Remco Evenepoel enjoyed 24 hours at home in Belgium after winning the time trial world title in Scotland but quickly travelled to Andorra for a final block of training at altitude before targeting the Vuelta a España.
The Soudal-QuickStep rider is now training in his Belgian national champion’s jersey after Mathieu van der Poel won the road race world title and right to wear the rainbow jersey. Evenepoel will get to wear his new rainbow jersey in the two Vuelta a España time trials on stages 1 and 10.
Remco Evenepoel has confirmed that he will end his 2023 season in the time trial world champion’s rainbow jersey by riding the Chrono des Nations event on Sunday October 15. He will also ride Il Lombardia on Saturday October 7 after completing the Vuelta a España.
The 23-year-old Belgian will spend the next ten days in Andorra before heading to Barcelona for the Gran Salida of the Vuelta a España. The Vuelta a España begins in the Catalan capital on Saturday 26th August with a 14.6km team time trial around the city centre.
The first of many mountain finishes comes on stage 3 to Arinsal in Andorra, making the tiny tax haven perched high in the Pyrenees the perfect location for a final altitude camp. Evenepoel has already studied many of the other key stages of the Vuelta a España, spending time in northern Spain before and after winning La Clasica San Sebastian.
Evenepoel won the world time trial on Friday but was already back in training in Andorra on Monday.
“That's the life of a professional. If you want to achieve your goal, you have to do something for it. I still need two weeks to prepare for the Vuelta, but at least it's going in the right direction,” he told the Flemish TVM channel after travelling home from Scotland at the weekend.
“I think I deserve half a day with my family. After that, I’ll be gone again for a month and a half. Some percentages to my form need to be added for the Vuelta. I’d prepared myself for the time trial but there is more climbing and a different route at the Vuelta, so I face two weeks of hard work.”
Evenepoel opted to target the Vuelta a España after COVID-19 forced him out of the Giro d’Italia while he was wearing the leader’s maglia rosa. His biggest rivals include Giro d’Italia winner Primož Roglič and Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Enric Mas (Movistar), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe),
Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Juan Ayuso and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates).
