11/04/2022

Lefevere on Remco Evenepoel's evolution as a rider

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team manager Patrick Lefevere has talked about the media attention given to Remco Evenepoel and the disparity he sees between that and the team's current ambitions of the young talent.

“Two stories for the trash can: Remco Evenepoel cannot descend and Remco Evenepoel cannot follow if the gradient exceeds twenty percent,” Lefevere said in his weekly Het Nieuwsblad column. "We're not going to be too euphoric, but in the Tour of the Basque Country I see a complete racer. He goes downhill well and flies through the corners in the sprint preparation. Nobody touched it.”

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With Evenepoel just having finished fourth at Itzulia Basque Country, he's shown consistency and a cool head under pressure, specifically on the final day where he had to try and defend his lead on a mountainous day against world-class competition who was just a few seconds behind.

“Remco will wear the yellow jersey in what everyone calls the toughest race in the World Tour. And what is the big theme in Belgium after the broadcast of Extra Time Koers? Should Evenepoel race Flemish classics? Apparently I missed something," Lefevere adds.

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“The bidding of opinions is starting to get funny. Last year we sent Remco to the Giro and that is too early, too much, too heavy and what do I know. Now we decide to send him to the Vuelta and what do you literally get as the first question: 'Wouldn't the Tour de France suit him better?' So now we also have to make it a Flemish spring rider," he says. "I'm not saying he's never going to race those races and I'm certainly not saying he can't, but everything in due course. Maybe we will find a company that can clone Remco, in the meantime we have a plan and we stick to it.”

Despite being 22, Evenepoel has been by far one of the most mediatic figures in Belgium over the last few years as different question arise constantly duo to his wide set of talents on the bike.

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"The question was asked within the team whether we would also set them up in the Amstel, but in the end everyone thought the Tour of the Basque Country was the best option. I now see teams eating both ways: giving up in the Basque Country to start in the Amstel, but I think that's lousy. If you give up on Wednesday you should ask yourself why you started. And if you give up on Thursday, it will be a short day to recover before Sunday," Lefevere concluded.