Coming from Remco Evenepoel, it sounded much less like a boast and extra like an announcement of reality. “I am a specialist to find type at one of the best second,” the Belgian informed reporters in Wetzikon on Friday night, two days earlier than he defends his time trial title on the UCI Street World Championships in Zurich.
Nowadays, Evenepoel hardly ever will get it fallacious when he targets a serious aim. His relative travails at June’s Critérium du Dauphiné have been swiftly forgotten after a glowing summer time that yielded a podium end in his debut Tour de France and two gold medals on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
And so, when Evenepoel offers his type his vote of confidence – “I feel I’ve discovered the correct legs on the proper time” – one is inclined to take him at his phrase. A relatively subdued displaying on the Tour of Britain was, he indicated, one thing of a palate cleanser as he returned to motion following a post-Olympics hiatus.
“So much occurred after the Olympic Video games, a lot of events, requests and ceremonies, in Brussels and Schepdael too. It wasn’t straightforward,” Evenepoel mentioned. “Then after I obtained again residence to Spain, I attempted to get again on the bike as shortly as attainable, however I obtained a bit in poor health, so it was tougher to get again into fine condition. However I took my time, and I stayed calm, which was the correct method to be in fine condition now.
“There’s nonetheless fuel within the tank. I lined up on the Tour of Britain with out strain and with out desirous to do outcomes, so I used to be very calm in my thoughts. Then I put the deal with the 2 World Championships races and Il Lombardia.”
It has been effectively documented that no rider has ever gained time trial gold on the Olympic Video games and World Championships in the identical yr. It has been quite much less trumpeted that no male rider has even tried the feat. (Of the feminine champions, Annemiek van Vleuten went closest in 2021, with gold in Tokyo and bronze on the Worlds). Because the self-discipline was added to the Olympic programme in 1996, nevertheless, each male champion from Miguel Induráin to Primož Roglič has opted in opposition to rolling down the beginning ramp on the Worlds in any respect.
Evenepoel, it appears, by no means even contemplated the thought of skipping the Worlds time trial. Certainly, his preliminary plan for 2024 was to make a tilt at a hat-trick of time trial gold medals. “I hoped to win the three titles, however I needed to skip the European Championship as a result of sickness,” he mentioned.
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Street race
In Zurich, Evenepoel will line out as the plain favorite, with Stefan Küng and Roglic the more than likely challengers. Evenepoel, nevertheless, warned in opposition to ruling out Filippo Ganna and Josh Tarling, who had staked a lot on the Olympics time trial solely to be soundly crushed by the Belgian within the rain of Paris.
“Ganna and Tarling had actually targeted on the Olympics. I beat them there with none particular preparation and that may have been a disappointment for them, I feel,” Evenepoel mentioned. “However they are going to be heading in the right direction right here. They’re championship riders, so I am not writing them off similar to that.”
Evenepoel, after all, is one thing of a championship rider himself. He has completed on the rostrum in every of his 4 earlier Worlds time trial appearances, culminating with gold in Glasgow a yr in the past. The sheer size of that course is replicated with the 46km take a look at in Switzerland, whereas the undulating center part appears ideally tailor-made to Evenepoel.
“I agree. From the beginning you go straight forward for a very long time till the climb,” he mentioned. “It is not likely a 5 or six-minute effort uphill, as a substitute it goes up in steps. You then come down and you’ve got one other 12km flat and straight forward.
“It is virtually like three time trials in a single when it comes to its configuration, and that ought to go well with me. However I’ve gained on all forms of programs. Each time trial fits me, kind of.”
And each race, too, it appears. Tadej Pogačar would be the favorite for the street race per week on Sunday, however Evenepoel and defending champion Mathieu van der Poel are maybe the lads more than likely to disclaim him the Triple Crown on a tricky course that carries echoes of the much-missed Züri-Metzgete.
“My motivation stays the identical. I am somebody who lives for this type of championship and for distinctive jerseys,” Evenepoel mentioned. “I’ll give it my all, 100%, in each races. The motivation may be very excessive, and neither race is extra essential than the opposite.”
Evenepoel was talking in a convention room on the Resort Swiss Star, flitting amiably between Flemish, French and English to a press pack composed predominantly of reporters who had made their method from his residence nation on Friday morning to doc the Belgian star’s each utterance and each transfer.
Murmurs of a possible transfer from Soudal-QuickStep to Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have been background noise all through a lot of Evenepoel’s season, although he was reluctant to entertain the hypothesis on arrival in Switzerland.
“It is annoying, particularly when there may be nearly nothing to it,” Evenepoel informed VRT in a separate interview on Friday. “It is annoying as a result of I at all times attempt to deal with what needs to be performed. There are at all times additional impulses from outdoors anyway that you do not actually need, particularly within the preparation for what’s nonetheless to come back, the World Cup and the Italian Classics.
“However ultimately, I am somebody who can shrug that off shortly, though it does not at all times come simply. It is one thing that has been there for just a few years. In fact, it may very well be toned down every so often, however thankfully, I’ve a tough head and I can simply maintain specializing in what must be performed.”
