Belgian champion cyclist Remco Evenepoel took a hard tumble on Monday at the finish line of the third stage of the Vuelta a España cycle race in Arinsal, Andorra.
Finishing ahead of Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, Evenpeol took home the red jersey, but has raged against organisers of the cycle race for unsafe conditions and a number of accidents.
Crossing the finish line of the Vuelta a España, the Belgian cyclist struck a woman who was located in an area which is meant to be reserved for team assistants. Evenepoel came off his bicycle, falling hard and badly bloodied his face. Evenpeol said that he was in good form after the fall, but that he had cut his head.
Dazed, Evenepoel recovered a few minutes afterwards and was able to celebrate his third stage victory at the Vuelta a España, which he won last year. “Once again, it was a safety issue,” he complained in a post-race interview of issues having arisen each day of the tour. “It’s the third day in a row… It’s breaking my balls now.”
On the first stage of the event, Evenpoel denounced dangerous cycling conditions. The first stage is a night stage, which is typically well-lit for the safety of the riders. Evenepoel complained that the course was dark, putting riders in danger. The Belgian rider raged against the organisers in a post-race interview.
“You guys all had to put lights on your cameras which means it’s dark. Can you imagine if you’re sitting in the wheel, getting water in your face, not seeing one metre in front of you? It’s just super dangerous,” he told the press.
On the second day of the event, Evenpoel got angry with organisers for repeated anti-doping controls, complaining that he was “wasting time on this.” The second stage of the event was neutralised due to bad weather and numerous crashes and accidents. Many cyclists complained about the poor organisation of the event, urging the peloton to slow down to force organisers to take general classification timings early.
Stage four of the 21 stage event is set to begin today, leading the cyclists from Andorra to Tarragona, south of Barcelona.
