“Project Canada”, as he dubbed it on Strava during training, is go for Remco Evenepoel.
In the absence of Tadej Pogačar, the Belgian superstar is the man to beat. He could make history later this month in Montréal by becoming the first elite male rider to win the World Championships time trial and road race in the same year.
First, he wants to add Friday’s Grand Prix de Québec and Sunday’s Grand Prix de Montréal to his packed palmarès. He has crossed the Atlantic looking lean and keen, adapting himself more for the short, sharp hills which characterise the one-day races.
“I think it’s clear you need to have a bit more explosiveness for them, so we wanted that. We’ve trained a bit more on the sprint,” he said, speaking to the media on Wednesday night in Québec, a light blue cap worn backwards on his head.
Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s leader has not raced since winning the Clásica de San Sebastián on 1 August, spending three and a half weeks at altitude in the Italian town of Livigno. Only coming down from his lofty preparation perch a few days ago, Evenepoel is unsure how his body will react.
“He [coach Tim Heemskerk] told me I shouldn’t panic if one of these races doesn’t go so good,” he said.
“It’s always a bit different, harder to manage the fatigue and sessions [after altitude], but in general, everything went well. There’s still a bit of time, more than two weeks, to be in the best possible form for the World Championships.”
The absence of Tadej Pogačar, recovering from the broken collarbone sustained at the Vuelta a España, will give the Canadian events a different flavour.
“I’ve been there too; in 2020, I was in good form, I won everything and then I missed the start of the Worlds [after a serious crash in Il Lombardia], and then someone else takes it,” he said.
“It changes the race a lot, but that’s how it is now. You have to take your chance and push for victory. When Tadej is there, everyone wants to defend or just follow him. It’s not easy. You need to come up with new tactics.”
Competing in the GP de Québec and GP de Montréal double-header for the first time since 2019, he is keen to find his “best legs and best sensations” in a return to competition.
Evenepoel stressed that the WorldTour one-day races are more than mere amuse-bouches for the rainbow jersey main courses. “I’m coming in with a lot of ambition: these are races I’ve never won and I’d like to add them to my palmarès,” he said, adding later: “Why not win them both?”
You can hardly blame Evenepoel for feeling confident. As well as quietening a few naysayers, second place to Pogačar at the Tour de France reinforced his ambitions to add the sport’s blue riband race and the Giro d’Italia to his stuffed palmarès.
“I think I proved to myself and also to everyone else – I’ve won the Vuelta, been on the Tour podium twice. The results are there – I’ve got a future in the grand tours.
“I always believed that, I think there were some who didn’t. That gave me a lot of motivation for the Tour with a very specific, very precise preparation without a lot of racing … the dream to win the three grand tours is still there.”
Evenepoel is the original 2020s prodigy, a young force of nature who has lived up to the hype created when he swept through junior races like the second coming of Eddy Merckx.
Given he went straight from competing against 17-year-olds to beating adult pros for Quick Step as a teenager, he could see the irony of being asked about Michael Matthews’ assertion that riders turn pro in the WorldTour too young.
“It’s not down to me to say because I was one of the first to go straight from the junior ranks,” he said, smiling. “There are a lot who turn pro with zero junior wins, or one or two races. Me, I won 37 or 38 out of 45 … it’s true that young riders turn pro a lot quicker than before. But they already live like pros with their nutrition, training, the power meter – they’re a lot more prepared than I was back in the day. I didn’t have a power meter or nutritionist, it was really done by feel.”
“I think that’s a bit problematic now because when they get to the pro ranks, that’s when the sacrifices really need to be made. And after some years, we see some young riders cracking mentally because they don’t know how to make those sacrifices anymore.”
There will be plenty of sacrifices made in the World Championships road race in Montréal, with Belgian teammates burying themselves for their captain.
Visma-Lease a Bike rider Wout van Aert has also been selected, offering a potential Plan B. The squad will need to be united and well-drilled as other nations may will look to expose any weaknesses.
“He’s found good form at the right moment, it’s also a while until the road race so he has to keep it,” Evenepoel said of his compatriot, who has two Vuelta stage wins. “But I think he has the experience to handle that period between the Vuelta and the World Championships road race. It’s nice to see he’s ready.”