Remco Evenepoel returns next week from a high-altitude training camp at Mount Teide in Tenerife and will race again in the Volta a Catalunya with his Sudar-QuickStep teammates.

The world champion will be one of the contenders for the title in Spain, the third stage race of the new season, which will be held from March 20 to 26. He will return from the Canary Islands with teammates Rui Verweke, Fausto Masnada, and Jan Hilt.

Belgian climber Ilan Van Wilder will also be part of the team, while Mattia Cattaneo and Pieter Serry will also race in Catalunya. These six riders are expected to form the bulk of the Evenepole support team for the Grand Tour in May, the main goal of the season.

Evenapoel has been in the highlands of Teide for about two weeks after winning the UAE Tour at the end of February.

The 23-year-old Evenpoel broke two Strava records on different routes on Mount Teide and showed off his form in camp, and according to Bici.Pro (opens in new tab), his teammate Masnada, everything is going according to plan so far for the team He said.

"We are training well. Everyone has their own goals, so everyone is following their own program, but we try to stay together as much as possible."

"It's not easy to live together for days at a time in a hotel at 2,200 meters altitude in the middle of nowhere. Maintaining relationships is not so easy, but we are used to it already."

Evenepaul, Masnada, and the rest of the Sourdal Quickstep will face their main rivals for the Giro d'Italia in Catalunya. Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma), Joan Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) will be racing.

Masnada said that so far in 2023 he has been impressed by Roglic and Jumbo-Visma, not only in racing but also in training in Tenerife.

"Roglic is already doing well. 'When I saw him at Teide he was slimmer than last year. Yes, he always has a scruffy face, but the rest of him looked very thin as well.

"At this stage, Jumbo Visma and Tadei Pogachal proved in the race that they are on a different planet. Not only Logrich in Tirreno-Adriatico, but also in Paris-Nice and in the Belgian Classics. Taddej also showed his talent. They have dominated the race."

Masnada said that Logrich and his team will be in the spotlight for the first time in Catalunya, a tough course with three hard mountain stages and finishing six weeks before the Giro d'Italia Grande Partenza in Abruzzo.

He also contrasted the Dutch team, noting that they will race differently in the Giro.

"We are not all champions like UAE Team Emirates or Jumbo Visma, we are like Paris Saint-Germain with all strikers. We have Lemko as our diamond and we try to do our best for him."

"We have different race strategies. I imagine he will try to run away from the field and race more defensively than Jumbo Visma.