PRESS CONFERENCE | Will Evenepoel play a role in Tim Merlier's Tour de France sprints? "The chance is small"

Tim Merlier is one of the strongest sprinters in the peloton and will be one of the key figures into the opening stage of this year's Tour de France. However his leadout is very modest when comparing to those of Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck. Will that come in the way of the European champion?

At Soudal - Quick-Step's press conference this Wednesday afternoon the Belgian was asked about his ambitions in the first week, the support of Bert van Lerberghe as the key leadout man... And CyclingUpToDate also inquired on the possibility of Remco Evenepoel being part of Merlier's train.

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Question: That first day is really important for you. Could you maybe give us your perspective on that first day and how important it is that Bert [van Lerberghe] is part of the team for Saturday and the first week.

Answer: Bert is important not only for the sprints but also for Remco to bring him in position. In the first day it's a really important day for the sprinters, we can take the yellow jersey... But there's only one guy who can take the jersey. If it's not on day 1 we focus on the other stages.

Q: Do you think this Tour de France will be very important for the sprinters due to big stars such as Tim Merlier, Jonathan Milan, Jasper Philipsen and of course Girmay?

A: We also have a lot of other sprinters but the first stage is very important for the sprinters, there are other opportunities... Hopefully I can win one.

The team's management also responded to a few questions regarding the double leadership and which roles each leader could also have in support of each other.

A: If you have one of the best GC riders and one of the best sprinters on both then you have to balance it of course. The sprint stage are quite clear, I think first is the time mark - where you come in to the 3-kilometer rule - if Remco is safe. We have to see how technical the finish is, if we need more support or not. But it's going to be hectic, GC is one of the main highlight to win stages and it's up to me, Klaas and Brama (Davide Bramati, ed.) to take the right decisions. If it's tricky, if we have to defend Remco's spot during the race we put more effort into the final but that's a choice we have to make. GC is day by day you cannot miss one day. Let's hope we don't have to make the choice in the car.

A: No it was overly clear in the winter with the start here in the north that we would bring Tim on board. It's like Tim said, it's not only the bunch sprint, we know the north can be very tricky with echelons and other circumstances. The first 10 days will be very hectic. We can easily divide the Tour in two parts, I think the first part will already have some tricky finales where the riders of GC will be present. The more people we have on board to position well the better it's going to be.

A: That's hard to predict right now but the chance is small I must say. It will really depend on the situation itself.