"Remco has that mentality of constantly wanting to win" - Evenepoel and coach hunt success at Volta ao Algarve time-trial and beyond

Remco Evenepoel starts the time-trial of the Volta ao Algarve in second place in the overall classification but aims to jump into yellow. He is the main favourite to do so, simultaneously he is also the big favourite to win the stage despite the very strong competition.

"It's a difficult time trial, up and down all the time. There will be differences. It is the first time trial of the year and then you immediately know what your time trial form is like. It is a very nice test at this level," Remco Evenepoel told Sporza. "Almost all the world's top riders are at the start. But this course, with an explosive start and a difficult final climb, suits me."

Alongside him, none other than Filippo Ganna, Stefan Küng, Stefan Bissegger and Wout van Aert for example. Evenepoel is asked about the latter: "He will participate. He is such a natural talent that he can immediately compete for prizes. Maybe Wout doesn't have his top time trial form, but he is guaranteed to be in the top 3 or top 5. I rate him highly to win.

As the fist time-trial of the season, it is an important day for the World Champion, but he shrugs off the pressure from it: "Nothing new will be tested today, it is still a bit early for that. It's just a nice test against the other top riders. Maybe the first 2 or 3 will be close together, but after that you can play with 20 to 30 seconds. The course is really difficult. The time trial follows 3 days of racing with long hours on the bike. It's a cliché, but the rider with the best legs will win."

"The first time trial of the season is always special," Evenepoel's coach Koen Pelgrim added. "We have already done a lot with Remco and then you no longer make super-major changes, but you look for small points of improvement and we have been working on that this winter. Whether there is still a margin? Much less than with someone else. Remco has already done a lot with it, but those small margins are also much more important than with someone else. It is certainly worth it."

In mind are future goals such as Paris-Nice and the Tour de France, where the Soudal - Quick-Step rider will have to take every advantage he can against the clock in order to battle his rivals. "We try to find things like that. His position has changed a little bit and we have also been working on the clothing. We are always trying to find half a percent. Remco has that mentality of constantly wanting to win. Look at last year's Giro. Then he also won the second time trial while he was already ill. That is only possible if you are mentally strong."