"We have to respect them" - Remco Evenepoel on time trial victory and time neutralizations at Valenciana

Remco Evenepoel was the winner of the day at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana, but at the same time perhaps the rider who has lost the most due to its neutralization. The Olympic, World and European time trial champion rode to victory in Spain, but it was only a mental win against his rival on a day that should be key to his overall classification stint.

The strong winds forced organizers to neutralize the times on the day, whilst the riders were also forced to race in their road bikes for safety reasons. "For sure, there was still a stage win up to grabs and also I want to respect the organization. They decided to keep the race going for a stage result so I decided to come and race here," Evenepoel said in a post-race interview, shared with CyclingPro.net.

"So I respect the organization, I also respect the decision everybody made. But yeah, I think of course we are 1 and 2 today I think with Alex [Vlasov] second so pretty good result for us. In the end we prepared all day like it was TT day so with the fuel and everything so it was better to use it as a good test. With a nice result so better like this".

On the road, the 17-kilometer long time trial provided a serious opportunity for Evenepoel to gain time on his rival, jump into the race lead and perhaps strike hard when it comes to the fight for the race win. However, all he was left with was a victory added to his palmarès - under different circumstances in relation to a regular time trial.

"Yeah of course it's quite different because the climb would be a bit faster on a TT bike. Of course the descent and the crosswind bars would be a bit more tricky on a TT bike as well so I think that is advantages and disadvantages," he continued.

Not everyone was happy with the choice to neutralize, and with the chaos that was this morning with the different decisions taken by the organization, but the Belgian tried to push that aside:

"Like I said we have a sport where we are allowed to take last minute decisions and we have to respect them. So we also need to be real sportsmen in our minds and be ready for flexibility as well. So for me it was not a big difference".

"I also know I can ride pretty fast on a normal bike on a TT. So I just made a quick switch and we decided to race for the victory so I think it was a good decision," he concluded. Tomorrow will ultimately be the first big challenge for the overall classification.