“Primoz Roglic must have had a super day,” said Remco Evenepoel, who lost fourteen seconds compared to competitors such as Roglic, Geoghegan Hart and Thomas. “And I made a mistake myself. There is no need to panic. I want to strike again in the time trial.”“Why should I be unhappy about that loss of time? That's typical for a big round. You have good days and bad days. Before that slope I had told teammate Mattia Cattaneo that I had some pain in my legs. I didn't have the legs of Lago Laceno. And then I saw that Roglic put his team in front. You don't just do that. So he wanted to put everyone under pressure and he succeeded. Except for the two from Ineos-Grenadiers.”
“So I knew that if one left a bloc it would be very difficult to follow. They all exploded except for the Ineos-Grenadiers men. Overall I had a pretty good day. Well, I didn't have the super legs to drive away from everyone. I make a mistake by unpacking with a sort of breakaway seven hundred meters from the top to get next to him. I got to within five or six meters of him, but then we turned into the steepest part of the climb and I blocked for a moment. I saw Primoz drive away meter by meter. In hindsight I should have tackled that climb the way Thomas did. He drove his own pace to the top. That's another lesson I learned from an experienced rider. Maybe I had the legs to follow, but if I use them wrong then it's an extra pity.
“I also knew the descent of Tirreno-Adriatico in which Lutsenko had fallen. I didn't want to take all the risks in the world. I also saw them driving continuously in the straight lines. To make a difference on a stage like that and to make his team work, yes, that was spectacular to experience. It was also a stage for which I had least prepared,” said Evenepoel. “We know that Primoz and Tadej (Pogacar, ed.) have the highest explosive power of the climbers. Apparently today was my day to lose some time”, the world champion took it all philosophically. "It is what it is. Life goes on huh. Fourteen seconds at eight kilometers is not very much in itself. Of course it would have been better nothing.
The Flemish-Brabander refused to use Wednesday's two falls as an excuse. “Maybe, it could. My body is still recovering. Last night there was a lot of fluid coming out of that wound, on the plaster. It's a bit of recovering from those falls anyway, but I'm looking at it positively. On to tomorrow.”
Evenepoel plans to take time back again in the Sunday time trial. “I am not hanging my head at all. I hope I can unpack again. I do hope for better legs, but I'm going to try. I caught 43 seconds last time. I hope to get at least as many. Please add a minute. It's a time trial that suits me well. I expect Almeida to start for me. It's a nice target. Too bad Ganna isn't here. Covid hey, it's the first and not the last to go down with this. It's still going around, let's keep it safe," said Evenepoel.
“I'm trying to make a big move against my other competitors. We'll see. And then it's a rest day. Let's hope this was a bad day for me. You have to accept that, take it in and just keep going. The Giro still lasts twelve days. Okay, the opponents are there, but I'm still here too”, concluded the world champion who cooled down on his time trial bike. “After such an explosive effort you have a lot of lactate in your legs. I drive that lactic acid out this way.”
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