Remco Evenepoel poised to win Vuelta a España as Richard Carapaz takes stage

Remco Evenepoel is poised to win the 2022 Vuelta a España after holding off his title rivals on a gruelling penultimate stage.

The 22-year-old Belgian has all but secured his first Grand Tour success and victory should be confirmed on Sunday, when the race ends with a flat stage into the Spanish capital, Madrid.

Coming home in sixth place, 15 seconds behind the stage 20 winner Richard Carapaz, Evenepoel maintains a lead of 2min 5sec over Enric Mas (Movistar), with Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) a further three minutes back.

Evenepoel will be the first Grand Tour winner from Belgium in 44 years, a drought that has lasted since Johan De Muynck’s Giro d’Italia victory in 1978. The Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider was overwhelmed by emotion after crossing the finish line.

“I don’t know what’s going through my head and my body right now, but it’s amazing,” Evenepoel told Eurosport. “I felt stressed today, I didn’t sleep well last night. I had to just follow and control [my rivals], believe in my power.”

Saturday’s penultimate stage saw riders take on five categorised climbs, and the first of the day – the Category 1 Puerto de Navacerrada – splintered the peloton, with a group of more than 20 riders able to break away.

Evenepoel’s Quick-Step team managed to regain control and keep the Belgian’s GC rivals in check. With 100km left to go, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and Robert Stannard (Alpecin-Deceuninck) went clear at the front, but they were caught by the chasing group with two climbs still to go.

Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) then emerged as the leading trio, but Meintjes and Higuita were reeled in by the red jersey group on the final climb, with