"Win a stage there and do a good GC" - Remco Evenepoel ready for Tour de France return

Soudal-Quick-Step have announced their Tour de France lineup this morning and although Remco Evenepoel won't have the same resources at hand as Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, it is not a modest team by any means. The Olympic Champion has shared a statement ahead of his second Grand Boucle.

“It’s my second Tour de France and I’m looking forward to the Grand Depart, which won’t be far from Belgium," he said in a press release.

"I think it’s obvious that I’m aiming for a good general classification, but the most important thing will be to not lose time in the first half of the race, which should be a very nervous one, with lots of traps and tricky roads. Just like last year, I want to win a stage there and do a good GC, while taking it one day at a time”

The Belgian team will be splitting focus between him and Tim Merlier, but the Belgian sprinter never had much of a leadout and so Evenepoel will overall still have most of the team backing him up. Whilst in the mountains UAE and Visma have a lot of firepower - the same can be said of BORA even though they only bring three climbers to the race - Quick-Step also packs a punch.

Whilst Mikel Landa will not be racing the Tour as initially planned due to injury, Valentin Paret-Peintre (initially scheduled to race the Giro, but forced to miss it because of an injury in the spring) will be supporting Evenepoel in the mountains and could do quite good, alongside Ilan van Wilder who comes directly out of a Top10 results at the Tour de Suisse.

Alongside them will be Mattia Cattaneo, an experienced and strong climber and rouleur who alongside Max Schachmann could be very valuable help with positioning in the hilly stages and towards the bottom of decisive climbs throughout the race.