Remco Evenepoel has said he has shed 5kg since he crashed out of Il Lombardia but has said the weight loss was down to shedding “puppy fat” rather than any loss of muscle and that he had lost the kilos sensible rather than starving himself.
The young Belgian star, who is now back training, said
his goal for next year was to ride a Grand Tour and also target the Olympic
Games.
The 20-year-old won all four stage races he rode this year; Vuelta a San Juan and Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta before the Covid-19 lock-down and Vuelta a Burgos and Tour de Pologne after racing resumed.
However, after claiming those two wins when racing re-started, he went into Il Lombardia as a favourite on August 15th by crash over a bridge and broke his pelvis, which ended his season.
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Evenepoel has been back training for some time and has done a camp in Calpe, southern Spain, and did a virtual press conference with Belgian media on Monday.
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While he planned to start racing again at the Tour Down
Under, the cancellation of that event means he will make his 2021 debut on
Europe with any one of the Grand Tours as his main target for later in the
year.
However, he said he did not know which Grand Tour he
would ride and while he had some pain still from his injury, it did not affect
him on the bike.
He also explained that while he had lost about 5kg during
his lay-off, it was a planned weight loss rather than losing muscle. While he
lost some muscle at the start of his injury lay-off, he said he had regained
it.
“I only weigh 59 to 60kg now so I can hardly compare my
wattages and values with last year,” he said from his warm weather training
base in Calpe.
“But if you weigh less, you have to push fewer watts to
go as fast as you can. The muscle mass I lost in the beginning is back, but the
baby fat is completely gone. When I look at my upper body, I am skin and bones.
“I always paid attention to my diet. I knew that every kilogram I gained was one kilogram too many to reach the top again. It's certainly not that I have anorexia, but it's my new lifestyle. I recognised even more the importance of a healthy diet.”
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