	65h:31:27
2 Jonas Vingegaard	TJV	+00:17
3 Primoz Roglic	TJV	+01:08
4 Juan Ayuso	UAD	+04:00
5 Mikel Landa	TBV	+04:19
6 Enric Mas	MOV	+04:30
7 Cian Uijtdebroeks	BOH	+07:37
8th Alexander Vlasov	BOH	+08:35
9 Joao Almeida	UAD	+10:20
10 Santiago Buitrago	TBV	+12:20

See full classification