The Belgian tried to make it interesting on stage 3 of the Volta a Catalunya only to crash himself out of contention.
Cor Vos
Remco Evenepoel did his best to spice up stage 3 of the Volta a Catalunya on Wednesday only to have Remco Evenepoel dash his hopes in the finale.
The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe leader fired off the front of the bunch on a mountain descent inside the last 30 km, drawing overall favorite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) with him in a two-rider move. What seemed likely to be another day for the fast finishers suddenly became a whole lot more interesting.
With Evenepoel driving most of the way home, the pair was still out front as the race neared its finish in Vila-Seca on the Catalan coast. After a big effort from Evenepoel – with little help from Vingegaard – when it seemed like the peloton was about to catch the pair, they still had a few seconds inside the final kilometer. Then, out of nowhere, Evenepoel hit the deck without any readily apparent reason.
El ciclismo es impredecible 🤯🤯🤯
Evenepoel se cae cuando acariciaba la victoria, Vingegaard se deja ir y el líder Godon se impone en Vila-seca.
🚴♂️ Lo has visto en @Eurosport_ES y @StreamMaxES. #VoltaCatalunya105 pic.twitter.com/9Vf0sB2iPK
— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) March 25, 2026
Vingegaard almost immediately eased off the gas and was swamped by a select group, with Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) leading the way across the line to take his second stage win of the race. Evenepoel took some time to get going again before arriving at the line a little while later, his GC position secure thanks to the 5 km rule.
[race_result id=14 stage_id=89951 count=5 gc=0 year=2026]
[race_result id=14 stage_id=89951 count=5 gc=5 year=2026]
The end result, then, was pretty much in line with pre-race expectations, despite Evenepoel’s best efforts. After the dust settled on the day, Evenepoel – no stranger to crashing – explained that he had run afoul of a pothole (although it’s not immediately visible on-screen).
“I wanted to go to my drops for the sprint,” he said. “At that moment, there was quite a big hole, I hit it, I didn’t see it and it was not pretty clear in the road, no markings. I didn’t see it and lost my bars.”
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