Yesterday’s stage winner and overnight race leader effectively dropped out of GC contention on stage 3.
Cor Vos
Across the first few weeks of his season, it seemed as if Remco Evenepoel could do no wrong in his new Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe kit, but the Olympic champ proved human on Wednesday at the UAE Tour.
Remco Evenepoel is quickly making Red Bull his team
With four wins in his first five races of the year, the team’s marquee signee is making an early claim to top status in the leadership hierarchy.
The one-week race was hyped as a showdown between Evenepoel and Isaac del Toro of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Evenepoel seemed to be on track for a GC bid after winning the stage 2 time trial. The very next stage, however, Evenepoel faltered on a challenging final climb and effectively dropped out of GC contention.
“I don’t think I digested yesterday’s effort at all,” he told Het Nieuwsblad after stage 3. “I didn’t have the best night either; I woke up from the heat. But ultimately, I can’t make excuses.”
Evenepoel rolled out from Umm al Quwain on Wednesday in the race leader’s jersey after his time trial victory, and his responsiveness to early attacks from the GC group on the day’s final climb – the only one of the race – seemed promising. As the attacks continued, however, Evenepoel found himself watching others head up the road, and then the proverbial wheels came off inside the last 4 km as he dropped out of a group of chasers and began to give ground to most of the big names.
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