"The Vuelta is going very well for us. We see Remco growing" - Soudal - Quick-Step happy with Remco Evenepoel's first Vuelta a Espana week

We have had a very eventful first week at the Vuelta a Espana with the weather causing havoc, but after nine days of racing Remco Evenepoel finds himself ahead of his expected rivals in the fight for the race win. Team DS Klaas Lodewyck talks about some of the challenges and conclusions from the week.

“The Vuelta is going very well for us. We see Remco growing in this race, as we had expected in advance," Lodewyck told Het Laatste Nieuws. "His preparation for the Vuelta was quite complex, with the World Time Trial Championship still ahead of him. All training at altitude training was deliberately tailored to a peak in the second and third week. So he's on schedule. What he showed in the opening week was already promising. The crash caused some discomfort for a while. The pain has now subsided.”

The team time-trial, despite being raced in the dark for the Belgian team, saw them gain meaningful time on Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates. That has been enough for him to keep himself ahead. After Arinsal, where he sprinted to victory, he took over the race lead. “In Andorra we shone collectively and even at Javalambre we held up well. At Xorret de Cati, Jumbo-Visma thought they were setting the pace, but we passed it nicely. That was strong.”

He lost a bit of time to his rivals in the Alto de Javalambre however maintained himself in a strong position in the GC, and his performances on Xorret de Catí and Caravaca de la Cruz proved that his form is as good as he could hope for and he did not sustain losses (other than a few seconds) on any of the Jumbo-Visma trio.

The next weeks might not be the same. So far the stages have not been packed with high mountains where the two rival teams can use their cards better. However, despite dealing with illnesses within the team, so far Soudal - Quick-Step have been able to defend Evenepoel quite well.

“James [Knox] also struggled a bit, but unlike [Andrea] Bagioli we were able to keep him on track. He's only just now fully realizing it. Knox and [Jan] Hirt are also types who, in principle, will perform better on the longer, more difficult climbs of the coming days."

However the team is having to deal with an unexpected card, as Sepp Kuss benefited from a breakaway on stage 6 and leads the Vuelta by a wide margin, whilst both Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard sit behind Evenepoel. Lodewyck is not too concerned with the American however:

"Kuss had already had a hard time a number of times. And I expect that Remco will seriously take back some time in the time trial," he argues. Tomorrow's time-trial in Valladolid will prove to be a challenge, and will see Kuss' lead reduced.