On the queen stage of the Volta a Catalunya with the finish at Coll de Pal, Remco Evenepoel was unable to keep pace with his rivals, crossing the finish line in sixth place: despite the time lost, he is now fifth in the general classification with a gap of 1'38", and he is not too disappointed, believing that his condition is improving.

"I already feel better than a month ago" – Evenepoel said, emphasizing that there is no panic in the team after this result – "Vingegaard's attack was very hard and it wasn't easy to follow Jonas"

The fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya had its main difficulty in the finish at Coll de Pal which, due to strong wind gusts, was shortened by two kilometers. But despite this, the riders faced considerable challenges. The climb, 14 kilometers long with an average gradient of 7.2%, was characterized by Vingegaard's attack, which demonstrated his superiority. At the Dane's first acceleration, Remco Evenepoel remained glued to his wheel, but about six kilometers from the finish, he was forced to give way. The Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe rider was probably still affected by the crash from a few days earlier and for this reason was unable to catch up with Gall, Martinez, Paret-Peintre and his teammate Lipowitz.

"Vingegaard's attack was very hard and it was very difficult to stay with him. Once the groups formed, I didn't struggle too much to stay with him for a few kilometers – Evenepoel continued, referring to Vingegaard. In the end, Lipowitz was ahead of me, so it wasn't my responsibility to chase Jonas. Maybe I could have done more, but for our team this is a good result".

For Evenepoel, this stage was his first real test on longer and more demanding climbs, the same ones he will face later. The Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe rider, despite the time loss, is quite satisfied with his day. "On the climb it went better than at the UAE Tour. However, if the teamwork had been better, we could have gained ground on the group ahead. Then, I also think my sprint was quite good, so I can't say I crossed the finish line completely exhausted. But in any case, I already feel better than a month ago".