Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) is expected to start Stage 4 of the Volta a Catalunya on Thursday after suffering a heavy crash in the final kilometre of Stage 3, while organisers have confirmed the planned summit finish at Vallter 2000 has been removed due to wind gusts forecast up to 90 km/h.
Both these events have meant that the race may now take a different shape with stage 3 set to be the first major mountain test of the race and Evenepoel looking like he would be on the sort of form to potentially challenge Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the GC fight.
The stage now looks very similar to the stage won by Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) at the recent Paris-Nice, where extreme cold and snow shortened a summit finish. It gives the French champion a chance to maybe pull off an unlikely hattrick of wins. Instead of the original finish on Vallter 2000 with a summit finish at 2110 metres above sea level, they will finish in the valley at Camprodon, instead. This has pushed the start back by 30 minutes to 13:05 CET.
According to HLN, the damage from Evenepoel's crash "appears manageable" and the Belgian had a "relatively good night." His final confirmation to race will come at sign-on, but the overnight update pointed clearly toward continuation.
Evenepoel sits second overall, 11 seconds behind race leader Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers), with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) at 16 seconds and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at 18 seconds. A summit finish at Vallter would have been the most obvious opportunity to break the race open. Without it, the first serious GC confrontation is likely delayed to the mountain stages on Friday and Saturday, as well as the famed circuit around Monjuic in Barcelona.
How the crash unfolded
Stage 3 had already been blown apart by crosswinds when Evenepoel and Vingegaard attacked around 30 km from the finish, briefly opening a gap of roughly 25 seconds over the peloton. The pair entered the final kilometre together before Evenepoel hit the ground near a roundabout.
I wanted to go to my drops and just at that moment there was a pothole that I hadn't seen and that wasn't marked. That's when I lost control of my handlebars," Evenepoel said following the finish.
He remounted and finished the stage. Because the crash occurred inside the final 5km, he was credited with the same time as the group behind, preserving his GC position.
"I have pain everywhere. My elbow, back, and hips are scraped open," Evenepoel said. "We will see what the precise consequences are for the rest of this week."
He was adamant about the intent behind the late move with Vingegaard: "I rode to win. That was the plan today with the echelons." Evenepoel also made clear he felt Vingegaard had not fully committed to the collaboration. "What others do tactically is not my concern. That's their problem. It was clear who wanted to ride to win and who didn't." he sarcastically added "co-operation was amazing, it was amazing."
Vingegaard offered a brief response: "At some points he wasn't really happy with me, but that's how it is, it's cycling, we have our tactics."
The route change, announced late on Wednesday evening, was triggered by a Level 3 VENTCAT warning, the highest category in Catalonia's wind alert system. The official race statement said the organisation had been "forced to shorten the route" because of conditions forecast at the summit.
The original stage covered 173 km from Mataró to Vallter, including the Coll de Parpers and Alt de Sant Feliu de Codines before the long final ascent. Under the revised plan, the stage finishes in Camprodon at around 150 km, removing the decisive uphill conclusion.
While the route change was made on safety grounds, the softer finish may ease the physical demands on Evenepoel following his crash. With the summit finish removed, the stage becomes a transitional day rather than a defining one for the general classification, leaving the question of climbing form unanswered for now.
Cover image credit: Maximilian Fries / Red Bull Content Pool
