The final GC standings in the 2022 Vuelta a España after stage 21

Remco Evenepoel won the 2022 Vuelta a España
Remco Evenepoel won the 2022 Vuelta a España (Image credit: Getty Images)

Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) won the Vuelta a España 2022 on stage 21 in Madrid on Sunday, finishing with the main group and all other GC contenders, to seal his overall victory and 2:05 margin to 2nd place Enric Mas (Movistar).

The stage was won by Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) in a sprint finish, while almost the entire field finished with the same time - meaning the GC standings were completely unchanged following stage 20’s mountaintop battle. 

A day earlier, Evenepoel secured his overall victory in the Vuelta a España on stage 20, where he finished in 6th place - only 15 seconds behind stage winner Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers).

Finishing 2 seconds ahead of Evenepoel were his major red jersey rivals, 2nd place Enric Mas (Movistar) and 3rd place Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), who failed to open up a strong enough advantage to challenge the Belgian rider's 2:07 lead going into the stage.

Evenepoel finished ahead of Mas by 2:05, and Ayuso by 5:08 - representing a strong Spanish 2-3 on the podium.

Behind the Vuelta podium, there was little movement in the top 10 on stage 20 with Astana's Miguel Angel López securing his 4th place position, 5:56 behind the race leader Evenepoel.

Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) was the big faller in the race's final days, finishing 1:23 behind stage 20 winner Richard Carapaz and so dropping from 5th to 7th in the overall standings. He finished the race 7:57 behind in the overall general classification.

Taking his 5th place spot was João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), who gained 2 seconds on Evenepoel on stage 20, so finished 7:14 down in the overall standings.

Behind him, while taking 2nd place on stage 20 Thymen Arensman (Team DSM) gained 7 seconds on Evenepoel. Alongside a time bonus, that saw his overall margin shrink to 7:56 and saw him leapfrog Rodríguez to move into 6th place.

Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën Team) lost over a minute on stage 20, but that didn't alter his overall standing of 8th place, now behind Rodriguez. He finished 10:30 down on the red jersey.

Despite winning stage 17, Rigoberto Urán did not manage to shift above 9th place in the race's final week, and a deficit to the main GC contenders on stage 20 saw his gap in the overall GC extend to 11:04.

Rounding off the top 10, and nearly a minute down on Urán at 12:01, was the Giro d'Italia winner Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe).

With that comes the conclusion of GC battle at the 2022 Vuelta a España, meaning Belgium can celebrate its first Vuelta a España overall victory since Freddy Maertens in 1977.

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Peter Stuart
Editor

Peter Stuart has been editor of Cyclingnews since March 2022, overseeing editorial output across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints.


Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an international rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.