Volta a Catalunya - Remco Evenepoel ready to let 'the legs do the talking'; Tom Pidcock expecting Jonas Vingegaard attack on La Molina

The fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya is going to provide a lot of action, with 4500 climbing meters and a difficult summit finish in La Molina, on the Coll de Pal. Jonas Vingegaard is the man to beat at the start of the day, but both Remco Evenepoel and Tom Pidcock are expected to be headliners on the queen stage of the race.

The leader of Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe could enjoy a virtual recovery day this Thursday as the opening mountain stage was cut short, and is heading into the mountains with some more time to have his wounds healed. "I feel normal. I had a good night and didn't feel anything special," Evenepoel said this morning to Sporza. He is having two kilometers less to race today, as the Coll de Pal summit finish has been cut from 16 to 14 kilometers in length due to the very strong winds which also cut the previous stage.

It's not something that changes the Belgian's opinion on the stage. "Ultimately, it remains a 16-kilometer climb. It will be long enough to race. Do I expect big differences? The wind is mainly against us on the final climb, so that could cause congestion. But the racing will undoubtedly be fast-paced early on".

He was reluctant regarding stating specific ambitions, unlike his DS Klaas Lodewyck and Patxi Villa who spoke more openly about the expectations following yesterday's stage, and gave a short answer regarding what he expects from the day: "The wind in the mountains might die down a bit. The start will likely be a tailwind, so it will be a very fast start to the first climb. From then on, it will be constantly uphill or downhill, so the legs will do the talking."

On the Pinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team camp there certainly wasn't disappointment after learning of today's stage getting cut slightly. Although the change is not significant, if anything it plays into Tom Pidcock's favour with the less longer effort.

“It's a little less threatening. It would have been more than 50 minutes of climbing, a very long climb, so I think it's probably better for me if it's a little shorter. We'll see. Today it definitely seems windier than yesterday, but I think on the hills up there, in the valleys, maybe it won't be so bad. We'll see," he told CyclingPro.net this morning. But the Briton knows that being second in the overall classification, currently ahead of Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard, does not mean much in such as stage.

“Jonas Vingegaard hasn't been interested in time bonus seconds so far. He knows he can win the race with a strong attack and a good margin, so we expect that," he admits. "But Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe has the strongest team, and we can expect them to do something today.”

Like Evenepoel, he doesn't put a label on the result he seeks, something which is regular on the opening mountain stage of a race. "Being essentially fighting for the win would be fine with me. Winning or being the strongest on such a long climb, I don't know, but we'll see," he concluded.