{"id":507302,"date":"2026-04-01T15:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T15:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507302\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T15:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T15:37:15","slug":"philippa-york-suggests-remco-evenepoel-used-catalunya-as-more-of-a-form-check-for-the-upcoming-ardennes-rather-than-comparison-with-vingegaard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507302\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippa York suggests Remco Evenepoel used Catalunya as “more of a form check for the upcoming Ardennes rather than comparison with Vingegaard”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

In that context, Jonas Vingegaard started as the benchmark. According to York, his status as the only rider able to challenge Poga\u010dar\u2019s throne made him the standout favourite. “Jonas Vingegaard set the tone and, being the only one who could rival Pogacar, he was the clear favourite,” she explains.<\/p>\n

Evenepoel caught between two targets<\/p>\n

Around him, riders like Remco Evenepoel, Jo\u00e3o Almeida, and Tom Pidcock arrived needing to validate their form. For the Belgian, the bar was high after his start to the season: “Remco Evenepoel needed to rediscover the form that allowed him to crush everyone in January and February.”<\/p>\n

Evenepoel\u2019s case merits its own chapter in York\u2019s reading. The Belgian showed a more solid version than in recent outings, but still short of his top level. “It wasn\u2019t as bad as at the UAE Tour last month, but it also wasn\u2019t the performance the team management would have wished for,” she says.<\/p>\n

The analyst also suggests his approach may have been shaped by the calendar. “Seeing how he rode in the days before the mountain stages, I can\u2019t help but think this was more a form check for the upcoming Ardennes races than a direct comparison with Jonas Vingegaard.”<\/p>\n

In that sense, the conclusion is nuanced: “Catalunya can be considered a success, as he was dynamic, strong, and present in the opening days, but then he chased rather than raced in the high mountains.”<\/p>\n

York also highlights others looking to reassert themselves, like Oscar Onley, at a key moment after an uneven start: “This was a decisive moment, the time to step up after the disappointments at Paris-Nice.”<\/p>\n

INEOS fails to convince in the GCOne team that did not come out well in the review was INEOS Grenadiers<\/a>. There were positives, especially with Dorian Godon, but the GC fight never truly took shape.<\/p>\n

York underlines the Frenchman\u2019s role in attritional sprints: “Repeating the feat two days later, while wearing the leader\u2019s jersey, showed he was a valuable asset: the sprinter who can survive medium-mountain stages.” His victory in the points classification, she adds, “was well deserved.”<\/p>\n

\"Oscar<\/p>\n

Oscar Onley at the 2026 Volta a Catalunya with INEOS<\/p>\n

The doubts surfaced in the mountains. “They tried to take control on uphill finishes, but Onley and Rodr\u00edguez couldn\u2019t hold their own when the fight narrowed to the top climbers, and that\u2019s a concern,” she analyses.<\/p>\n

The requirement was clear: “It\u2019s understandable they couldn\u2019t match Vingegaard when he attacked, but one of them should have been in the immediate chase group.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In that context, Jonas Vingegaard started as the benchmark. According to York, his status as the only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,52999,177872,7133,101,56,54,55,109652],"class_list":["post-507302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-ineos-grenadiers","tag-phillipa-york","tag-remco-evenepoel","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-volta-a-catalunya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}