Vuelta a Espana 2023: Remco Evenepoel completes hat-trick as Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard ride for Sepp Kuss

With a telling tap of the helmet and his fingers steepled into what looked like a heart, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) soloed to a third win on the Vuelta a Espana after a gruelling double ascent of the Puerto de la Cruz de Linares in Asturias.

Since his red-jersey bid imploded on the Col d’Aubisque in the second week, defending champion Evenepoel has successfully pivoted his race to a push for polka dots while lighting up many a breakaway. And the 23-year-old’s aggressive riding was rewarded on Thursday with a 50th career win – and the completion of a stage hat-trick on the 78th edition of the Vuelta.

Fellow escapee Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) likened trying to keep up with Evenepoel as “trying to follow a scooter”. The Italian veteran came closest to matching the Belgian tyro – albeit coming home almost five minutes down for his second place.

Evenepoel ditched his remaining breakaway colleagues Caruso and Max Poole (Team dsm-firmenich) on the first of two ascents of the Cruz de Linares with 30km remaining of the mountainous 179km Stage 18 in north-west Spain.

A clean-sweep of maximum points over all five categorised climbs of the day saw Evenepoel secure the polka dot jersey well before he kicked clear for the win. Moments after his latest victory in Spain, Evenepoel put the record straight about his celebration.

“The message was an O for my wife, Oumi,” he said. “She said if I took my third victory I had to dedicate it to her, so…”

Elaborating on why he struck when he did from the day’s 14-man breakaway, Evenepoel said: “I felt like I was the strongest from the group and I didn’t have to waste any time and I just had to go for it. I felt that the legs were super good today.

“I had a better day like I had in Stage 14 and it was an amazing stage to win. And a super good opportunity to take the points for my jersey. I took all the points and it’s amazing to end the Vuelta with my third stage win.”

Victory for the former road race world champion helped him draw a line under the disappointment of falling out of contention in the battle for red so early after his troubles in Stage 13 to the Col du Tourmalet.

“After my off day from Formigal to Tourmalet I just had to turn a page and go for victories. I won three of the most beautiful stages from this Vuelta – and I take the mountain jersey – so I think we can be very proud even if the GC didn’t work out,” he said.

“It’s amazing to finish with such a good feeling and to have such good legs – it means that I keep improving and I has just a bit of a bad week in the second week.”

In Evenepoel’s absence in the GC battle, the American Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) stood up to the plate – although the 29-year-old had found his position as race leader increasingly precarious after successive wins for Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic saw his team-mates edge closer to his crown.

But on the final mountaintop finish of this year’s Vuelta, Jumbo-Visma’s two leaders put on a show of solidarity for their team-mate in red, with Vingegaard even easing up towards the finish to allow Kuss to extend his lead over the Danish double Tour de France champion by nine seconds.

“It’s getting closer,” said a relieved Kuss, who now leads Vingegaard by 17 seconds with three stages remaining. “I knew today was going to be another really important day and I had to be really concentrated and have a really good performance to stay in the jersey.”

A gracious Kuss praised the two team-mates he has repeatedly described as “champions” and also had a word of thanks for his sporting directors at Jumbo-Visma for their handling of a delicate situation that has come under the spotlight since Wednesday’s drama on the Angliru.

“I have to thank the guys for helping me and keeping it together. It was a nice experience. In the race it’s not always easy with two leaders – but to have three is even more complicated,” Kuss candidly admitted. “We’ve talked about it throughout the race and always had support from the directors. It’s always difficult to see from the outside what’s going on.”

Just as he did on the road to the Angliru, Evenepoel fought to make the day’s breakaway – and this time Jumbo-Visma gave the move their blessing as the gap quickly extended to over 10 minutes.

Alongside Evenepoel, Caruso and Poole in the 14-man break were Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Nico Denz (Bora-hansgrohe), Jarrad Drizners and Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny), Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Hofstetter (Arkea Samsic), Paul Ourselin (Total Energies), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) and Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ).

Evenepoel led the escapees over the Cat.2 Alto de las Estacas, Cat.1 Puerto de San Lorenzo and Cat.3 Alto de Tenebredo in pole position to secure the polka dot jersey before shifting his focus to a third stage win.

On the first of two ascents of the narrow, concrete-slabbed Puerto de la Cruz de Linares (8.3km at 8.6%), a selection was made following an initial dig from Stage 2 winner Kron. The Norwegian, however, soon dropped back as Evenepoel went clear with veteran Caruso and the British youngster Poole.

With 30km remaining, Caruso cracked before Poole felt the pinch – allowing the man in polka dots to ride on to certain glory. If Poole came to within a minute of the lone leader on the technical descent, the gap ballooned on the final climb.

Caruso came a distant second place at 4:44 before a recovering Kron pipped Poole for third place over five minutes down. The rest of the break arrived in drips and drabs before the red jersey group was brought home by Spanish duo Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Enric Mas (Movistar) the best part of 10 minutes in arrears.

In their wheel? None other than the red jersey himself, grinning from ear to ear after riding to an impressive 10th place that sees him edge ever closer to a maiden Grand Tour victory.

While Roglic finished in the wake of Kuss, Vingegaard eased in the closing moments to let Kuss’ advantage grow out to 17 seconds in the general classification. The Dane said afterwards that the result was just rewards for Kuss after the loyalty and support he had showed in previous races.

“For sure, it’s nice to be able to pay him back and to do something nice for Sepp,” said the two-time Tour winner. “He’s done so much for me and for Primoz. So, obviously I liked to pay him back today – and on Saturday, which is a very tough and long stage where we will have to be careful.”

Roglic echoed his team-mate’s words with the assertion: “Like I’ve already said before multiple times, he’s for sure the first guy I wish to win it.”

But the triple Vuelta winner – who retained his third place at 1:08 – showed signs of internal conflict when asked whether he had found it difficult not to contest for the win himself.

“For sure, I would say. I have my own thoughts about it but, for sure, I will try to do it so it stays the way it is,” he said, enigmatically.

The Vuelta continues on Friday with a pan-flat 177km stage for the sprinters before the final GC test: Saturday’s hilly classics-style Stage 20, which is over 200km long and features no fewer than 10 third-category climbs.

While Kuss remains closer than ever to a Grand Tour victory he never thought possible, the red jersey is still far from secure. Although with fourth-place Ayuso still four minutes in arrears, any ambush on Kuss’s red jersey would have to come from within his team – something which now looks very unlikely given the public show of support for the American race leader.