Remco Evenepoel will make his debut at Il Lombardia on Saturday, and the 20-year-old Belgian wonderkid is quietly confident that he has the form to beat two-time winner Vincenzo Nibali (Trek Segafredo), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), George Bennett (Jumbo Visma ), and Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin Phoenix), quietly confident that he has the form to beat them all.

Evenpoel moved to northern Italy early, scouting the last 130 km of the hilly route between Bergamo and Como on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, he and his teammates rode part of the route again, learning the secrets of the key climbs and deciding where and how to attack.

Evenpoel has already won nine races in 2020, and he further enhanced his status with a dominant performance at the recent Tour de Pollogne. The Tour de Pollogne was meant to keep him in great shape for Il Lombardia, and the overall win gave him a boost of confidence.

Evenpoel seemed destined for greatness ever since he dominated the race as a junior shortly after switching from soccer to cycling. He just turned pro with Deceuninck-QuickStep in 2019, but won the Baloise Belgium Tour, Clásica San Sebastián, and the European Time Trial Championships and finished second in the World Time Trial Championships. 2020. In stage races, he is unbeatable, winning the Vuelta a San Juan, the Volta ao Algarve, the Vuelta a Burgos (Spain) after the COVID-19 blockade, and the Tour de Pollogne. This litany of victories has catapulted him ahead of Nibali and 2019 winner Carapas in the Giro d'Italia and into the bookmakers' favorites, but even that doesn't seem to affect him.

"If I'm the favorite to win, it might be because of myself ......"

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"I'm not a candidate," Evenpoel joked in a video press conference on Thursday morning, "but I'm a candidate.

"I feel very, very good. My preparation has been great, and I'm in the best shape I've been in all season. It's perfect timing. In a six-hour race with a lot of climbing, you need good conditions, and I think I did a perfect job."

"I think it's part of my nature not to feel pressure, and I only put pressure on myself," he said with an innocent but sincere shrug.

"I like to challenge myself and I like to prepare for that. If I have a goal, I'm ready for the day. Of course there are race conditions and you need some luck, but I try to take as little pressure off myself as possible."

Evenpoel seemed to be really looking forward to his debut in cycling's five major one-day monuments.

"Il Lombardia means a lot to me, along with Liège-Bastogne-Liège. After checking out the course, it really suited me and made me happy too."

"There are no recovery points in the last three hours of the race and it's hot and sunny. The team is well prepared and the conditions are good.

"I've always watched Il Lombardia on TV, but this is the first time I'm running it myself. I hope I can say that something special happened on Saturday. I hope I can make some memories."

Evenpoel's success has already earned him praise and admiration from Vincenzo Nibali. They will face off again at the Giro d'Italia in October and will be direct rivals on Saturday. The veteran Italian won Il Lombardia in 2015 and 2017 and is targeting this race as part of his all-Italian racing program. Nibali has not impressed much since his return to racing, but Evenpoel has shown respect for his Lombardia pedigree.

"He knows the race. You can never say that Nibali is not a strong contender.

"There's Fuglsang and others. There is also Mollema, who won last year and is always one of the favorites to win the race.

Deceuninck-QuickStep has chosen a mix of young and experienced riders to support Evenpoel at Il Lombardia, while Julien Alaphilippe will lead another team at the Criterium du Dauphiné. The Belgian team will forcefully choose Guissarro and the steep Muro di Solmano, while Evenpoel may attack alone on the Civiglio climb with 20km to go, like Nibali did in 2017.

"The last 80km are super hard. Starting from Ghisallo, there is no flat road anymore. The first place finisher at the top of San Fermo goes down to the finish in Como, so the finish is kind of an uphill climb. But I think the race will be settled before the final climb," Evenpoel predicted.

"I have confidence in the team and in myself. Beyond Muro di Solmano, if two or three teammates are with me, I can control the race. After the descent of Solmano, there are 38km to go, and who is left there will decide the race.

"I'm in good shape, my legs are good, my head is good. I'm ready to go."