Vuelta: Evenepoel triumphs in Madrid

Remco Evenepoel won the 77th edition of the Vuelta which ended today with the last stage with arrival in Madrid, which was surprisingly won by Juan Sebastian Molano.

 At 22, the leader of Quick-Step is the first Belgian to win one of the great laps.

Fall, get up and start over.

Remco Evenepoel, after settling his accounts with the blindfolded goddess for risking his life at the 2020 Giro di Lombardia, got back on the saddle and started building something important again.

Climbing to the top step of the 77 / a Vuelta, after the catwalk in Madrid, the young Belgian must have revisited the film of the last two years: the 'death' and the sporting resurrection, the torments and doubts that have repeatedly made him stop and also think about retirement.

The triumph is a revenge and a liberation: for him and for Belgium.

For 44 years, in fact, the nation that thrives on cycling had not won a great tour: the last was Johan De Muynck who, in 1978, won the Giro d'Italia with the help of Felice Gimondi.

Now it is the turn of a 22-year-old Flemish who too hastily many have approached Eddy Merckx.

After three tough weeks, Evenepoel earned the final runway in Madrid, a stage of just 96.7km starting in Rozas and ten laps of the circuit in the capital.

The last victory went to the Colombian Juan Sebastian Molano who surprised everyone in the sprint, including the specialists Mads Pedersen and Pascal Ackermann, who arrived in order to his wheel.

"It is the best day of my life - the hot words of the runner who interrupted the Slovenian hegemony of Primiz Roglic (three times winner in a row) -. I think I have silenced all the criticisms. I thought of everyone. the sacrifices, it was not easy for me to start over. That crash in Lombardia and then all the effort to get back to my levels. Last year was very hard: I suffered a lot of criticism. Even the last three weeks have not been easy. The pressure was enormous. I wanted to get on the podium and win at least one stage, I won the Vuelta and also two stages. I would say it couldn't have been better. "

Evenepoel in April had made the Liège-Bastogne-Liège his own, also proving to be a great classics runner.

"I'm 22 and it's my fifth on a bike; the accident has now passed and never had my condition been so perfect as on the eve of the Vuelta".

Whoever comes out with broken bones from the Spanish stage race is Roglic, involved in a fall and forced to raise the white flag.

The Slovenian, however, had already been put on the ropes by the Evenepoel phenomenon.

Richard Carapaz, who was also in Spain to win, can be said to be satisfied.

The Costa Rican has won three super stages, not a small consolation.

The Spaniard Juan Ayuso also did well: he was at the Vuelta to gain experience, he even took the third step of the podium, behind Evenepoel and his compatriot Enric Mas, also at the top.

In pieces, however,