2022 Vuelta a España Stage 18 Results & Recap
Stage 18 of the 2022 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Evenepoel continues to shine on stage 18
Remco Evenepoel (QST) again showed no weakness today on stage 18 of the Vuelta a Espana, enduring a flurry of attacks from Enric Mas (MOV) to go on to win the stage ahead of the Spaniard. Robert Gesink (TJV) took third after being beat by just metres at the line by the two GC contenders.
"I think it’s a new achievement in my life," Evenepoel said. It was a pretty tough stage with really hard climbs in the finale, early attacks from UAE with Almeida… The race was really hard, but we always stayed calm. I think that’s what I learned, to always stay calm. It’s like in the last kilometre, we were still 15 or 20 seconds from Gesink and in the end we came to him at 300 metres and I went at 200, because I knew it was quite flat and in the winter I worked a lot on my sprint after big efforts, so it paid off. The goal is always to try and let the breakaway go, because like the the bonifications are gone. In the end, Klaas [Lodewyck, DS for Quick Step] said that I was gone with Enric [Mas] so that’s the moment I told myself: 'now you go for the stage win as well.' Winning atop a mountain with the red jersey is amazing. Enric is a really fair play guy. In the end we worked together to go for the stage win. This was the most perfect day ever. Winning La Vuelta is still not done with a really hard stage to come. They will for sure attack me. But maybe now it’s easier to control because I feel my legs are really good. This is very good for me and for the team for the last three days."
Evenepoel leads the GC competition by 2:07 ahead of Mas. Juan Ayuso (UAD) is sitting third at 5:14. Tomorrow's stage has a circuit race feel with two Cat. 2 climbs. The 138km race starts at 1:55 p.m. CET.
Get our full coverage of the Vuelta a España and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
