The Ecuadorian cyclist Richard Carapaz (INEOS) won this Saturday for the second time in the Tour of Spain by winning the 14th stage in which the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) attacked and ‘broke’ the leader, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel ( QuickStep -Alpha Vinyl).
Carapaz, who had already won the 12th stage, covered the 160.3 kilometers between Montoro and Sierra de La Pandera in 4:09.27 hours, eight seconds faster than the Colombian Miguel Ángel López (Astana), second, and the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), third.
In the general accounts, the Portuguese João Almeida (UAE Emirates), who was fourth in the race on foot, 27 seconds behind, moved up to seventh the day that the Belgian Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl) gave in and saw the lead shorten. , with Roglic now at 1.49 minutes, in second place, and the Spanish Enric Mas (Movistar) at 2.43, in third place.
Today’s stage served to demonstrate the ‘humanity’ of Evenepoel, who until now had dominated the peloton day after day, from the time trial to the mountains, suffering a bad day in which Roglic knew how to make the most of it.
The Slovenian, who has won the last three editions, almost caught the ‘Locomotiva de Carchi’, which was part of the day’s breakout and proved to have more legs, like a ‘free runner’ – the departure of INEOS has already been announced, who until today ‘threw’ in the pursuit group of the Olympic champion.
The 26-year-old showed why he won the 2019 Tour of Italy and why he was signed by the EF Education-Easy Post. A very high pace in the high mountains, which today earned him his second victory in three days, with an attack in the last four kilometers, within the final climb.
The attention was focused on the fight for the general, in a promotion in which, in 2003, the Spanish Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) prevailed over the favorites -the ‘veteran’ retires this year, but today he was discreet-.
‘Rogla”s attack left Evenepoel behind, in a phase of the climb to La Pandera in which the candidates ‘scattered’ along the way, and it was soon understood that the Belgian would lose a lot of time today.
Motivated, both Roglic and Miguel Ángel López increased their pace and almost caught up with Carapaz head-on, ‘happy’ with taking about 50 seconds off the leader, followed by a ‘surprising’ João Almeida.
The Portuguese was ‘disappeared’ from the television images until he crossed the finish line, while Evenepoel continued to chase, together with the Spanish Juan Ayuso (United Arab Emirates), the unlucky one of the day, having to change bikes in the last kilometers.
After all, López moved up to sixth position and Almeida to seventh, in exchange for the Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (BORA-hansgrohe), and the Portuguese is now 6.49 minutes behind Evenepoel, who will have another ‘litmus test’ on Sunday, on the climb to Sierra Nevada.
The Belgian suffered the last four kilometers, when Roglic took the lead after the team’s work to harden the pace, chasing the rivals for the final victory that lay ahead, which he could not achieve.
Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) gave up four places in the general standings today, up to 35th, while Ivo Oliveira (United Arab Emirates) now follows him in 140th.
On Sunday, the 15th stage joins Martos with Sierra Nevada in 152.6 kilometres, with a new high finish to test the aspirations of the contenders for the final victory.
Source: TSF
