Remco Evenepoel yesterday decided to dedicate a few minutes to the home press. This was supposed to be the interview given at the end of last week’s national championships, but the Soudal-Quick Step runner did not participate due to health reasons, so yesterday he still wanted to meet some media via zoom. «I feel pretty good, but many runners left the Dauphiné with colds and some even with something more serious – said Evenepoel referring to Covid cases -. I was lucky not to have taken anything serious then I trained in bad weather for a few days and my body suffered. I was never very sick, but I had a slightly elevated heart rate.”
However, the Belgian never stopped and, even if he did not participate in the national tests, decided to do some reconnaissance on the Tour route and among these there was the time trial from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin.
«I was really ill and I didn’t prefer to do the reconnaissance of the Tour time trial compared to the national championships. That time trial reconnaissance had already been planned. I had a slight cold and for this reason I tried the route calmly, without going in depth. Pedaling at full throttle wouldn’t have been smart. I’m sincere, I would have preferred to run the national championship».
Evenepoel trained at altitude and, despite the cold temperatures of a summer that is slow to arrive, he managed to complete his training program.
«It was quite cold. We started and finished in bad weather, but in general I was able to train well and recover correctly and also in terms of weight I am where I wanted to be.”
Soudal-Quick Step presents itself with a strong team and Evenepoel is satisfied with the teammates who will race the Tour with him. «Naturally, I wasn’t the one who decided one hundred percent who would come with me to the Tour. But I think we will start with a of the best teams, given the resources we have. Unfortunately Mattia Cattaneo is ill and will not be able to come. This is certainly a great loss, but Louis Vervaeke will be able to take his place. Our team is very stable and experienced and we can say we have a little bit of everything. Yves Lampaert, Gianni Moscon and Casper Pedersen are our long distance riders and hardworking men. And with Mikel Landa, Jan Hirt and Ilan Van Wilder we have three pure climbers.”
The Belgian national team has announced who will be the runners who will go to the Olympics and with Evenepoel, there will be Wout van Aert, Jasper Stuyven and Tiesj Benoot.
«We’ve known for a while who the runners would be for the Olympics. I don’t think it was an easy choice for our coach Vanthourenhout. There were already two places established long ago for me and Wout, so only two more riders could be chosen. I think Jasper and Tiesj deserved their call-up. Both had a very positive spring. Jasper was doing very well before his crash in March at Cross-Flanders. At the Ronde and Roubaix he could really have competed for the top spots. And Tiesj is a sure thing. Of course, there are also other men who didn’t make the cut and deserved to go to Paris, Jasper Philipsen and Arnaud De Lie, for example. Quinten Hermans could also have done something about Paris’ paththe”.
Coach Vanthourenhout chose Benoot, a man who historically has always run for Van Aert and this could lead one to think that at the Olympics, Belgium could run with two leaders or favor one. «I don’t think there was any favoritism, riders were chosen who all get along well with each other. They belong to the same class, while I am six years younger and belong to a different generation. Jasper and Tiesj really deserve their place. If the Olympic road team had been five men, it would have been easier to nominate someone else than I would have asked. We are all professionals, we will all know what our tasks are and there will be no problems».
This is the year of the Olympics, which are, as usual, attached to the Tour. There are riders who have set the five-circle race as their main objective, while others have the Tour. For Remco however, it could be a double choice .
«In an Olympic year it may be normal for thoughts to go to the Games more than to any other competition, but for me this year is the first real Tour and I want to be at my best and give my all. We divide the month of July into two periods, but they are both extremely important. And I’m hyperambitious for both.”
