Vuelta: Evenepoel on the brink of overall victory - Carapaz wins stage 20
Thomas Goldmann
· 10.09.2022
Remco Evenepoel once again had the competition under control on the last tough mountain stage of the Vuelta a Espana over 181 kilometres to Puerto de Navacerrada. The 22-year-old Belgian from Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl is on the verge of his first overall victory in a Grand Tour. The final stage to Madrid on Sunday is likely to be just an obligatory exhibition race for the Belgian and his team, who are also heading for their first overall victory in a Grand Tour.
Ayuso on the podium of the Vuelta
Second-placed Enric Mas tried again with his Movistar team to get Evenepoel into trouble, but the man in the red jersey confidently parried the Spaniard's only attack. Behind him, 19-year-old Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) maintained his third place in the overall classification without any major problems against Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Qazaqstan).
The stage win on stage 20 went to Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), who was the last remaining rider from a leading group to make it over the final climb of the day and finished eight seconds ahead of Thymen Arensman (Team DSM).
A few seconds later, the group of favourites around Evenepoel reached the finish line, where tears of joy flowed afterwards. For Carapaz, who is moving from Ineos Grenadiers to EF Education EasyPostAfter his victories on stages 12 and 14, this was his third win of the day. He is also the leader in the mountain classification and can no longer be caught.
Profile & climbs: This was the 20th stage of the Vuelta
The stages of the Vuelta in detail
Unlike in the Tour de France, the leader's jersey in the Vuelta is not yellow, but red. We have summarised which other leader's jerseys and special classifications there are in the Tour of Spain in our text on the rules.
Numerous top cycling stars will be at the start of the 2022 Vuelta. TOUR has compiled an overview of the line-ups of the 23 teams.
Tour of Spain for women
In addition to the men's race, there will also be another Vuelta for women in 2022, the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta. It will take place from 7 to 11 September with a total of five stages.
The first stage starts in Marina de Cudeyo in Cantabria, with the final section finishing four days later in the Spanish capital Madrid.
History of the Vuelta
The men's Vuelta a Espana is back after the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France the third of the three major national tours (Grand Tours), which will be held in 2022. The Tour of Spain was held for the first time in 1935 and is therefore younger than its Italian and French counterparts.
Until the 1990s, the Vuelta traditionally took place in spring. The date was then moved to August or September. There was one exception in 2020, when the Vuelta was moved to October and November due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Click through: The Vuelta winners since 2010
The record winner is the Spaniard Roberto Heras with four titles. Three Germans have won the race so far: Rudi Altig (1962), Rolf Wolfshohl (1965) and Jan Ullrich (1999).
