“It’s going to be a beautiful day” – Remco Evenepoel ready for European Championships battle

Fresh from his latest time trial victory, Remco Evenepoel looked calm and confident ahead of today’s European Championship road race in Drôme–Ardèche. The Belgian, who won Wednesday’s European time trial title, is aiming to complete his remarkable set of continental, world, and Olympic victories with one more road race win, and he believes he has recovered well after a demanding week of travel and competition.

“Yeah, pretty good,” Evenepoel said when asked how he was feeling. “I had two easier days, so everything should be fine. And yeah, the weather is good, so it’s going to be a beautiful day.”

The course, 203 kilometres featuring three climbs of Saint-Romain-de-Lerps (7.1 km at 7%) and six ascents of Val d’Enfer (1.5 km at 9.9%), is widely regarded as one of the hardest in recent years. For Evenepoel, that’s a positive. “Yeah, it looks really nice, really hard, especially once we go in the local laps,” he said. “It’s going to be important to arrive there fresh, to always be in good position and be ready for multiple circumstances and situations.”

Just a week ago at the World Championships in Kigali, a mechanical problem derailed his bid to follow Tadej Pogacar’s decisive attack. Asked whether he feels better equipped to match or even outmanoeuvre the Slovenian this time, Evenepoel didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, of course I will try. I’ll try to do my best to be up there and have a good fight,” he said. “I think it’s a different race, a shorter race, so it’s going to be different tactics as well. We’re just going to do our best and take the maximum out of it.”

For the Belgian, today’s race isn’t just another one-day test; it’s a chance to achieve something no rider has ever done before, to hold Olympic, World, and European titles simultaneously across both time trial and road disciplines. It’s a goal that requires precision, patience, and, as Evenepoel puts it, “a good fight.”