Remco Evenepoel stands in a class of his own in queen stage of the Tour of Valencia
Remco Evenepoel struck a double blow in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The leader of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe soloed to victory in the queen stage of the race and also became the new overall leader in the Spanish stage race. João Almeida won the sprint for second place, ahead of Giulio Pellizzari.
After three days of racing, Biniam Girmay was still in the lead in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, but unless a miracle happened, that would change after stage four. The 172-kilometer fourth stage featured roughly 3,300 meters of climbing and several tough ascents. Early in the stage, for example, was the Alto de Miserat (5.1 km at 10.1%), followed later by the Alto de Fustera (1.8 km at 8.3%) and Cumbre del Sol (2 km at 10%, with sections up to 18%).
The summit of that last climb, where Tom Dumoulin made his breakthrough as a grand tour rider in 2015, was located twelve kilometers from the finish. After this final grueling climb, a challenging finale awaited—with the Muro del Pou—leading to the finish in Teulada. Would Remco Evenepoel make his move in this difficult finale?
Before we got the answer to that question, we initially saw a breakaway of eight riders. Among them were Lewis Askey (NSN Cycling), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Steff Cras (Soudal Quick-Step), and the polka-dot jersey wearer Danny van der Tuuk (Euskaltel-Euskadi). The Dutch climber claimed the mountain points on the Coll de Rates (from Tàrbena) and ultimately secured overall victory in the mountains classification. He now only needs to finish the final stage on Sunday.
Evenepoel breaks away on Cumbre del Sol
The breakaway shattered even before the Alto de Fustera. Once on the steep wall itself, only Cras and Bernard remained together. However, their advantage over the peloton, where UAE Emirates XRG and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe had pushed the pace, was limited. They regrouped at the summit and also started first on the Cumbre del Sol climb. On that ascent, Bernard left his companion Cras behind.
Meanwhile, Giulio Pellizzari led the charge for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Only a handful of riders could hold the Italian’s pace. It was the precursor to an attack by Evenepoel. While João Almeida and Brandon McNulty had to immediately yield, Antonio Tiberi tried to stick to the Belgian’s wheel a little longer. Eventually, the Bahrain rider also cracked. Thus, Evenepoel crested the Cumbre del Sol climb first.
Evenepoel successfully completes solo
After the summit, Tiberi dropped back into a group including McNulty, Almeida, Pellizzari, and Magnus Sheffield. Following an intermediate acceleration by Almeida, only he, Tiberi, and Pellizzari remained. Later, McNulty returned twice to help with the pace-making, but no matter how hard they rode behind Evenepoel, they never came truly close. They would never see the Aerokogel from Schepdaal again. He secured his fourth individual victory of 2026 and took over the lead in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
Sunday awaits the final stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
