Remoc Evenepoel's general classification challenge looks to be over at La Vuelta after he got into trouble on the slopes of the Col de Aubisque some 87km from the finish of today's stage 13.
He was surrounded by his Soudal-QuickStep team mates, with a big group forming around them, before Evenepoel - who won the race last year - was even dropped from that group. While he was at 30 seconds, behind the remains of the peloton containing the favourites, that gap then went out to two minutes.
Though the gap then closed a little, to about 1:30, after the climb, later time checks showed the young Belgian and his team mates were over five minutes back, as Jumbo Visma pushed on in the reduced peloton up ahead.
With the brutal ascent of the Col du Tourmalet to come - providing today's summit finish - before the end of the 134.7km stage, the chances of a recovery for Evenepoel had disappeared.
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That could prove to be very good news for Sepp Kuss, the race leader. His Jumbo Visma team may be much more likely to support him in a bid to win the race now that the team's main challenger looks like he is out of the picture.
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Jumbo Visma has two-time Tour de France winner, Jonas Vingegaard, and three-time Vuelta winner, Primož Roglič, in its line-up at this Vuelta. While Kuss has already won a stage, and is leading the race, it was expected his chances would fade when the battle erupted between Evenepoel and Vingegaard-Roglič.
Kuss was expected to be drawn into team duties, working for Vingegaard and Roglič. as they tried to see off the challenge of Evenepoel. However, as such a loyal servant to both of his bigger name team mates in recent years, it may just be payback time - in a major way - for Kuss if Jumbo Visma does not have to worry about the challenge of Evenepoel after today.
More to come.
