'They will still attack me' – Remco Evenepoel wary despite classy win in red on Stage 18 at La Vuelta

Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) believes La Vuelta will be “easier to control” after he proved the strongest again on Stage 18 but is still anticipating attacks. The Belgian won in the red jersey after a thrilling finish saw him towed to the finale by rival Enric Mas (Movistar) before the pair cruelly leapfrogged Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma), the lone survivor from a 42-man breakaway. Ad Evenepoel steamed clear to the summit to gap Mas and hoover up bonus seconds, leaving his quest for a maiden Grand Tour title now looking a formality.

He leads Mas by 2’07” with three stages remaining. Vuelta a EspañaEvenepoel wins in red on Stage 18 as Gesink cruelly denied2 HOURS AGO «It’s a new achievement in my life. It was a pretty tough stage with some really hard climbs in the final,” said Evenepoel.

“That race was really hard but we always stayed calm – that’s what I learned the most, to always stay calm. “It’s like in the last kilometre when we were still 15 or 20 seconds from Gesink – and in the end we came to him with 300 metres remaining and I went at 200m because I knew it was quite flat. In the winter I worked a lot on my sprint after a big effort so that paid off.

»The goal is always to try and let the breakaway go – because then the bonus seconds are gone. But when I went with Enric at the end, that was the moment I made it click and I told myself, ‘Now you go for the stage as well,’ because winning on a mountain-top finish in the red jersey is amazing. “Enric is a really fair-play guy – in the end we worked together to go for the stage win.

He also wanted to try and go, but it was a sprint. It was a big race from the team and it was a perfect day for me. The most perfect day ever." Question marks hung over