"He will be under slightly less pressure, because of Jonas Vingegaard" - Lack of favourites tag will benefit Remco Evenepoel at 2024 Tour de France believes Alberto Contador

For the first time in his career, Remco Evenepoel targets the Tour de France and the Maillot Jaune in 2024. The Belgian is considered by many more of an outsider than an outright favourite but this is something he could use to his benefit believes Alberto Contador.

“I think when Remco Evenepoel gets his gear on and gets on his bike every day and goes out to train, he goes out thinking about winning the Tour de France,” Contador told Eurosport. “Because that is the mentality you have to have. We know he is a champion. He has an extremely ambitious mentality when it comes to objectives, as hard as they may be."

With this summer's Tour set to be one of the most star studded in a long time however, Evenepoel could benefit from the pressures of the pre-race favourite tag being elsewhere. "I do think he will be under slightly less pressure than he would be on a Giro d’Italia or on a Vuelta because of Jonas Vingegaard, who is showing how solid he is on the Tour de France, so he has to show that respect,” Contador explains.

“I think he will have less pressure. When the odds come out, we will see Vingegaard as the favourite, it won’t be Remco. And that could be of benefit to him. It could lessen the pressure although the pressure he puts on himself will probably be greater than anything else external," the Spaniard continues. “So I think it will be a nice challenge and I think it is important that Remco knows what it is to race the Tour de France because it is an important race to know.”