Remco Evenepoel va faire ses grands débuts sur le Tour de France samedi ! À 24 ans et après cinq saisons et demie de professionnalisme, il est l'heure pour le prodige du cyclisme belge de poser ses roues sur les routes de la plus grande course du monde. À trois jours de s'élancer pour trois semaines qu'il espère bien évidement couronnées de succès, le leader unique de la Soudal Quick-Step s'est confié lors d'une conférence de presse organisée ce mercredi soir. Durant celle-ci, il a notamment expliqué qu'il ne sentait "pas encore" l'atmosphère particulière de la Grande Boucle.
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SportTranscription
00:00Five minutes, because Belgium is playing. Thank you.
00:08Hey, Remco. Hello, Remco. What are your feelings three days before the Tour de France,
00:15in terms of form and confidence?
00:20For the moment, all good, I think. It was pretty good weather in Belgium,
00:26which is always very welcome. I had quite some good days at home, recovering from the
00:35small illness, so everything should be pretty okay with that. For the moment, all good.
00:43Remco, obviously, at the end of the day, you said you still had some work to do.
00:50How close are you now to where you would have wanted to be? If I'd asked you at the start of
00:56the season how you want to be going into the Tour de France, how close are you?
01:01At the start of the season, I would always have said that I didn't want to crash in Basque,
01:05so for sure there I had to put some steps back. Overall, I think I tried to push myself as much
01:15as possible on the altitude camp, in terms of training, nutrition, just everything. I tried to
01:23improve everything in a positive way, so I think for now I need to be happy with what I
01:31did the past two weeks, three weeks. I think I arrived for what was the best shape possible,
01:41seeing from Dauphiné on. I just try to push myself to the maximum every day, and I think
01:49on that side I don't have to blame myself for not training hard enough or not focusing enough,
01:56so I tried my best.
01:59Remco, there's been a lot of talk about your four top guys for the Tour de France. Who do you expect
02:06being on the highest level of your four guys going into this Tour?
02:13I expect Tadej to be unreachable, almost. I think what he showed in the Giro was already
02:21super impressive, and knowing that he didn't have to go deep in the races almost to get the results,
02:27will definitely not have tired him out to come here to the Tour, so I think Tadej will be
02:33the man to beat for this Tour de France.
02:35The team has made a big transformation to support you in this Tour. First,
02:41how satisfied are you with these changes and how much influence you had on the selection
02:47of the riders coming with you?
02:51In terms of the selection, I think I am not having much influence. For sure, the coaches,
02:59the DSs, the doctors, they all have to look into the data who is in the best shape
03:05for the moment, who is not ill, who is just performing well, so I think that speaks for
03:11himself that I am not the guy with the last word in terms of the selections.
03:16Then, I think it's a very nice way to start the Tour with seeing that many guys
03:23in work for me, so I think it's a privilege to have strong riders like Mikel, Ilan,
03:32all those big names riding and working for me, so it gives extra motivation and extra
03:39power in the legs to do my best the coming three weeks.
03:42The coach of Vingegaard said if he's going to start in good shape, then I'm not afraid
03:48he will bottle, or how do you say it, afbotten in the second and third week, he will always
03:55get better. Do you think you're the same kind of rider after the Grand Tours you did?
04:01I hope so. If we look at this first week, it's especially day one and day four that
04:08are very difficult days, which are quite in the beginning, so that means that there will
04:15not be a lot of fatigue in the body yet by that time, so I hope after that that I can
04:24use this first week to improve as well still a little bit. I think maybe I should hope for
04:32the same situation or for the same explanation that you just gave me about Jonas. I think
04:40that would be good for me as well to still go into my peak towards the second weekend
04:45and the third week, so I hope it's going to be like that, but for sure it's always more
04:52easy to say than to really have it like that. I spoke to Kasper Pedersen yesterday and he
04:57told me that he was very dedicated to support you this year, so I want to ask you what does
05:04he mean for your tour and also will you miss Kasper Eskren and the team this year?
