How Remco Evenepoel is keeping cool and avoiding COVID-19 at the Vuelta a Espaa – VeloNews

CABO DE GATA, Spain (VN) With temperatures soaring into the high 90Fs and rivals dropping to COVID-19 infections, the easiest part of defending his red jersey at the Vuelta a Espaa for Remco Evenepoel seems to be racing the bike.

Blazing summer heat and a rash of COVID infections is putting a chill on the Vuelta peloton, with GC challengers Simon Yates and Pavel Sivakov both leaving Wednesday with infections.

Behind the scenes, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl has put into place several strategies and protocols to keep Evenepoel in the Vuelta and out of harms way.

We wear a mask, wash our hands, maintain our bubble every day, Evenepoel said of the ongoing risk of the coronavirus. The only moment we dont wear masks is when we get the official whistle from the start and at the table to eat our food.

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The team is also putting Evenepoel and the other riders in individual rooms, and assigning specific staff members to each rider to minimize the risk of infection.

Normally on a grand tour we have the families on the rest day, but we banned that, he said. Its really our team bubble. We are wearing masks in the bus, out of the bus, on the massage table.

Already racing in its third season with the coronavirus, the team is doing everything it can in terms of health protocols to keep Evenepoel safe.

Despite losing Julian Alaphilippe to a crash Wednesday, the safest place for Evenepoel seems to be in the race.

He safely made it through Wednesdays long transition stage without incident and there were no major shakeups in the overall standings.

Though he hails from Belgium, Evenepoel said hes not expecting the blazing Iberian sun to be a major issue for him in the second half of the Vuelta.

The first half of the race was contested in The Netherlands before racing across northern Spain, where the Cantabrian mountains were cloaked in fog and mist with cool racing temperatures when Evenepoel attacked into the red jersey.

Thats changed dramatically in the south, with temperatures nearing 100F and humidity also pushing high.

Evenepoel revealed that he did not race after smashing to victory at the Clsica San Sebastin in late July because he wanted to get used to the Spanish summer heat on his terms.

He retreated to a pre-Vuelta training camp in Calpe along Spains Mediterranean coast, where August temperatures were even hotter than they are now.

Thats why I didnt want to race ahead of the Vuelta and go into a long training camp around Calpe, Evenepoel said. I never had a day under 40 degrees, so every day it was super hot and super humid.

With Pea Blancas looming Thursday, Evenepoel said he expected the slightly easier and longer climbs in southern Spain in the second half of the Vuelta to be easier to manage in the extreme temperatures.

The steep climbs are the hardest to deal with in the heat, so what can be advantage from now on is that the climbs are not really super steep, he said. For sure, its going to be special with the heat.

We do the normal things, ice, cold drinks, our [ventilated] helmets to lose as much heat off the body as possible.

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How Remco Evenepoel is keeping cool and avoiding COVID-19 at the Vuelta a Espaa - VeloNews