"It's a pity, we lost the chance to win a second stage" - Remco Evenepoel not aware that GC group was sprinting for stage win

Remco Evenepoel showed in the very hard climb to Xorret de Catí in the eighth stage of the Vuelta a España that he is recovered from his small bout on Pico del Buitre. The Soudal Quick-Step Belgian controlled perfectly the attack of Sepp Kuss and set a very strong pace that made that none of his rivals dared to attack, however he wasn't aware that the stage win was up for grabs.

"We wanted to know what Jumbo was going to do, we were happy with them controlling the race, then I told the guys at the start of the climb to give it their all and that I was going to do the rest," Evenepoel said in a postrace interview. Soudal and Evenepoel took the responsibility on the final climb, and he rode a controlled yet excruciating pace in the front. "Then there weren't many people on the wheel. Then Sepp attacked and I controlled him, I didn't want to chase him immediately, because I knew there were 8-10 minutes of climbing left."

The Belgian's tactics saw him bringing back Kuss and set a pace high enough to put everyone else under difficulty. He was surprised the other Jumbo-Visma riders didn't attack the ascent: "It seemed that Primoz and Jonas didn't have the legs to go either," he commented. Evenepoel then led the group down the descent and led out the sprint. He was beaten by Primoz Roglic, but at the time the World Champion was not aware that he was sprinting for the stage win. 

"It's a shame, we lost the chance to win a second stage on what was a very nice day, close to my second home, it's a shame, it's a bitter pill to digest. We'll see tomorrow," he concluded. He lost a few seconds to Roglic in bonus seconds, however he managed to put some seconds into the rest of the competition and continue to be ahead of the Jumbo duo, Juan Ayuso and Enric Mas.