<\/p>\n
On the Alto La Fustera and again on the Cumbre del Sol, the pace imposed by Evenepoel\u2019s team stripped the race down to a small group of contenders and removed any ambiguity about where the decisive move would come from.<\/p>\n
A plan executed without hesitation<\/p>\n
Once Evenepoel committed on the steepest section of the Cumbre del Sol, there was no deviation from the script. After a final, punishing turn on the front by Giulio Pellizzari, the Belgian accelerated decisively and rode clear, committing to the solo effort with more than ten kilometres still remaining.<\/p>\n
It was a demanding finale. The climb itself was explosive, the terrain beyond offered little shelter, and a headwind on the exposed main road forced Evenepoel to manage his effort carefully all the way to the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to go all the way to the finish, and that was really difficult,\u201d he explained. \u201cI went all out on the Cumbre, and then when we turned onto the big road, there was a headwind. But if it\u2019s hard for me, it\u2019s also hard for the guys behind, so I just kept pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Red Bull control thins the race before the finale<\/p>\n
Evenepoel\u2019s winning move was shaped long before the decisive attack. Red Bull imposed a fierce tempo earlier on the Alto del Miserat and again on the Alto La Fustera, steadily reducing the peloton and ensuring that when the final climb arrived, only a select group remained.<\/p>\n
Those repeated accelerations forced rivals onto the defensive. Riders were reacting rather than dictating, and when the decisive selection formed, Evenepoel was surrounded by support rather than isolated.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the first metres until the very last ones, the team worked for me,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody did their part of the job.\u201d<\/p>\n
A fractured chase behind<\/p>\n
Behind the leader, Joao Almeida and Antonio Tiberi attempted to organise a response, with Brandon McNulty repeatedly bridging back after moments of hesitation. The effort, however, never fully stabilised.<\/p>\n
Evenepoel was aware of the lack of cohesion behind him. \u201cNobody helped us, which I completely understand,\u201d he noted. \u201cBut we stuck exactly to the plan we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
The absence of full commitment in the chase allowed the gap to stabilise quickly, and once Evenepoel reached the flatter sections with a clear advantage, the opportunity to bring him back had already passed.<\/p>\n
Calm execution over chaos and bonifications<\/p>\n
A key factor in the victory was the team\u2019s refusal to panic earlier in the stage. With intermediate bonification seconds already gone, there was no incentive to gamble prematurely. \u201cWe never panicked,\u201d Evenepoel explained. \u201cWe knew we were going to go all out on the Cumbre, and what you saw was the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
That clarity allowed Red Bull to control the race without burning unnecessary matches, saving their decisive effort for the terrain that best suited their leader.<\/p>\n
Racing on familiar roads<\/p>\n
Beyond the tactics, Evenepoel also highlighted how comfortable the terrain felt on a personal level. Racing into Calpe meant competing on roads he knows intimately from training. \u201cRiding into Calpe felt like coming home,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s what I do almost every day, so it was really nice to race here.\u201d<\/p>\n
That familiarity showed in the way he paced the descent and the final drag to the line, riding without hesitation and never once glancing back.<\/p>\n
Support that keeps delivering results<\/p>\n
Stage 4 was Evenepoel\u2019s latest win in an extraordinary opening run with Red Bull, adding to an already dominant early-season record. More than the margins themselves, the performance reinforced a broader picture: a rider operating with total clarity, backed by a team executing without hesitation, and delivering results with striking consistency.<\/p>\n
In Valenciana, that difference is now written clearly into the race standings.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the Alto La Fustera and again on the Cumbre del Sol, the pace imposed by Evenepoel\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,89774,39733,8396,85,217961],"class_list":["post-465776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-joao-almeida","tag-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe","tag-remco-evenepoel","tag-sports","tag-volta-a-comunitat-valenciana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}