Blazin’ Saddles: 10 talking points from La Vuelta 2022 as Remco Evenepoel comes of age

Evenepoel sets sights on Tour and Giro In red from Stage 6 onwards, Remco Evenepoel’s only real threat came from himself in the form of that freak crash on the final descent in Stage 12. When he was dropped on the climbs, the Belgian showed maturity beyond his 22 years and stuck to his own tempo – limiting his losses on La Pandera and then all but securing the overall win a day later in Sierra Nevada. Ad On top of that, he demonstrated supreme time trialling prowess to win a maiden Grand Tour stage in Alicante, and then ruthlessness to win in red by denying Robert Gesink on the Alto del Piornal.

Far bigger rivals will come than Enric Mas. Indeed, the prospect of seeing Evenepoel return to the Giro in this form, or to set his sights on a Tour debut next July, is mouth-watering. Vuelta a España'Unbelievable' Ayuso has 'big and bright future' after Vuelta podium — Blythe5 HOURS AGO To witness Evenepoel, Tadej Pogacar, Egan Bernal, Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert all on the same race will be a sight for sore eyes.

Which is just as well, for moments after he won the Vuelta on Sunday, Evenepoel said it was his dream to win all three of cycling’s major races. Bring it on. First time winners in all Grand Tours After Jai Hindley in the Giro and Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour, Remco Evenepoel became a first-time winner in the Vuelta.

Unlike the others, it was his debut. But there was more significance behind this stat, for, crucially, both Bora-Hansgrohe and Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl became winners of a Grand Tour for the first long – breaking the Ineos-Jumbo-UAE triopoly that had established itself in recent years. The days of domination by a single rider or single team seem to be well and truly over.