On the eve of his debut at the Criterium du Dauphine, Remco Evenepoel lowered his expectations for next week's result by saying he would support team-mates Mikel Landa and Iran Van Wilder. 

How the Belgian champion ran in race 4, one of the most difficult races in history, after being seriously injured in a crash in the Basque State of Ituria in early May

When asked at a virtual press conference on Saturday what his goal is for the next week, Evenepoel "wants to see where the shape is at the moment". He said, "Yui

"I think there are 2 guys in good condition here with Iran and Landa, and if I have a chance I will try to support them as much as possible but there is no great expectation for myself, just go into the rhythm again, and in better shape than I go into it. Trying to get out of this race - then it will be a successful week for me."

Evenepoel also suffered from a broken collarbone and scapula in a massive crash in the Basque country that forced race leader Primoš Roglić (Bora Hansgrohe) out of the race with a knee injury, putting defending tour champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-leased bike) in hospital for 12 days. He's just about to get back on track for his Tour de France debut.

While recovering, Evenepoel could see Tadej Pogañar (UAE Team Emirates) obliterate the competition at the Giro d'Italia, winning nearly 10 minutes overall and winning 6 at the home stage. There is no guarantee that it will be able to replicate its performance at the Tour de France, but Evenepoel supports the possibility of being the first rider of Pogagnard since Marco Pantani (1998), who won the Giro and tour the same year.

"I think all the pressure will be on the team UAE," Evenepoel said, looking ahead to the Tour de France. "When I see how Tadeji was racing in a very impressive way at the giro, when all their co-leaders come into the team for the tour, I think they have men to win and they are the team to win," he said. Of course, Jonas is the back-to-back champion of the Tour de France, so next to him is Jonas.

"I don't think there's a lot of pressure, especially for myself and the team. I think all the pressure is on the other team. We need to try to follow - if you can follow Tadej one day, I think it will be like a victory.

"We'll have to see - maybe he's already attacking the first day and going to win the stage in five minutes and then the GC is over again," he said with a laugh. "He's a special guy - the best rider in the world, so you never know with him.

"After the giro, how he will recover is a big question for everyone, but I think he has done a great race and is ready for the tour. So I wouldn't be surprised if he won the Tour de France after winning the Giro.

"If there's a guy who can do that, it's going to be Poggi," Evenepoel said, Giro "was very impressive to actually see - amazing to see, sometimes

" and I'm really looking forward to meeting him on tour and wanting to know how he'll grow next month." I think that. I think he's professional enough to know what to do, and his team too - so don't be surprised if he's already there from day 21 of the tour

after his crash on 4-4, Evenepoel underwent surgery on his collarbone and returned to the home trainer two weeks after the crash. I was back on the road three weeks later. Just a month after the crash, he was returning to training at altitude. He may not have lost too much fitness, but he said it took him some time to feel comfortable on his bike

"My first day in Sierra Nevada, it was still a bit stiff," evenepoel said when asked if he was suffering from a crash. "I don't feel super comfortable on the bike, but I think every day it's getting better and I think the feeling of fear is gone, it's a good thing."

"The injury is still a bit uncomfortable. The shoulder blades can still be a bit strange, especially on TT bikes, when there's a lot of pressure on the shoulders. So it's a bit weird, but I think it should be good enough to race and good enough to take risks again.

"We'll see every day - if my body wasn't good enough for the race, I wouldn't have been at the start. My body is enough to race, but the shape will probably be a different story.

Evenepoel, Vingegaard and Roglić all crashed into the same pile in a descent from Category 4Olaeta climb at Stage 3 in the Itzulia Basque country. Evenepoel was able to miss 2 large concrete culverts, including one where Vingegaard crashed but skitted across the forest floor at speed.

"The impact of the crash sliding on a very long lawn at high speed had a very big impact on my body," Evenepoel said. "Also, the surgery - it was the first time under [narcotics] - so it was a very big impact overall for me. My shoulders, my muscles were all quite damaged."

He said he did not want to rush back into action after making that mistake after a horrific crash from a bridge in the 2020 edition of Il Lombardia.

"I really needed [recovery] time - the day I started outside is really the first day I felt ready for it. So I hope, yeah, also, with my Lombardy crash experience in the past we maybe rushed a little too much stuff, I will calm things down and not actually skip a step. After all, the main goal of the season is still the Tour de France, which starts in just 1 month and ends in just 7 weeks, so I think it was a good decision to do so.

"There's still a long way to go until the tour is over. That's why we didn't rush anything with big goals in mind - and we're always careful not to get caught up in extreme fatigue or rush ourselves too much. So it may not have been the best approach to get into the [Dauphine], but I hope it will be the best approach to go on tour

One of his main goals for the Dauphine is to improve his comfort level with a 1km personal time trial in Stage 4 at 34.4 km. is to test.

"I think it's important to see how the pressure on my shoulder feels, that is, to see if I can cope with the pressure for a long time. I think it's going to be a good test to see how the shoulder reacts by forcing the muscles to become really narrow in the shoulder. I think day by day my feelings are the most important for this week and not necessarily the result."