"I can still improve" - Remco Evenepoel sends a warning to his competition ahead of the Zurich road race

Olympic-Worlds Double Double. It has a nice sound to it. Remco Evenepoel is the man up for the task this year. After dominating in Paris, the 24-year-old Belgian came undefeated from the Zurich time trial too, successfully defending his rainbow jersey. Now there's only one race between him and a big note in cycling history books.

"It takes away a bit of pressure, let’s say," Evenepoel said at a press conference after his time trial victory. "Winning this jersey again is going to allow me to live a little bit more relaxed towards next Sunday. I’m pretty confident. My legs are there, that’s clear."

The Belgian is convinced we're yet to see the best of him in Zurich: "I can still improve a bit towards next Sunday, like I did in the Olympics as well. I’ll just try to live next week as relaxed as possible and in a good way, trying to take care of my body, and then everything should be fine. I should hopefully be ready for a good performance again next Sunday."

Course

"I think it’s a bit between a bit of a light version of Lombardia and Liège, it’s a mix of that," Evenepoel shared his thoughts of the road race parcours. "Of course, the riders who are a bit lighter have a small advantage, but also the Classics guys can survive if they have good days. We might expect a very special race that can go in multiple directions."

Contrary to what some may have expected, the circuit in Zurich doesn't appear to be as intimidating and therefore Mathieu van der Poel has serious chance for a double. For Remco, his best card would be to ride away at some point. "I think for me it’s clear. I need to stay focused and not lose too much energy in the start and then try to find a good moment to go – or else have the legs to go with the big names when they go," Evenepoel said.

"It might go in multiple directions – there might be a guy alone, we might go with two or three to the finish, we might go with a group of ten to the finish. It can really go in every direction. I didn’t see the local lap yet, but we will do some recons during next week. I hope for a long and tough race, of course, like Paris," he concludes.

One thing that will be different from Paris and that won't play in Evenepoel's advantage however will be team sizes. While the strongest nations at the Olympics could select a maximum of four riders, in Zurich, lineups of up to eight riders can be sent. Evenepoel, who likes to arrive solo, could struggle to create difference against the numbers of other nations on the hilly circuit.