Remco Evenepoel saved by 'bizarre' 3km rule after late puncture at La Vuelta – but was that right?

ByBen Snowball

Updated 07/09/2022 at 14:43 GMT

An entire week’s drama was crammed into the final three kilometres of Stage 16 at La Vuelta as Primoz Roglic dropped a blistering attack and then inexplicably crashed, while Remco Evenepoel pulled up with a flat tyre. It was a mad end to an otherwise sedentary stage, with the debate raging after the stage as some - incorrectly, as it transpired - suggested Evenepoel may not have had a puncture…

One question raged after Stage 16 at La Vuelta: did Remco Evenepoel really have a puncture?

A crazy finale to what was dubbed a ‘flat’ stage by organisers saw Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) pull up with a mechanical, just moments after red jersey rival Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) had dropped a sensational attack with 2.7km remaining.

Evenepoel cut a relaxed figure given he was inside the final 3km – the safety net to get the same time as the peloton in event of a fall, puncture or mechanical – while up the road, Roglic somehow contrived to crash just metres from the finish. as he squabbled for victory and bonus seconds.

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Roglic remounted and was later awarded the same time as stage winner Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), while Evenepoel was given the same time as the bunch, meaning all the Slovenian had to show for his bloodied torso was eight measly seconds. By Wednesday morning, it was far bleaker for Roglic as he was forced to abandon due to his injuries.

The post-race spotlight focused on Evenepoel's rear wheel, with TV footage appearing to show it was not flat. It sparked sweeping speculation, both on The Breakaway and social media, that Evenepoel had invented the issue.

Given Evenepoel's obvious climbing prowess, there was no real reason for him to fake a puncture – and fan footage showing a slow leak soon cleared the Belgian of wrongdoing.

Evenepoel also moved to quash suggestions he had cheated.

"Nobody can say anything. I'm not a guy who is going to fake such things," he said afterwards.

"We were fighting for position, I was sitting not at the front, but also not at the back, just in the middle of the group. I felt really good, I also wanted to fight for the stage win, but I had a flat tyre at the back. I felt immediately that the grip was going. I had to change it."

Relive Evenepoel’s puncture drama at La Vuelta

But the debate was not quite over. A second question surfaced ahead of Stage 17 on The Breakaway: should Evenepoel have been saved by the 3km rule?

"The 3km rule is there to try and make a safer bunch sprint generally, so you're not having all the GC riders jostling for positions amongst the sprinters in a really chaotic and very fast sprint," said Eurosport expert Dan Lloyd.

"But it does look rather bizarre on a stage like yesterday... If Roglic doesn't crash, he still put in a humongous five-minute effort and Remco Evenepoel could have just cruised in 4-5 minutes down, having not made any effort at all, and Roglic would have just got eight seconds.

"If we look at yesterday's stage, there were quite a few groups. I think we could probably bet Remco would have been in that first group at eight seconds, but we obviously don't know that.

"It sounds like he was well out of position from what a few riders within the race have been saying since. So we don't know he would have definitely been in that group so I don't know why they had that 3km rule there yesterday.

"At the same time, it would have seemed really unfair if he had lost a huge chunk of his lead with a puncture in the last few kilometres."

The 3km rule does not apply to every stage, with the safety net often missing on days featuring uphill finishes that can create big time gaps.

However despite the brief incline on Tuesday's finish, organisers chose to impose the rule.

‘Down goes Roglic!’ – Watch extraordinary finish to Stage 16

What makes it even more complicated is Evenepoel appeared to suffer the issue earlier, dropping off the front of the peloton with 7km remaining and nursing his wounded bike to the 3km barrier before stopping.

"It depends how you look at the way the rule is written," continued Lloyd.

"It says any mechanical that happens inside the last 3km, but there's no rider in that peloton with a high enough moral standard that if they punctured with 3.3km to go and say 'well fair's fair, I won't roll through to 3km to go'. Everybody is going to do that.

"If they have some sort of issue with their bike and they can get under the 3km to go banner, of course they are going to do that so they are given the same time as the group they are in."

With Roglic out, Evenepoel looks poised to win a maiden Grand Tour. The Belgian led the general classification by 2’01” from Enric Mas (Movistar) ahead of Stage 17.

"It's the best thing to do, there's no rules against that," added Adam Blythe on the puncture furore.

"So he did exactly the right thing for it. He would have told his team, 'I've got a puncture'. They'll have been screaming down the radio: 'get to 3km to go, get to 3km to go'. Then you're safe."

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Stream La Vuelta live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.

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