Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) has strongly denied any suggestion he did not have a puncture in the finale of today's stage 16 of La Vuelta when he pulled into the roadside as his main rival Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) was attacking off the front and gaining time.
As Roglič was sprinting forward at the end of the 189.4km stage into Tomares - having attacked uphill with 2.7km to go - Evenepoel was in the front part of the peloton losing time. However, he could then be seen pulling over and waiting for a spare bike. While his puncture was not clear from the TV coverage, Evenepoel has absolutely dismissed any notion his mechanical was not real.
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"I'm not the person who's going to fake or cheat," Evenepoel said after the finish, when he lost just eight seconds to Roglič, who crashed hard at the finish. "I had good legs and I even wanted to compete for the stage win. I'm not making anything up.
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"I was in the middle of the peloton, in position twenty to thirty. I turned on and my rear wheel slid away. That's when I knew I had a flat tire."
And while Evenepoel ended the day with his gap to 2nd overall Roglič reduced by eight seconds, the young Belgian said he was satisfied with the day and hoped Roglič was OK.
"From 1.34 to 1.26. That's still okay," he said of his slightly reduced advantage over defending champion Roglič. "It was a pretty ugly fall and you don't wish that on anyone. I hope he recovers well."
