Soudal - Quick-Step DS Bramati: "Remco is having a very good Tour de France, and now there are two important days coming up"

Soudal - Quick-Step are having a virtually spotless Tour de France thus far and intend on keeping it that way as we enter the first decisive weekend of the race. Remco Evenepoel holds an impressive second place inbetween Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard and the team hope he can stay somewhat close to the duo.

"Everything has gone very well so far, Remco is having a very good Tour de France, and now there are two important days coming up," Davide Bramati told Cyclism'Actu. "They won't be two easy days, but it will be the same for all the riders. Remco will watch what happens tomorrow. He did well on Wednesday, but it will be a different stage, with longer climbs".

Indeed, this will be a different challenge for the Belgian who has so far tackled one mountain stage where there was only one hard effort, stage 11 where the climbs were short and explosive; and a few days including the time-trial, the gravel stage and crosswinds where he was expected to do very well. So far, a perfect Tour de France debut for the 24-year old.

Soudal - Quick-Step have not had the ideal support in the flat terrain when comparing to Visma who have been consistent and very aggressive in the crosswinds, but great form combined with some luck when it comes to falls and illnesses have seen him remain near the top. So much so, despite his terrific form, Mikel Landa has actually not had to work for his leader and is being able to equally race for a strong GC position so far. Now entering stages with multiple long climbs and with fatigue setting in, it will prove to be a different challenge for the 2022 Vuelta a España winner. He enters stage 14 1:06 minutes away from the yellow jersey of Tadej Pogacar.