Remco Evenepoel on Pogacar and Vingegaard: "I will probably be able to compete with them"

The world class winners in the current peloton are overwhelmingly dominating the stage-races, but amongst each other the level is relatively balanced. Remco Evenepoel is gathering the confidence to battle Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, having achieved one more big goal in his career.

"Those guys [Pogacar and Vingegaard] are really crazy good. But I think this year as a Vuelta winner and a world champion I can take a lot of confidence. I have to believe in myself, in my capacities. I think that I'm coming to a level where I will probably be able to compete with them," the World Champion said in an interview with The Cycling Show on Eurosport. "That's also where I want to go and where my ambitions are, to try to win races over them."

Evenepoel soared to another Liège-Bastogne-Liège win this Sunday as he beat the competition by a wide margin after Tadej Pogacar was forced out of the race. He hasn't battled with the Slovenian or the Tour de France champion yet this year, as he prepares for the Giro d'Italia and has taken a different path during the spring. He won the UAE Tour and finished second to Primoz Roglic at the mountainous Volta a Catalunya.

However in the future the Tour de France, where the former duo finished first and second on the last two editions, is also on his mind. "It would be a big dream and a big motivation for me to try and step up again and try to fight against them for race victories," he admits. "I'm always in the middle of everything - all the spotlight is on me - but I don't win the races without my team-mates."

"For example the Vuelta [A Espana], I'm in the red jersey, all the attention goes to me. But I only ride some days, one kilometer in the wind - maybe not even that. I learned that I can be really relaxed and focused at the same time - I was not like that before my crash," he explains.

"I was focused but it all had to go for the bike, bike, bike and nothing else could enter the way. Now it's completely different, we manage perfectly the relaxed moments and the stress moments. I really learned how you go through that month to perform at the highest level every day," Evenepoel concluded.