"Evenepoel absolutely wanted the GC to be a battle" - Quick-Step veteran pushed for neutralization to prevent time trial crashes

The strong winds forced organizers to neutralize the GC times on stage 2 of the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana. The day featured a decisive time trial which instead was only raced for a stage win, to the detriment of Remco Evenepoel's chances of winning the race. Former teammate Yves Lampaert was one of the riders who pushed heavily for the neutralization.

"Remco Evenepoel absolutely wanted the GC to be a battle. We had a meeting and the majority decided. That's how it went, yes: an agreement between the UCI and the teams," Lampaert told Sporza. The Belgian had no aspirations on the day, and the Quick-Step team aren't truly in contention for the race win. In any case, it would be a positive scenario for the veteran, but the reason for the push was the safety of the riders.

"I'd already floated a plan B this morning. Wind gusts of up to 60 kilometers per hour were forecast. It reminded me of the 2016 Tour, where Edward Theuns broke his back and Julian Alaphilippe crashed into the rocks in winds of up to 50 kilometers per hour," he explained.

Because of this, initially it was pushed to have the riders race the time trial on their road bikes. Afterwards, it was deemed the safest choice to not have the times count for the overall classification, so as to prevent riders from taking unnecessary risks. Most did the effort all-out nonetheless, but there were no crashes to report on the day.

"That's precisely why it was important to consider a plan B," Lampaert argues. "Yesterday, Mads Pedersen crashed. You don't want that in a time trial. Everything went well, and there was order in the chaos."

There were many mixed reactions to the choice to neutralize the race, from riders who did not care and rode their effort regular; some who agreed strongly with the decision; whilst others did not agree that there should've been a neutralization.

Evenepoel was not the only one of that opinion, as Movistar's Iván Romeo also pointed out - adding that the confusion and lengthy time to make a decision was what was most frustrating on a day where he was expected to perform well.

"I think it makes no sense. If we are not going to take risks, we don't do the race. I don't know how many guys, but I think maybe 60-70% of the riders went full gas," Romeo argued. "I really don't understand the situation. I think there should be a protocol and it shouldn't be us deciding and talking 20 minutes before the start of the race,"