Coming from Remco Evenepoel, it sounded much less like a boast and extra like an announcement of truth. “I am a specialist find kind at one of the best second,” the Belgian advised reporters in Wetzikon on Friday night, two days earlier than he defends his time trial title on the UCI Street World Championships in Zurich.
As of late, Evenepoel hardly ever will get it incorrect when he targets a significant purpose. His relative travails at June’s Critérium du Dauphiné had 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 kind his vote of confidence – “I feel I’ve discovered the fitting legs on the proper time” – one is inclined to take him at his phrase. A relatively subdued exhibiting on the Tour of Britain was, he indicated, one thing of a palate cleanser as he returned to motion following a post-Olympics hiatus.
“Rather a lot occurred after the Olympic Video games, plenty of events, requests and ceremonies, in Brussels and Schepdael too. It wasn’t simple,” Evenepoel mentioned. “Then once I obtained again residence to Spain, I attempted to get again on the bike as rapidly as attainable, however I obtained a bit unwell, so it was tougher to get again into good condition. However I took my time, and I stayed calm, which was the fitting strategy to be in good condition now.
“There’s nonetheless fuel within the tank. I lined up on the Tour of Britain with out stress and with out eager to do outcomes, so I used to be very calm in my thoughts. Then I put the give attention to the 2 World Championships races and Il Lombardia.”
It has been nicely documented that no rider has ever received 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). For the reason that self-discipline was added to the Olympic programme in 1996, nonetheless, each male champion from Miguel Induráin to Primož Roglič has opted towards rolling down the beginning ramp on the Worlds in any respect.
Evenepoel, it appears, by no means even contemplated the concept 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 attributable to sickness,” he mentioned.
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Street race
In Zurich, Evenepoel will line out as the apparent favorite, with Stefan Küng and Roglic the most definitely challengers. Evenepoel, nonetheless, warned towards 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 centered on the Olympics. I beat them there with none particular preparation and that can 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 identical 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 check 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. Then you definitely come down and you’ve got one other 12km flat and straight forward.
“It is virtually like three time trials in a single by way of its configuration, and that ought to swimsuit me. However I’ve received on all sorts of programs. Each time trial fits me, roughly.”
And each race, too, it appears. Tadej Pogačar would be the favorite for the highway race per week on Sunday, however Evenepoel and defending champion Mathieu van der Poel are maybe the boys most definitely to disclaim him the Triple Crown on a troublesome 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 vital 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 approach 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 Crimson 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’s nearly nothing to it,” Evenepoel advised VRT in a separate interview on Friday. “It is annoying as a result of I at all times attempt to give attention to 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 return, the World Cup and the Italian Classics.
“However ultimately, I am somebody who can shrug that off rapidly, though it does not at all times come simply. It is one thing that has been there for a number of years. In fact, it might be toned down now and again, however thankfully, I’ve a tough head and I can simply maintain specializing in what must be performed.”