05:10I think both Kaspers are very strong riders. I think for sure the team always has to make
05:19decisions and sometimes it's bigger decisions to leave somebody at home or not,
05:26but I think with the three rulers that we have here with Kasper Pedersen, Moscon and Lampi,
05:32I think we have three very strong riders who can also survive some climbs and I think Kasper
05:40main task will be to help me in the flat days when I need to go for a pit stop or when I have
05:47a mechanical or whatever, he's the guy to bring me back to really ride with his nose in the wind
05:52for me and we all know that he has the capabilities and the engine to do that and he's also very
05:59flexible. I mean he will never doubt any decision that I make, so I think Kasper is a guy that I've
06:06been racing with in Paris-Nice and also Dauphiné and everything was working very well, so I mean
06:12then it's already an easier decision to take a guy like that, to have that task for me.
06:19Remco, we are three days before your first Tour de France,
06:23how would you describe your excitement and what are you looking forward the most?
06:28Honestly for the moment I feel quite relaxed, so no stress or anything that would bother me.
06:37I'm just looking forward to everything actually, it's a first time for something, so
06:43that's why I look forward to a bit of everything already starting with the team presentation of
06:47tomorrow and also just the start of day one, the first rest day also, so I mean it's
06:55going to be quite an exciting exploring for me, so I think I'm looking forward to a bit of
07:04everything and hopefully also that we will have good weather in the next three weeks.
07:12Well I think for sure the Olympics are following up quite quickly, but luckily the travel from
07:19Nice to Paris is not that long, it's not like Paris-Tokyo for example, so I think after the
07:28Tour if I will have to go all out till the last day, I think in a few days I will be recovered.
07:35Like I said the travel is not that long, so some easier days at home or straight away in Paris
07:41will do me very good and it will just be important to not become sick, to not
07:51lose the shape and just stay busy on the bike, keep the legs rolling, so yeah I think
07:58it's quite short but it's not impossible, so it's also something I'm looking forward to,
08:06but for sure now it's full focus on the Tour first. About the first stage, there are people
08:13who say it's going to be a Matt Pedersen kind of stage, there are people who say the UAE is going
08:17to destroy everything and they are going to ride very fast. What do you think of this first stage
08:22with 26 flat kilometers in the end? Well I think I saw Matt Pedersen climbing in Dauphiné, he was
08:30going up very well, so I think if he has the legs and if he can handle the pressure that maybe
08:41a team like UAE can put, then he's in my opinion the top favorite for stage one.
08:48Personally I also think somebody like Wout or Mathieu could do it if they are in top shape,
08:55but yeah like you mentioned if UAE goes bananas from climb one, then it will be a very
09:02small group going to the finish line I think or maybe even a guy alone, so it will all depend
09:09on how the race will develop, but if the race develops like how I think it should develop,
09:15then probably Pedersen can be favorite number one, but yeah also with Mathieu and Wout in the back
09:23of our heads let's say. You've just mentioned about not getting sick
09:32before the Olympics as well and getting through the three weeks all right in the Tour de France,
09:37you were of course a bit sick after the Criterium du Dauphiné, how has that affected your preparation
09:43for this Tour de France and are you ready to fight immediately in the first four days
09:49for GC as well? Well yeah I think everybody knows I couldn't participate in the nationals which
09:58could and would have been the last big test for the Tour, also the trainings before I couldn't really
10:05train intensive or like high power trainings, high intensity trainings,
10:13so on that side I couldn't do 100% what I needed, but overall I could handle more calm
10:20trainings, longer trainings also were not the problem, but specific intensity trainings were
10:25not possible till yesterday, so that was a bit tricky and will it affect for the
10:33Tour? We will see, but then on the other hand I hope to be up there already in the first days,
10:39not necessarily to win a stage or to win, but more to not lose time and then be brave and strong
10:46enough to follow the group. A question, I know we're looking a long long way ahead, but you've
10:52got stage nine a long way ahead of you, the White Roads stage and those are difficult surfaces to
11:02ride on where you've suffered in the past, what are your thoughts about that stage and does it
11:09cast a shadow or influence the way that you think about your approach to this year's Tour de France?
