12/08/2024

"I really want to win the Giro and the Tour" - Remco Evenepoel opens up about plans to further expand his palmares

Remco Evenepoel's palmares is filling up rapidly and after his double Olympic title, there are not too many achievements left on the list anymore. While there are still four monuments missing on Remco's to-do, it's the remaining two Grand Tours (won Vuelta a Espana in 2022) he sets his eyes on

"I really want to win the Giro and the Tour," Evenepoel says in an interview with Sporza about his main remaining wishes as a cyclist. The third place in the past Tour de France already provided an enormous boost in that direction. "Certainly after my third place I now have the feeling that it is definitely in the cards. I still have quite a few years to go, but it has become clear to me that I want to go in that direction."

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That means that time trials will become a lesser priority for Evenepoel. "Because it is clear that you do not win a Grand Tour in a thirty kilometre time trial, but you do on climbs of more than an hour. Look, I am not going to make any drastic changes, right? But maybe I will lose a kilo to be able to perform better on the high mountains."

His extensive palmares in time trials helps Evenepoel with that choice. "Although that absolutely does not mean that I will now skip the big appointments in time trials. I will definitely be riding the World Championships in Zurich and the European Championships in my own country."

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Evenepoel will not do what Tadej Pogacar did this season: win both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia in one season. "The Giro and the Tour? Both are difficult. Unless you're Pogacar," the Belgian laughs. "But for me that's still too much. We're going to wait for the courses, there's no pressure. And first there are a few more races this year, right," Evenepoel refers to the World Championships in Zurich, among other things.

"I would like to extend my world title in the time trial. And with the course of the road race it's only logical that I want to achieve a good result there too," he expresses strong ambitions for the World Championships.