By Shane Stokes
World time trial champion Remco Evenepoel spent a long time out of competition since his serious crash on April 4th, but believes he is ready to take the next step in this week’s Critérium du Dauphiné.
The Belgian star returned to racing on Sunday’s opening stage of the event, and rolled in with the reduced main bunch on Sunday’s first climbing stage, won by the Danish rider Magnus Cort. He repeated that today, finishing in the bunch just behind winner Derek Gee.
Evenpoel is still rebuilding after coming down in the same crash at Itzulia Basque Country which claimed fellow Tour contenders Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Like Vingegaard, he suffered fractures in the accident; unlike Vingegaard, he has returned to racing this week. Was there ever a chance he would have done the same as his Danish rival and missed doing a major stage race before the Tour?
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“I think in my situation, it was never going to be the case,” he told several media outlets, including stickybottle, in an online conference call on Saturday.
“The only thing that could have changed was that I was going to do a longer training preparation, and then ride the Tour de Suisse. So I think I never had the option to do no race, or I never wanted that option.
“For me it was the best to still have a race because until Basque I didn’t race that much. I needed a race, for sure. If my shape, and my feeling was not going to be good enough than I was going to do the Tour de Suisse.
"But I’m here at the start of Dauphiné. I think the feeling is good enough to race here. So that’s positive. That’s a good evolution.”
Evenepoel is one of the top young riders in the sport. He’s just 24, but has already won the Vuelta a España, and elite world titles in the road race and time trial.
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While he is a hugely ambitious rider, he has said he doesn’t need a big result this week.
“The main goal of the season is the Tour de France and it only starts in in a small month. And it ends in only seven weeks,” he said.
“There’s still a long way till the end of the Tour. So that’s why we didn’t rush anything with the bigger goal in mind, always paying attention to not getting in extreme fatigue or rush myself too much.”
Due to the steady approach he has taken since fracturing his shoulder blade and collarbone in April, he admits he will not be as sharp as he might otherwise be for the Dauphiné.
“Maybe it was not the best approach to get into this race,” he said. “But of course, I think and I hope it will be the best approach to go to the Tour.”
Evenepoel has already said his debut in that race this year is about gaining experience for the future and that he doesn’t go in with the pressure of needing to win. He’ll aim for the podium, of course, and hopes to take the final yellow jersey in the years to come.
Having a strong enough team is an important part of that campaign. Given the strength of squads such as UAE Team Emirates and Visma Lease a Bike, and given all the talk last year that he might leave for Ineos Grenadiers or another big squad, is he satisfied with the progress Soudal Quick-Step has made in building GC support for him?
“For the moment, I only see positive improvements. I think we’re also developing our internal staff. Riders, material, everybody’s improving, everybody’s developing,” he said.
“It’s a process that that needs time, that takes some time. So I think we cannot expect to change from one day to the other. You cannot change the whole environment from one day to the other, it’s a long term process. But I think we’re on the good way.
“For sure, over the next year and years, we will improve even more and develop even more. I think it’s the good way to approach it on a relaxed way, with patience and with the lot of trust in everybody that does his or her job. Improvements over the years, that’s important and not from one day to the other.”
