Lemko Evenpoel will return to racing at the Tour of Britain on Tuesday, exactly one month after winning a double gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Evenpoel will start the first stage of the Tour of Britain in Kelso, Scotland, in the new Soudal-QuickStep jersey with a gold band to honor his Olympic success. Apparently he and Soudal-QuickStep had to fight with the UCI to get approval for the new and unique design.

“We had to fight quite a bit because the UCI insisted that the rainbow band was the priority, but luckily we got both,” Evenpoel told HLN/VTM Nieuws.

Evenpoel will also race with a gold helmet and a gold Specialized bike.

Since winning gold in the time trial and road, Evenpoel has celebrated with family and friends, been feted as a national hero in Brussels, and gradually returned to training. 2024, he has already accomplished a lot, but he will be back in Zurich for the World Championships and Il Lombardia in October is his ultimate goal and motivation for training.

With rivals such as Josh Tarling and Filippo Ganna also absent, Evenpoel has made it clear that he will miss the European road race and the time championships. He is concentrating on his final peak in Zurich.

“I would rather win the World Championship title than finish third twice in the European Championships,” he said coyly.

Evenpoel, who finished an impressive third in his Tour de France debut, peaked at the Olympics. But the Tour of Britain will be his first step back into form.

“Training has been okay, nothing special,” Evenpoel revealed in a video call with several media outlets, including Cyclingnews.

“I just did endurance rides. I got a little bit sick after the ceremony in Belgium and it was hard to get back into shape.”

“So it was nice to be at the start of the Tour of Britain.

Evenpoel will be the domestic deluxe of Julien Alaphilippe and his 20-year-old teammate Paul Manier.

“I came here with no expectations. I want to take it one day at a time and if we get a good result, that's all that matters. We have Julien, we have Paul Manier, so for me there is a lot of pressure on the results. So for me it's a race where there's no pressure on the result, I'm very happy if we can do some lead-outs for both of them and have an open minded race. It would be a perfect way to get back into the racing scenario again.”

Evenpoel preferred the Tour of Britain to last week's Reny Tour World Tour. He suffered wet and cold conditions on Monday, but the weather in Britain is expected to improve as the race heads south.

Stage 3 will take place in the central Peak District and Yorkshire, and the race will conclude on Sunday with six stages at Felixstowe on the Norfolk coast, two hours northeast of London.

“It's not too long, six stages, not too much leg time. You can start without getting too tired, so you can resume training right away,” explained Evenpoel.

“It was difficult to ride Lenawee. Apart from the TT on the last day, I didn't have many chances. Here I have a chance to do well for myself and for the team. I think it's a better choice for the World Championships."

Even Paul's Olympic success added a gold band to his rainbow jersey, and the Tour de France podium proved his great talent. The racing and the excitement were over, but he still had to savor it all; his two gold medals were safely “stowed away” and he was back in the race.

“It will be at the end of the season, when there is no major stress on the bike for two or three months, that I will really be able to understand what I have achieved.

Evenpoel was personally shocked by his recovery from a fall in Iturria Basque in early April and his continuous improvement until he “touched the sky” with two Olympic successes.

His preparation for great success began at a very low level with the fall. It took me a while to get back into good shape again,” he recalled.

“At the Dauphiné in June, my TT bike performance was good, but I still struggled on the climbs. I knew I still needed to improve my shape for the Tour. It was a process of building both my shape and my results.”

“From a good performance at the Dauphiné, to a super strong performance at the Tour, to a good performance in the Olympic time trial, to an exceptional end to the road race.

“It was a series of positive emotions. That's a perfect summary of the last few months.