Gap continues to increase, as @EvenepoelRemco continues to pull hard at the front! #VoltaCatalunya102
"I had the wrong rider with me" - Remco Evenepoel unhappy with lack of collaboration from Roglic at Volta a Catalunya attack
CyclingSaturday, 25 March 2023 at 18:31
The Volta a Catalunya had a less mountainous day today, but that was no reason for the GC riders to relax. Remco Evenepoel attacked the race once again, and it took quite a lot of effort to dislodge Primoz Roglic. He didn't succeed, but did cut some of the gap to Roglic.
“We already had the plan to attack this morning. We actually wanted to go full throttle from the bottom of the climb, but in the end another team was already in the lead to check for the sprint," Evenepoel shared in a post-race interview. That's why I waited until the last kilometer. There I did an attack like in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, over the top of the climb and then full throttle on the descent. In the end I had the wrong rider with me. Well, the wrong rider," he joked.
Evenepoel has cut Roglic's lead by two seconds, fruit of two different intermediate sprints during the day. He attacked the final climb of the day in quite an explosive way, seizing favourable terrain for an attack, with a technical and fast descent causing some chaos in the race. However he was followed by Roglic who did not allow the attack to succeed.
The two then did not cooperate, as Roglic did not want the bonus seconds to be available in the sprint for Evenepoel, giving him further chances of reducing the lead of the Slovenian. “He is a very strong rider. If he cooperates, we'll probably ride to the finish line together. Because we had 30 seconds when we got into the valley, but his team I think decided he couldn't ride to protect the jersey," Evenepoel continued.
"I fully understand that, but it is a pity, because it was nice if we could go for the stage victory. I told him that I wanted to go for the ride, that I would also be happy if I came second. But if you get orders from the squad, you have to follow them. It's not that I'm angry or anything. This is cycling," Evenepoel concluded.
Despite the disappointment, the World Champion has the opportunity to strike again tomorrow. The hilly Montjuic circuit is well suited to his capabilities and the gap to Roglic is small enough that any gap will be dangerous and critical.
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