Remco Evenepoel returns to racing at the Tour of Britain on Tuesday, exactly a month after completing his double gold-medal success at the Paris Olympics.
Evenepoel will start stage 1 of the Tour of Britain in Kelso, Scotland, in a new Soudal-QuickStep jersey that includes gold bands to recognise his Olympic success. He and Soudal-QuickStep apparently had to fight with the UCI for approval of the new and unique design.
"I had to fight for them quite a bit, because the UCI insisted that the rainbow bands had priority, but luckily I got both," Evenepoel told HLN/VTM Nieuws.
Evenepoel will also race with a gold-coloured helmet and a gold Specialized bike.
Since winning the time trial and then the road gold medals, Evenepoel has celebrated with family and friends, been feted as a national hero in Brussels and gradually got back into training. He has achieved so much already in 2024, but the World Championships in Zurich and Il Lombardia in October are final goals to aim for and motivate him in training.
Evenepoel confirmed that he will not ride the European road race and time championships, despite rivals such as Josh Tarling and Filippo Ganna will also be absent. He is focused on one last peak in Zurich.
“I would rather win a World Championship title than finish third twice at a European Championship,” he said curtly.
Evenepoel peaked at the Olympics after a superb third place on his Tour de France debut. However, the Tour of Britain will be a first stepping back to form.
“Training has been okay, nothing too special,” Evenepoel revealed in a video call with several media, including Cyclingnews.
I've just done endurance rides. After the ceremonies and everything in Belgium, I was a bit sick, so it was pretty difficult to find the shape again.
“I think that's why it's good to be here at the start of the Tour of Britain, to put some intensity in the body and to put a big step forward towards the World Championships.
Evenepoel will be a domestique deluxe for Julian Alaphilippe and 20-year-old teammate Paul Magnier, who was second at the Bretagne Classic-Ouest-France.
“I'm here without any real expectation. I’ll take it day by day, and if there’s a good result, all the better. Julian is here, Paul Magnier is here. So it's a race without any pressure for results for me. I’ll be very happy to do some lead outs for both of them and to have an open-minded race. I think that's the perfect way to step back into the race scenario again.”
Evenepoel preferred the Tour of Britain over last week’s Renewi Tour WorldTour race. He was greeted with rain and cold conditions on Monday, but the British weather is expected to improve as the race heads south during the week.
Stage 3 is in the central Peak District and Yorkshire, with the race ending on Sunday after six stages in Felixstowe, on the Norfolk coast, two hours northeast of London.
“It's not too long, six stages with not too many hours in the legs. I can step out without too much fatigue, so I can then pick up training pretty easily and pretty quickly again,” Evenepoel explained.
“It was difficult to do Renawi because there was not much for me, except for the TT on the last day. Here there are more chances for myself and for the team to go for some good results. It’s the better choice for the world championships.”
Starting at the bare bottom and ending high in the sky
Evenepoel’s Olympic success has added gold bands to his rainbow jersey and his Tour de France podium confirmed his incredible talents. The whirlwind of racing and emotions is over, but he has still to fully savour it all. His two gold medals are safely ‘tucked away’, and he is back racing.
“I will probably only really start to realise what I’ve achieved when the season is over, when I will have two or three months, without any big stress of the bike but I think my Olympic success is something that will be unbelievable for the rest of my life,” he said.
Evenepoel was personally struck by his return from his Itzulia Basque Country crash in early April and then constant improvement until touching the sky’ with his double Olympic success.
The preparation towards the big successes started at a very low level with the crash. It took me some time to find a good shape again,” he reflected.
“At the Dauphine in June, I was performing well on the TT bike, but I was still struggling on the climbs. I knew that there was still much shape to gain towards the Tour. It was a building process in terms of shape and results.
“I went from good in the Dauphiné, to super good in the Tour, to great in the time trial at the Olympics, then to an exceptional ending of a period with the road race.
“It was a build-up of positive emotions; that's the perfect summary of the last months: starting at the bare bottom and ending high in the sky.”
