Sitting 2:22 behind the Red Jersey of
Sepp Kuss, Evenepoel has previously said he believes he could take two minutes on the American in the time-trial. "Sepp is one of the best climbers in the world, so if he can ride a good time trial he will be a difficult customer," the Belgian evaluates. "Personally I see him more as an outsider of Jumbo-Visma. I think they're still going for
Jonas Vingegaard and
Primoz Roglic, but it's not easy to race against those three guys anyway. I have to come up with other ways to beat them, especially if they work well together. And they do that in this Vuelta."
"I'm now first of the favourites.
Enric Mas,
Juan Ayuso and Joao Almeida can become important, if we can work together that would be great," he continues before casting an eye towards the looming challenges of the Tourmalet and Angliru. "I like the longer climbs, and I prepared myself very well for that in Andorra. I think it suits me more at the moment than the shorter work."