Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl) may be one of the most prolific winners in pro cycling, despite his youth, but there have been question marks about his climbing abilities. When the screw has been turned at big moments, he has tended to falter on the bigger mountains.
He said in the build-up to this Vuelta it was not clear how he would do on the hardest climbs against the best. So his performance yesterday on the final climb of stage 6 was very notably. He put over a minute into all of his rivals for overall victory, except Enric Mas (Movistar).
Most impressive about his time gain was the fact he did not attack. He simply pressed harder on the front and rode the other big GC men out of his wheel. On the final climb to Ascensión al Pico Jano. San Miguel de Aguayo on the 181km stage he put the pressure on with over 8km to go.
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Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) had just attacked to put what remained of the peloton under serious pressure. The chase after him split that group, trimming it right back to a select group. And then Evenepoel got to work.
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He quickly reduced the group to four; himself, Mas, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) and Pavel Sivakov, whose Ineos Grenadiers team mates Richard Carapaz and Tao Geoghegan Hart were just behind, along with riders like Jai Hindley (Bora-hansgrohe), João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën Team) and others.
Once Evenepoel sensed Roglič and Sivakov were in trouble he squeezed on the pedals again and a gap appeared. Within 1km of the 22-year-old Belgian taking it up on the front, he was alone with Mas. And while attacker Jay Vine (Alpecin-Deceuninck) survived up ahead to take the stage win, Evenepoel was 2nd just 15 seconds behind him.
In very wet, misty and cold conditions, Evenepoel gained 1:22 on the group of favourites to take the race lead. Whether he will maintain this pace, or falter on the steep climbs when the conditions are warmer, remains to be seen. But yesterday was the first time he looked like a Grand Tour contender.
