Remco Evenepoel retained his second place in the general classification at the Giro d’Italia in the mountain stage to Campo Felice.
The leader of Deceuninck-Quick-Step ran into problems just before the last gravel sector, but he recovered and finished ten seconds behind Egan Bernal.
“We got the most out of it,” he said. “The start was very tough with two climbs, but the last climbs in the stage didn’t really felt like real mountains. Only the last strip of gravel really hurt. I was hoping for a tougher race in the final, but in the end it went well and we maintained our good position. That is important for Wednesday. We got the most out of it, because I think many riders have suffered. ”
“I was just badly positioned at 1.5 kilometers from the finish. In the tunnel, someone from Ineos Grenadiers almost hit Egan Bernal’s wheel, who was right in front of me. As a result, we lost some places. As a result, I was not in the right place at the start of the gravel zone. I then tried to move up a few places and that worked, but unfortunately I ended just outside the bonus seconds”, Evenepoel said.
“In the end I’ve lost only ten seconds, and then another ten bonus seconds. That means that I am now at fifteen seconds in the standings. That is almost nothing, if you know that the big mountains are yet to come. The team can be proud. Tomorrow will be another sprinters stage and then the rest day. Everyone will be happy with that.”