11:15Thank you Wimko. Honestly it's a very beautiful stage, of course we did a recon of it, I think
11:21all the teams did a recon of it, so yeah I think you're obviously speaking about the Giro stage
11:29where I lost some time, but I think comparing myself now and then is unfair, seeing from what
11:37kind of injury I was coming back, so I think I'm feeling ready for that stage, it's something
11:45special, it will probably in my opinion be one of the most viewed sports events of this year,
11:51on a Sunday gravel road in the Tour, I think everybody wants to watch that on television,
11:57so it will be a day with a lot of pressure in the bunch, alongside the bunch as well,
12:04but yeah I'm actually quite excited for that stage, for sure the gravel sections can be
12:11tricky, but I think it's more a day where you can, sorry they were going close to the goal,
12:21so I think it's not a stage that can make you win the Tour, but it can
12:29make you lose some time, stupid time actually with mechanicals and stuff, but yeah I mean
12:37we'll have to see after the race who was in trouble, who was not, so
12:41but honestly I'm looking forward to that stage, it's something exciting, it's something
12:46that I've learned to do, so yeah I'm looking forward to next Sunday already.
12:53A question about the opening weekend, how do you rate your own chances Remco, you said
12:57you won't go for the win and try to limit losses, talking about Mott's route,
13:05but well some say it's a sort of like Liège-Bastogne-Liège stage,
13:11so we know we won it there a couple of times.
13:17Yes I agree, it's a very hard stage, but the thing is it's small 30 kilometers of
13:25downhill and flat part towards the finish line, so I think for me the only way to win it is in
13:32going solo, so I think on the first day of the Tour it's not really smart to do that,
13:38especially with some GC ambitions in the back of my head, so I think if there is any possibility
13:46to win for sure I will not leave it on the side, but I will not give myself 30 kilometers all out
13:52on my own to try and take that stage win. If I can do it in a sprint of a small group
13:58then it's quite an economic way, but if it has to be in a non-economic way then for sure I will
14:05not even give it a try, so it's more about surviving the first days and
14:11staying out of trouble and seeing how the race develops, how the legs feel and
14:18also bringing in the Tour atmosphere, I think that's going to be also a very important one
14:22on the first days. I'm curious, there's already been mention of UAE potentially going all out
14:28to try and disadvantage Jonas Van Gogh early on, you and Primoz Roglic were also injured in
14:34the crash in Itzouli and theoretically might have had less ideal preparation than you would
14:41otherwise have had, so I'm wondering are you wary of UAE trying to gain time early and indeed if you
14:50do feel good will you collaborate with that in trying to, bearing in mind that Jonas is coming
14:56in and is potentially short of form, so is that a legitimate tactic and is that something that
15:00you're wary of or indeed happy to join in with? I think if they decide that that's going to be
15:06their tactics I think we have to let them do what they want and not bother too much in their tactics
15:15and try to focus on ourselves, try to follow that pace as long as possible and see how it develops,
15:22but personally I don't think that Jonas will crack in the first days, not at all.
15:27I think UAE and especially Pogacar they want to pay back for what Jumbo did last year to UAE,
15:38so I think they have a bit the same tactics this year as Jonas is now a bit in the situation that
15:43Tadej was last year, so it might be a bit of a revenge for them, so I'm actually curious to see
15:51how they will approach the first days, but I think UAE has a team here where they want to win
15:59as much as possible with as much as possible stages and especially the GC as well after two
16:06years missing out, so I think they will be very motivated and they just want to show to the world
16:12that they are the best team, that they are kind of the Real Madrid of cycling, so no, not Manchester
16:19City. It's actually something very curious to look forward to and special to be part of as well,
16:31knowing what happened last year and the year before, so it's going to be a special situation
16:38in the race.