Bike fans the length and breadth of the UK will be the first to see Remco Evenepoel's new Olympic gold-themed bike and kit this week, as he heads up the field for the Tour of Britain Men.
The Belgian's new Soudal Quick-Step get-up features gold bands around his jersey sleeves and his shorts legs, as well as the tops of his socks. It's all fairly subtle, which is not an accusation anyone can level at his new-look Specialized Tarmac SL8.
It's an absolute Goldenrod of a bike – front to back in deep, lustrous gold. Not a bike for the shy and retiring which, again, is not an accusation anyone can level at the man who will be riding it.
Evenepoel attacked in the final 15km of the Paris Olympic road race on August 3, flying solo through immense crowds to the finish, to become the first man ever to win both the road race and time trial golds.
“It’s a special jersey with gold bands,” Evenepoel told Het Laaste Nieuws ahead of the Tour of Britain. “I had to fight for it quite a bit, because the UCI insisted that the rainbow bands were preferred, but luckily I got both,” the Soudal Quick-Step rider said – referring to the rainbow bands that sit alongside the golden accents of his jersey, and which mark his World Championship victory in Wollongong, 2022.
The first fans to see Evenepoel and his new gear will be those on the roads around Kelso in the Scottish Borders. The peloton takes on a 181.9km stage that both starts and finishes in the town. It features five categorised climbs along the way, although the last of these comes more than 20km before the finish.
The race then makes its way slowly south over the following five days to finish in Felixstowe, Suffolk on Sunday.
Alongside Evenepoel and his Soudal Quick-Step team the start list features a strong-looking Ineos Grenadiers squad that features, among others, Tom Pidcock, Ethan Hayter, new British Gravel Champion Connor Swift and his cousin Ben Swift.
Other WorldTour teams are Bahrain Victorious and dsm-firmenich PostNL, while Israel-Premier Tech and Uno-X Mobility will also be there.
Evenepoel will line up as favourite to win on GC, but Pidcock and Ineos Grenadiers also look strong.
