Evenepoel and Enric Mas scare away their ghosts on Pico Jano

In the dark because of the fog everything was clearer. The cloud and the headlights of the Vuelta cars made the cyclists unrecognizable, almost invisible. Spectra silhouettes. And it was there that two runners overwhelmed by their fear of descents dispelled their ghosts. Remco Evenepoel, the new leader, and Enric Mas were left alone in that underwater landscape in the heart of the Cantabrian mountains. Only the winner of the stage, the Australian Jay Vine, came ahead. Behind Evenepoel and Mas appeared Juan Ayuso, 40 seconds behind. The hope of 19 years. The future that already shines in the tunnel where Spanish cycling still wanders. And after almost a minute and a half, Roglic arrived, soaked, and now he will have to attack. With the Slovenian came Yates, Sivakov, Hart, Hindley and another new number, Carlos Rodríguez. Another name for the immediate future. All this was seen almost in the dark at a stage that clarified more than expected.

At Pico Jano they know how to get electricity out of the water. There are two reservoirs that feed the Aguayo hydroelectric plant. Technological miracle. This mountain was named after the Roman god Janus, the one with two faces looking in opposite directions. The one who opens and closes the doors. He did that in the first uphill finish of this Vuelta. It opened the door for Vine, a cyclist who earned a professional contract in the midst of a pandemic by shining in virtual races on digital platforms. He also opened it to Evenepoel and Mas. And he closed it to Carapaz, who has already lost almost three minutes, and to Mikel Landa, who is six minutes behind.

At the sixth stage the thermometer fell. At the start from San Mamés, Athletic’s cathedral, the heat suffocated. Landa, who suspected something, announced that it was the day to “draw conclusions.” Bad for him. Janus Peak was going to put everyone in their line. Even with the sun, Rubén Fernández, Mark Padun, Jan Bakelants, Nelson Oliveira, Fausto Masnada, Kaden Groves, Marco Brenner, Dario Cataldo, Xandro Meurisse and Xabier Mikel Azparren escaped. From Janus Peak came news of rain and fog. From the sudden cold. Climate change in a flash. Cantabria boasts of being infinite, in landscapes and in temperatures. From heat wave to fall. The first drops refreshed the escapees in the port of Alisas. First chill. You had to go down with a wet floor.

This danger tested the mettle of Enric Mas, paralyzed by panic at the descents in the last Tour, and of Evenepoel, who almost died in a ravine of the Muro de Sormano in the Giro de Lombardía. The downhill curves of the Collada de Brenes were going to be like a session with the psychoanalyst. Land of cows, manure on the roads, old asphalt. Before opening the port a fall sounded like an earthquake. Hagen stayed in the gutter. One less. Madness broke out. Rather than run, they fled. Alaphilippe took advantage of this confusing moment to accelerate in favor of his leader, Evenepoel. The Belgian loves the rain. He has a power plant on his legs. A veil of fog covered the race that, however, was clearing up. Molard, the leader, received the coup de grâce there. Ahead, in flight, Padun left the rest. He is Ukrainian, from Donbas, the territory claimed by Russia. He has grown up among uniforms and has trained among military checkpoints.

And despite living in that warlike environment, his fear is relegation. He went down stiffly, clinging to the screeching brake, the Collada de Brenes. He lost one of the two minutes that he had. He lost the stage. Close to Padun, he shone within a mantle of fine rain the rainbow of Alaphilippe. The world champion continued to indulge Evenepoel, the Belgian prodigy. He pulled him and everyone to the penultimate gate of the stage, the one that opened the ascent to Pico Jano. When Alaphilippe burst, his teammate Masnada, who had dropped from the break, could not set the same pace. Jay Vine took advantage of it to go for Padun and for the stage. He entered the mist. The open door.

Ayuso’s revelation

A few meters below, Evenepoel transformed the water into energy. He ran a hand over the potentiometer as if it were a windshield. He read the strength digits from him. A lot. He activated a mechanical hammer with his former soccer player legs. Only Enric Mas, at the limit, could handle so much work. “I had enough to follow him,” said the Spaniard, third overall, 28 seconds behind Evenepoel and 7 seconds behind Molard. “Third already? How nice », he rejoiced, freed from the chains of his fears. He already looks over Roglic, who is a minute behind Evenepoel. Ayuso is fifth in his baptism, at 1.12. Youth played in favor of Alicante. “I’ve run these roads for nothing, in the youth Vuelta a Besaya,” he said. He takes more than half a minute to Almeida, the theoretical leader of his team, the UAE. «I have come to learn… And for all», Ayuso dared. Pure ambition. his gene

At 1.34 is Carlos Rodríguez, the Ineos player from Granada. Another ray of light on ashy Janus Peak. His team, Ineos, saw how Carapaz was diluted and how the Andalusian, Sivakov and Hart claimed the stripes. Youth is the new energy of this Vuelta in which a former Anderlecht midfielder who is only 22 years old rules. “It’s my first leader’s jersey… I’m proud,” said Evenepoel. In his country, Eddy Merckx often questions him. He doesn’t see him bottomed for a big round. The new red jersey has two and a half weeks in the Vuelta to deny him. To take the fog out of the old ‘cannibal’s’ eyes.