Remco Evenpoel celebrated his Olympic success in Brussels on Monday, but is now back in training for the UCI Road World Championships and Il Lombardi.
Evenpoel, who fled to Greece for a short vacation after winning the Olympic road race, returned to Belgium for a fun ride on Saturday and then celebrated with other Belgian medal winners in Brussels' Grote Markt square.
Evenpoel was already a cycling star, but his double gold medal further cemented his status.
Jude Bellingham's celebratory pose with his arms outstretched was featured on Instagram and seen by over 10 million people. Rivals Taddei Pogachar, Mathieu van der Pol, and even Wout van Art sent him messages praising his incredibly successful summer cycling.
“Sometimes it feels like the Tour has been forgotten, but for me the whole summer is unforgettable. I was able to achieve all the goals I had,” Evenpoel told Het Laatste Nieuws before moving to his home in Spain and starting his training block. [With these two gold medals I surpassed myself. It's really crazy. I realize that all the time I spent training, the rehabilitation after my fall, the time I spent away from my family and friends, it was all worth it."
[10Evenpoel seems to enjoy training and peaking for his goals. He is only 24 years old, but he knows exactly how to do that. The world championships are his next goal, and he aims to retain his time trial world title and win a second rainbow jersey after his success in Wollongong, Australia, in 2022.
In Zurich, Pogachar will likely be his biggest rival for the rainbow jersey.
“Taddei is the best rider in the world. I have the Olympic title for four years, so I can go into the World Championships without any pressure,” Evenpoel said.
“But if I were to go to the World Championships, it would be to achieve a higher goal. Both courses suit me and the Belgian team is very strong. Both courses suit me and the Belgian team will be very strong.
Evenpoel's ultimate goal for 2024 is Il Lombardia. He fell in 2020 and fractured his hip, putting a damper on his career development. He fell again in 2023 and hopes to return to complete a chapter in his career.
“I want to do well and not fall like I did last year. It's the only race I have to win to complete the story and put a big point at the end of that book. It lives inside me,” he explained.
Evenpoel is also thinking about 2025 and the Tour de France. He wants to start studying and improving his build-up and performance from 2024.
“In the Tour I was able to push until the last day. In Paris I was able to come out of the pain. I don't expect to improve in one-day races or time trials. I am at 100%. The only place I can improve is in the Grand Tours, where I have to prepare specially.”
“My future is focused on the Giro and the Tour. From the beginning of my career I have said that my dream is to win the three big Tours. Third place in the Tour showed me that it is possible. I also want to win the Tour because after my crash in Ituria-Basque, my preparation was not 100%. During my rehabilitation I had to do shoulder exercises, gain weight, and then lose it again.”
Evenpoel believes that losing muscle mass will help in the mountains. He won the first time trial of the Tour de France by 12 seconds over Pogachar and 37 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard, but then lost 9 minutes in the mountains.
“In the Grand Tours, you don't win the time trial, you win the col, especially the uphill finish,” he noted.
“You have to find a balance where you can fight for the win in the time trial and at the same time have a 3, 4, 5% advantage on the climbs, and at 62 kg I think that's possible,”
“I was pushing the same watts in all the mountain stages, always about 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 watts per kilometer.
“I pushed the same watts on all the mountain stages, always about 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 watts per kilometer. I needed that to compete with Taddei and Jonas. That gave me confidence. If I could get a little higher. But I'm also gaining ground: Taddei is still at a different level.”
Evenpoel is not only focused on the Tour de France, and may even return to the Giro d'Italia in a few years.
“Both the Giro and the Tour are difficult, unless you are a pogachar. I will decide after I decide on the route and there is no pressure.”
Soudal-QuickStep team manager Patrick Lefebvre recently suggested that Evenpoel could compete in Milan-San Remo and the Tour de Flanders, which would complicate plans for the Tour de France and Ardennes Classics
“That would complicate plans for the Tour de France and Ardennes Classics.
“I didn't think it would come up. We all know Patrick. He has an openness about it,” said Evenpoel, suggesting that he would follow his own logic in deciding the race program, rather than that of the team managers.
“We haven't talked about that yet. It's better not to think about the Ardennes Classics anymore.
“Preparation for the Tour always comes first. The Tour is the biggest and most beautiful race, so if I could choose, I would win the Tour once. If you really want to go for the Tour, you need to put the Classics aside for a bit.”
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