Sudar Quick-Step's choice of time for Lemco Evenpoel's pre-Tour de France press conference was a curious one. He is the most high-profile soccer player in cycling since Gianni Savio, but just as Belgium was kicking off its final group game of Euro 2024 against Ukraine, Evenpoel was at the press conference. The timing did not suit the Belgian sports journalists. Perhaps that was the goal.

"Five minutes because Belgium is playing," Evenpoel joked, but not jokingly, as the videoconference was shown on the screen. Still, with his eyes on Romelu Lukaku and the youngsters - and apologizing for being so close to the goal when his full attention was focused during the match - he multitasked about his own tour debut. This man really can do anything.

His preparation for the Tour was interrupted when he broke his collarbone in Ituria-Basque in April. He also suffered a minor illness during a training camp at Izola 2000 and missed the Belgian championships. However, three days before the Grande Pearl in Florence, he expressed satisfaction with his condition.

"I have to be satisfied with my running the last couple of weeks. Since the Dauphiné I have pushed myself to the max every day. Since the Dauphiné I have tried to push myself to the max every day. So in that aspect, I don't have to beat myself up about not training enough or not pushing hard enough."

"I was really happy with my time trial win in the Dauphiné. I didn't have the mountain form yet, I didn't have the weight and details I needed to be a good climber yet. But I worked on that at training camp and at home, so it didn't affect my confidence after the Dauphiné. I think I'm a few percentage points better now than I was at the Dauphiné."

However, Evenpoel revealed that he has had to adjust his workload over the past week or so. The cold weather, which also affected his training schedule, which forced him to abandon the Belgian Championships.

"I wasn't able to train at high intensity, so I wasn't able to do 100% of what I needed to do. 'I just wasn't able to do high-intensity training until yesterday,' he said."

His preparation for the Tour has been tempered by a group crash in Ituriá Basque, where defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic also fell. all three lost training time due to injury and are hoping to improve their condition as the Tour progresses. All three have lost training time due to injury and hope to improve as the Tour progresses, but the tough opening stage (not to mention the Col du Galibier on stage 4) will be an early test of their abilities.

"Will there be an impact on the Tour? I'm not necessarily looking for a stage win, but I don't want to lose time," Evenpole said. Like Vingegaard, he will find his best condition as the Tour progresses. I want to get as good as I can in the first week," he said, "and hopefully peak in the third week. I hope so, but that's easy for me to say."

At the start of the season, the Tour was a four-way race between Remco Evenpole, Primoš Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard, and Tadej Pogachar. The hierarchy of the main contenders for the Tour de France became a bit more sharply defined in the aftermath of Ituria-Basque's crash and Pogachar's abject domination of the Giro d'Italia.

"Taddeji will be untouchable," said Pogachar. 'What he showed in the Giro was already super impactful and he didn't have to go too deep, so I don't think he got tired. I think Taddej will be the guy to beat in the Tour de France." 'This is what Pogachar's supporters at UAE Team Emirates, which includes Adam Yates, Joao Almeida, and Juan Ayuso, have in mind. They are expected to test Vingegaard's, and Evenpoel's and Roglic's readiness in the tough opening stage from Florence to Rimini.

"If that's their tactic, we have to let them do what they want to do and try to keep up with their pace as best we can," Evenpoel said, but he supported Vingegaard's standstill. 'Personally, I don't think Jonas will break down on day one at all, but I think the UAE, and especially Pogachar, will want to get back at the UAE for what Jumbo did to them last year. I'm curious to see how they approach day one; the UAE wants to show that they are the best team and that they are the Real Madrid of the cycling world."

Evenpoel maintained the official view that a top-five finish was the goal. Inevitably, he downplayed the idea that he might go on the offensive in the opening stages.

"The only way I can win is to go it alone, but it's not smart to do that with GC ambitions in my head," he said. I'll be honest, I'm more cautious in the first week than I am in the Classics." The Tour is not one week long, it's three weeks long. I want to stay as calm as possible and watch the race unfold."

With that, the press conference was over and Evenpoel could now focus on Belgium's efforts at Euro 2024. Belgium's 0-0 draw with Ukraine was not convincing, but it was enough to get them through the first stage and remain in the running for the eventual winner. Evenpoel will probably settle for a similar result this weekend.