Things didn't go as envisioned for Lennert Van Eetvelt in the final kilometers of the stage 8. The young Belgian was held up by a crash as the peloton was approaching the steep final climb in Cazorla. Afterwards, it was a task to limit the damage as much as possible, crossing the line in 9th place.
"When I was going up that climb, Aleksandr Vlasov fell, which meant I had to put my foot down," the 23-year-old rider reflects on a hectic final in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad. "That was not a good start, especially since it was a very steep section right away." The loss of speed at the entering 15% slopes cost the Belgian rider a lot of time and energy, as he tried to catch up.
"In the slightly flatter part I was still able to keep up more or less, but by then I had already shot a serious cartridge. At that moment Primoz Roglic accelerated again. Moreover, I certainly did not have the best feeling on the bike," said Van Eetvelt, who eventually crossed the line 29 seconds behind stage winner Roglic, but for example more than half a minute in front of another victim of Vlasov's crash, the defending Vuelta champion Sepp Kuss.
"When something like that happens, you have to limit the damage and I think I succeeded. They say that in every Grand Tour you have a bad day. Well, I hope that this was my bad day. I might have hoped to take the youth jersey, but Antonio Tiberi was strong. Regardless, the Vuelta is still long," Van Eetvelt remains optimistic about the future.
In the general classification of Vuelta a Espana, Lennert Van Eetvelt has moved up to sixth place despite the complications, and is now 5:15 behind red jersey Ben O'Connor and 1:26 short of Primoz Roglic, who seems to have the legs to take his fourth Vuelta title and potentially equal Roberto Heras' record.
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