"If this was a bad day, then it's okay" - Remco Evenepoel not getting too down after time loss on Vuelta a Espana stage 6

Remco Evenepoel was clear that he always intended to hand over the Red Jersey on stage 6 of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana. The way it transpired however, was surely not quite to the Belgian's liking.

"I felt good, but I just couldn't keep up when the others went," said Evenepoel in an honest and open post-stage interview, referencing the attack of Primoz Roglic on the final climb of the stage that ignited the general classification battle. “I rode at my own pace and it turned out to be 30 seconds slower than the best climbers. It didn't feel like I had to give it my all, it was more of a controlled effort. I couldn't go over the limit, you have those days sometimes. Now it was such a day for me, I didn't have the best legs."

After initially getting gapped, Evenepoel was able to regroup, get a second wind and actually looked good as he crossed the line just 32 seconds down on Roglic and Jumbo-Visma teammate Jonas Vingegaard, staying above them in the general classification.

"I found the rhythm a bit in the last kilometres, where I could even accelerate. That was a bit strange, because I had a bad moment before," he analyses. "It went very fast all day, but in the end I had to find my rhythm. It's good that I was able to accelerate a bit in the last two kilometres, even in the last five hundred meters I still had some left."

20-year-old Frenchman, Lenny Martinez has taken over the lead in the general classification with stage winner Sepp Kuss in second, 6 seconds behind. For Evenepoel, he's now ninth in the GC at 2:47 down so it's still all to play for.

"If this was a bad day, then it's okay," he concludes. "I had some heavy legs during the ride, but hopefully this was one of the worst days of these three weeks."