Evenepoel stays calm after Vingegaard blow in Catalonia: ‘For me, it’s all okay’

“Lipo [Lipowitz] was up there in front, so it wasn’t up to me to chase,” the Belgian explained afterwards in comments carried by Sporza. In the group behind, the cooperation was far from ideal. “Otherwise we might have ridden back to the group ahead. But for us, that situation was okay: we had two riders there.”

So Evenepoel ended up doing something we do not often see from him. “I did what I had to do: wait, wait, wait… Then in the final two kilometres I started to pull a bit and waited for my sprint. That was definitely still okay,” the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider said, also pointing to a positive from the day.

Vingegaard’s acceleration, however, proved too much. “His attack was really hard, especially with that crosswind. That wasn’t easy to follow. But once the groups were formed, because of how the situation unfolded, I had a few kilometres where I wasn’t actually suffering. Maybe there was more to take from it, but this is still a good result for the team.”

In the general classification, Evenepoel now trails Vingegaard by 1:38, after the Dane seized control of the race with a dominant win on stage 5. Evenepoel, though, was keen to stress that he remains calm. “For me, it’s all okay as well. It’s a different feeling to race with another strong climber there. That means we can split the work a bit and use each other. I could wait for my sprint because of him, and he didn’t have to ride on the front because I was following.”

He also gave an honest assessment of his condition. “Look, the feeling wasn’t super, super. But I’ve felt worse two days after a crash. My neck and back muscles were still stiff, and my hand is still a bit open. That’s annoying, but it doesn’t stop me from racing hard.” Evenepoel is still recovering from the awkward crash he suffered in the finale on Wednesday.

Evenepoel added that his sensations are already much better than they were a month ago. “So there’s no reason to panic. Quite the opposite, actually. Now I just want to keep growing step by step, so it will be fine.” That process continues on Saturday, a stage he believes could suit him. “It’s going to be a bit of a mini-classic with lots of attacks, so there will be opportunities there.”