"Only good signals towards the Giro d'Italia" for Remco Evenepoel as he makes a statement at UAE Tour

Soudal - Quick-Step have had a brilliant UAE Tour with three stage wins, and today at Jebel Hafeet Remco Evenepoel managed to climb his way into GC success.

"It was tough. I thought Yates would stay on my wheel for the last few hundred meters and I would have been happy with that. Now I had to go over the limit to keep up with him. I got a bit closer in the closing stages, but my legs eventually went empty because we rode up so fast," Evenepoel shared in an interview following his victory.

Evenepoel knew attacks were coming, and Adam Yates made his move with 6 kilometers to go. With Pello Bilbao and Luke Plapp dropped this was an ideal scenario for the World Champion, who volunteered to pace a large section of the climb with Yates in the wheel - whom he had been able to follow.

“In the end we were left together and I decided to ride my own fast pace. I knew he was going to try something anyway and I'm glad I kept a constant eye on him. That's why I knew that the overall victory was safe," he explains.

Eventually Yates launched a second attack with 3 kilometers to go which Evenepoel could not follow, but this was a secondary concern for the race leader. He managed to keep his pace all the way into the finish and sealed the overall win, his first as a World Champion.

"A minute ahead is a lot in this race and I can be happy with the overall victory. I was good every day and finished second in both mountain stages. The goal was to keep the leader's jersey and in the end we can be proud of three stage victories and the final classification," he continued.

After an underwhelming performance at the Vuelta a San Juan, he also talks of a boost of confidence towards the Giro d'Italia. "These are only good signals towards the Giro d'Italia. I haven't been on an altitude training yet, I will do that next. So I can only get better and I am happy and proud of the form I already have. My teammates looked good too, so we have to keep going," he concluded.

After a stint of altitude training the next race on his calendar will be the Volta a Catalunya, where he will face another set of strong climbers including Primoz Roglic who he will face later on.