PRESS CONFERENCE Remco Evenepoel | He does not see himself as inferior to Pogacar and Vingegaard: "I'm here to try to make it harder for them"

Remco Evenepoel spoke yesterday and has done so again today at the official press conference before the start of the 2025 Tour de France. The leader of Soudal - Quick-Step arrives ambitious, eager, aware of how difficult it will be to compete against two rivals of the caliber of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, but without setting any limits for himself. CyclingUpToDate was present at the press conference to capture his words first-hand.

A: Yeah, I think it's logical. Like you just said, they won together in the last four editions. So it means that they are, of course, top favourites for this year's edition again. But I think it would be unfair to force myself towards the team to say that I'm not here to compete with them, so I'm just here to try and compete against them and try to make it harder for them.

So, I think it's really important to say where I am exactly and compare it to last year. Last year, I was in third place. And this year, I'm here to try and improve that a bit. So, I'm taking the risk, whatever my position will be. So, I think I'm just here to do my best and give the best.

I think it's, of course, going to be an important factor to be able to compete for the GC this first 10 days. But then, next to that, I think it makes no big sense to really stress about it because it's the same for everybody. Some guys prefer epic stages. Some guys don't. But I think we all wouldn't like to crash. So, I think just end up not being nervous or not really stressing about it.

A: Yes, I think after the past week of championships, I felt that there were good feelings. I felt that I was on the right path. I did my races. So, I felt that I was at a good level. It's not 10 days, but it's several months, several years too, especially when you're not physically, physically a climber. So, I think it's something that I will continue to work on in each internship, in each winter. But I think I'm satisfied with the level that I found. And I hope that it will be enough to finish this job.

Of course, I think if there is one guy that I don't want to miss in this tour, it's Mikel. And unfortunately, he is the guy with the worst injuries for a moment in the team. So, it's going to be a big miss for me on the team. And I think Mikel is always free to reply to my messages or once I don't have some questions, or when I will need it, I will call him and he will help me.

A: Yeah, because, I mean, I didn't see anything otherwise to be a surprise for me. I mean, I think you probably start to notice that the comments from the outside or non-stressful situations do not have a big effect on me. So, I'm always critical of whether it's a positive or a negative situation. And I will never crack under pressure. So, I don't know which side it's you.

A: The first week is going to be difficult, but I think that all of what you're giving me now is something probably beneficial for the station, and for everyone. So, I don't think we can really do it in the first week, because, yeah, sprinters only have a few chances.

I mean, we can always talk afterwards, because not everybody knows, of course, my heart from each day. But in the end, yeah, it's a part of what we are given. We have to embrace it. And it's always the riders that take the risk. But I think that now with the sanctions that are given, with the yellow cards, with the disqualifications and stuff like that, I think it already helps a bit. Maybe not for everybody, for some of us, but I think in general it's good rules, and they help with the risks that are being taken in the bunch.

But yeah, I think it's going to be difficult to put everybody on a safe line for the first week, so...

A: Well, it's... I mean, the guy responsible to close the gap is my coach, so I follow his training, and every race we have to see where I'm at, so I think it really depends on, especially training, and just trying to have a few seasons without any big injuries or big breaks in the training period. I think that would help a lot as well. So yeah, I think the capacities are there, but of course, I just need to... Maybe it's a question you should ask my coach.

A: Well, the results... I think it's a lot of miles to go, and all the stages are open at the end of the week, so it's going to be tough, it's going to be interesting, and it's going to be tough, so... But I think, probably, like the other one, it's 32 kilometers, it's going to be a lot of gaps, it's going to be a lot of...

Same. I mean, if you look at the stages before, it's already going to be that hard for GC riders, but also for the sprinters, to even time it in, and then, normally, the last stages, or a time trial, or a sprint stage, it's more like the ceremonial stuff, but in the end, I think we'll probably have to race it, and see how it goes, and I guess once we arrive on the Champs-Élysées for the first time, there will be some attacks, to try and go in a great way, and it will be like a normal race, and probably, I think that the GC guys were to fear is to lose his place, because of that time, or imagine your yellow jersey, or second place, with a small margin, you just want to keep your place, or like, 20 kilometers off the top. Yeah, that's how it goes, and you just have to race it.