Florian Lipowitz feels sorry for Remco Evenepoel after Catalonia effort, but Belgian has no regrets

Evenepoel, who was also still well placed in the general classification himself, took control on the penultimate climb and split the group. On the descent and in the valley before the final climb, he helped build the advantage for Lipowitz, who then had no answer when Vingegaard made his acceleration.

“Remco did an amazing job for me,” Lipowitz said to CyclingProNet. The German explained that the pair went into the final descent at full speed, saw there was a significant gap, and then relied on Evenepoel’s work on the front. Lipowitz tried to respond to Vingegaard on the final climb, but in the end had to admit the Dane was simply stronger. He also made clear that was what frustrated him most: in his view, Evenepoel had probably had the legs to win the stage himself.

Evenepoel joined Sporza after the stage, said the move had not been planned exactly like that from the start. “It was a bit of a decision in the moment, because the plan was to try something on the penultimate climb. Halfway up, I felt that my legs weren’t super. Good enough to ride hard, but I didn’t feel I could go over my limit. I also didn’t want to take any risks.”

The Belgian added that the aftermath of his earlier crash had played a role in that thinking. “After that crash, I had a few difficult days. The impact was a bit bigger than expected.” Evenepoel also said he knew the descent was technical and that it could create an opportunity. On the final climb, he simply rode a hard tempo and limited the damage.

Evenepoel did not feel he had made the wrong choice, even if he could have gone for the stage himself. In his view, the race would then have unfolded differently anyway. With the tactic Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe chose, he felt he had done good business for Lipowitz and for himself, because he still took time on the riders behind him. Looking ahead to Sunday, he was also clear: the stage into Barcelona should suit him, and with the general classification more or less settled, there should be room to try something.