“All the pressure will be on UAE Team Emirates" at the Tour de France says Remco Evenepoel
Cycling
Ahead of his return to racing at the Criterium du Dauphine following his involvement in the nasty crash at the Itzulia Basque Country earlier this year, Remco Evenepoel cast an eye towards his upcoming Tour de France debut.
Seen by many experts and analysts as one of the few riders in the peloton who could possibly deny Tadej Pogacar at the coming edition of the Tour de France, Evenepoel insists all the pressure is on the team of the pre-race favourite and not those attempting to challenge the Slovenian. “All the pressure will be on UAE Team Emirates, considering how impressive Tadej was in the Giro d'Italia," the Soudal - Quick-Step leader assesses via a video call with Het Nieuwsblad.
"There are also a few top players joining his team," Evenepoel continues, referencing the star-studded UAE Team Emirates lineup set to support Pogacar later this month, including the proven climbing capabilities of Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso, Joao Almeida, Marc Soler and Pavel Sivakov, plus the more all-round qualities of one-day specialists Nils Politt and Tim Wellens.
With reigning two-time, back-to-back Maillot Jaune winner Jonas Vingegaard facing a race against time to even be at the start line of the Tour de France in Florence, Evenepoel believes last year's runner-up Pogacar must take over the mantle of pre-race favourite.
"There is no great pressure for myself and my team," the Belgian, who has one Grand Tour under his belt already (the 2022 Vuelta a Espana ed.), concludes. "The pressure is on the others and we must try to follow. If you can follow Tadej, that is a victory in itself. (smiles) But maybe he wins stage 1 with a 5-minute lead and it's already over. He is really a special rider and it wouldn't surprise me if he also wins the Tour after the Giro.”
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- MVDP dominates this sport even more than Pogaçar dominates road racing. Also he can beat Tadej on the road quite regularly, the opposite is unlikely.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- If you listen to team radios you'll hear each DS telling their riders to ride faster, fight their way to the front, and all occupy the same 8 places.Sweep22-12-2024
- You're talking about a sport where equipment and clothing is measured in grams.Sweep22-12-2024
- “During a TT, I am basically blind”. That was his quote after crashing into the barriers in a TT. The problem isn’t the UCI, radios or air bags. The problem is the riders and their teams.JoeyB22-12-2024
- I think you overestimate scientific knowledge and for sure the spreading of it. There are huge numbers of people in similar situations, if there were an easy solution somebody would be making big money out of it. Nerve pain can have many complex origins or be due to complex combinations of reasons. Even if you discover a reason there is not always a solution. Migraines haven’t been solved either. I have had lower back/hip nerve pains on and off for over 30 years, no kind of doctor has ever found a way to reduce, prevent or solve the problem. It may just be that some people are born with nerves that are too short or get twisted out of position during certain movements.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- Amazing ride by her and very promising for her future. On a side note, it’s a bit worrying all these wins riders have after emotional moments in their lives, someone will come up with emotional doping at some point. Maybe give them fake news just before a big race to get hormones pumping.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- I doubt he will have the energy to do that if he continues to do leadout for Phillipsenabstractengineer22-12-2024
- I know several people who’ve tried contacting sport airbag manufacturers and none of them ever got a reply. Might be hard to organise anything with such attitudes.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- It's the BBC. Who cares outside of little Britain.leodis22-12-2024
- Crawl back under your stone.leodis22-12-2024