Remco Evenepoel dealt the first blow in the mountain premiere with an overwhelming victory in Arinsal. The reigning La Vuelta winner was one of the big favourites… and he deliveredand left behind a Tour champion like Joans Vingegaard. He crossed the finish line, which ran slightly downhill, and collided directly with one of the workers present at the finish line in the middle of the Arinsal esplanade. Next to it was a fence and Remco also hit her after the previous hit. He stayed stretched out on the floor and as he got up, his face quickly filled with blood. He was picked up and Soudal press secretary Phil led his runners away, an Evenepoel making fanfare gestures.
“I’m happy about the win. It is the third day in a row that the safety of the runners is not considered. It was a tactically perfect day…. a piece of skin and flesh fell off my head,” the Belgian said of the incident. “We waited and were patient. We descended from Ordino first to avoid fear and I felt really good going up to Arinsal with a very long and sustained sprint. I felt like I had a good final attack on my legs. It was a very nice win in Andorra. It shows that my preparation was very good and they didn’t expect me to take the red jersey so quickly, but it’s always a bonus. “It was a day,” said the new race director.
As he climbed to Arinsal, he was patient and revealed he was watching other rivals: “I saw the Jumbo test it with Kiss first. They didn’t care who won on the team. Also that the UAE worked hard for Ayuso. It was more of a tactical game and it’s something new for me. Get defensive against other strong running backs. “I had to be patient and executed the attack at the best moment,” concluded the leader, whose fall left no major consequences for the time being.
