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Remco Evenepoel draws motivation from Pogacar: "It’s always a good stimulus to see another top rider win so easily"
CyclingMonday, 20 February 2023 at 19:00
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."
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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.
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- And your point is what exactly?vappaxbipmv22-12-2024
- MVDP dominates this sport even more than Pogaçar dominates road racing. Also he can beat Tadej on the road quite regularly, the opposite is unlikely.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- If you listen to team radios you'll hear each DS telling their riders to ride faster, fight their way to the front, and all occupy the same 8 places.Sweep22-12-2024
- You're talking about a sport where equipment and clothing is measured in grams.Sweep22-12-2024
- “During a TT, I am basically blind”. That was his quote after crashing into the barriers in a TT. The problem isn’t the UCI, radios or air bags. The problem is the riders and their teams.JoeyB22-12-2024
- I think you overestimate scientific knowledge and for sure the spreading of it. There are huge numbers of people in similar situations, if there were an easy solution somebody would be making big money out of it. Nerve pain can have many complex origins or be due to complex combinations of reasons. Even if you discover a reason there is not always a solution. Migraines haven’t been solved either. I have had lower back/hip nerve pains on and off for over 30 years, no kind of doctor has ever found a way to reduce, prevent or solve the problem. It may just be that some people are born with nerves that are too short or get twisted out of position during certain movements.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- Amazing ride by her and very promising for her future. On a side note, it’s a bit worrying all these wins riders have after emotional moments in their lives, someone will come up with emotional doping at some point. Maybe give them fake news just before a big race to get hormones pumping.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- I doubt he will have the energy to do that if he continues to do leadout for Phillipsenabstractengineer22-12-2024
- I know several people who’ve tried contacting sport airbag manufacturers and none of them ever got a reply. Might be hard to organise anything with such attitudes.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- It's the BBC. Who cares outside of little Britain.leodis22-12-2024