Primoz Roglic won the 4th stage of the Vuelta in Laguardia. In a bumpy final, the Slovenian beat Mads Pedersen and Enric Mas. While the profile might have suited him, Julian Alaphilippe finished much further, at 28 seconds. “Nothing in the legs, but we limited the damage for Remco Evenepoel”, declared the world champion following the race.
In this fairly steep finish in the last mile, Remco Evenepoel ranked 8th (at the same time as Roglic). The leader of the Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl is now in 6th place overall, 27 seconds behind the new leader Primoz Roglic.
The Belgian team tried to play the card Julian Alaphilippe for the stage victory but the world champion was not having a great day. “Rarely have I done such a fast stage, it went flat out from start to finish. We did our best and we stayed well placed in the final. Today, to win, it’s the legs that decide I had to sit back in the saddle 500 meters from the finish, I had nothing in my legs and I mightn’t take off. That’s how it is.”explained Julian Alaphilippe to our microphone.
“Before playing my card, the main objective was to stay around Remco, so that nothing happens to him. And being in front, we might of course think of the stage victory if I felt good. Any the day I did not feel great but no legs, so no excuses. I gave the maximum”.
At the start of this stage, Remco declared want to avoid doing crazy things and stay calm. But in the last difficulty of the day, Evenepoel still picked up the pace and made the descent in the lead. “We stayed calm but a technical and super fast descent like that, it’s better to be in front”explains his teammate Julian Alaphilippe. “I think he enjoyed himself and he didn’t use more energy than the others. It was pretty good actually. We limited the damage today.”he concludes.