Remco Evenepoel draws motivation from Pogacar: "It’s always a good stimulus to see another top rider win so easily"

It is not uncommon for rivals to push each other into superior levels. Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert are perhaps the best examples in cycling, however a similar situation may be developing with two young supertalents Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel.

“It’s a very nice way to open your season, we also have to say the courses there suited him very well. Every stage, every finish was made for him," Evenepoel said in a press conference at the UAE Tour about 'Pogi'. “It’s always a good stimulus to see another top rider win so easily. You feel okay, it’s now up to us to try and come to his level. It’s not that it’s in my head all day, but it will help to give some motivation for this week’s training and racing.”

The two were meant to face each other this week in the UAE, but Pogacar made a late decision to start and completely race his spring campaign in Europe. he's dominated the Vuelta a Andalucia, winning three stages and the overall classification following an equally dominant victory at Gran Camino.

Evenepoel had a brilliant performance on the opening day of the UAE Tour, making his presence felt at every opportunity in the crosswinds, earning him 51 seconds over many of his rivals for the GC including the trio of UAE Team Emirates riders - which positions him better towards his goals for the final classification.

“The podium is a good goal. I feel good but I’m still only running at 90 percent of my ability," he said of the race. "A lot will depend on the team time trial. The main thing is not to get sick or crash, like when I did in 2019, injuring my arm. An injury like that would not be a huge deal in terms of the Giro, but a broken arm would be," he concluded.

Here Pogacar is facing both Adam Yates and Brandon McNulty who are set to be key men for Pogacar at the Tour de France. Although this year the two aren't expected to meet at a Grand Tour, in 2024 this battle is expected at the Tour de France.

Simultaneously, Evenepoel discussed his beginnings in sports, which was over in Football: “Maybe I started too early, and that’s the biggest reason why I changed. I did like football but it was all about money and agents. I started to get a bit angry and the way that little world decided a lot in the sport."

As for cycling which he changed coming into the junior ranks - where he thrived, he added: "I think more and more people are watching the sport because of the way races are ridden nowadays. Whereas before you’d only wait to watch the last hour because that was when everything happened, now you never know, things can happen at 100 kilometres from the start."

Today's stage in the UAE was a perfect example, with the World Champion present in the front echelons rom kilometer 0. “At the same time, jerseys and bikes are looking good, and it’s all coming closer to football, it’s getting more chic and expensive. That’s why it gets more attention. Football’s the top sport, but cycling’s getting closer," he believes.

The Soudal - Quick-Step also details how his training experience has changed over the years, and how he has improved his professionalism and found his own ways to thrive. “I felt obliged to do training, obliged to train like the other guys, but now my racing runs under its own steam," he says. "I did 12 days training in Spain recently. The first five days were in the rain and in my first years I’d have refused to do that."

At the Giro d'Italia rough weather is expected, and Evenepoel is aware that to perform in these conditions there is no way to avoid the harsh experiences. "But now I did four and half, five, then six hours training in the rain and at a maximum of eight degrees so it was pretty cold. That’s because I see cycling as very different to the beginning of my career," he concluded.