Yves Lampaert has filled many roles over the years at Soudal-QuickStep: classic winner, time triallist, deluxe domestique, lead-out man, on occasion even a sprinter. On Friday evening atop the Alto Colorado, he added press officer to his repertoire, protectively interrupting World Champion Remco Evenepoel just as he had begun to talk reporters through his difficult ascent of the Alto Colorado on stage 5 of the Vuelta a San Juan.
“It’s cold, let him go and wash his face first,” Lampaert called out from the open door of the team van. Evenepoel nodded his agreement, apologised to the reporters and dutifully stepped aboard, taking some shelter from the chill at 2,600 metres above sea level.
The World Champion had already produced something of a false start on the slopes of Alto Colorado. When he ripped confidently clear of the group of favourites a little over 10km from the summit, it initially looked as though Evenepoel was bounding off into a race of his own. The gap yawned open, and Ineos’ pace-making behind seemed merely an exercise in damage limitation.
Barely 2km later, however, the lie of the land would change utterly. Evenepoel clicked down his cassette and relented, allowing himself to be swept up by a reduced chasing group. When Miguel Ángel López (Medellín-EPM) launched what proved the race-winning attack a few hundred metres later, Evenepoel didn’t even try to follow.
Soon afterwards, Evenepoel disappeared from view altogether, unable to track a chase group featuring Filippo Ganna, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe). He would steady the ship somewhat on the final approach to the summit, but by then, the damage was done. Evenepoel crossed the line in seventh place, 1:09 behind the rampant López and half a minute behind the chasers.
“I think I had quite strong legs and maybe I felt a bit too good at that moment and I did a bit of a strange move,” Evenepoel said when he emerged from the van once more, now wrapped in a hoody. “I did a stupid move, because in the end, I went for one minute at full gas and then I tried to keep a high speed. But I was alone, so I should have stopped riding immediately.”
There have been times in Evenepoel’s young career – his victory at the 2019 Clásica San Sebastián, for instance – when he has been stronger than mistakes that would have proved ruinous to mere mortals. But while the Alto Colorado’s slopes are relatively gentle, it’s an unforgiving sort of a place all the same. The combination of altitude and an elite cadre of Colombian riders a week out from their national championships doomed any hope of a fight back.
“I think it wasn’t the best and the smartest move that I made, but in the end, I think I had to recover a little from the effort, because I was full of lactate and acid in my body. My arms were really pumped,” Evenepoel said.
“It was not really smart, because I didn’t really train on efforts like that, so I should have been smarter and more calm and just try to take the wheel and the slipstream and I had to try and attack like that maybe in the last 3km or the last kilometre and not that early. But in the end, it’s better to make a mistake like that now than in the Giro.”
Evenepoel won the last edition of this race three years ago, but with just two stages tailored for sprinters remaining, he has little prospect of recouping his 1:19 overall deficit on López. The Colombian is riding here for Continental squad Medellín-EPM after he was fired by Astana last month for his links to Dr Marcos Maynar, and he appeared to be on a different level to everybody else.
Five of the six riders ahead of Evenepoel on Friday evening were Colombians, including Bernal, who could draw considerable encouragement from his fourth place finish here. The exception was Ganna, who impressed en route to second place, though Evenepoel looked to put his performance in context.
“When they caught me back and I could see López going, I thought immediately, this guy is going for the victory today, he really looks strong. Maybe the biggest surprise is Ganna but he’s always good here and in preparation for the European Track Championships,” said Evenepoel.
“All the guys who were in front of me they maybe had a better preparation but that’s not an excuse for my mistake that I did today. There are big lessons out of today, but like I said: better in this race than in the next races.”
