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As the Critérium du Dauphiné reaches its climax, the Tour de Suisse gets underway on the other side of the Alps with a different cast of riders but many of the same pre-Tour de France aspirations.
The bill in Switzerland is headed, mind, by a rider who won’t ride the Tour de France at all, at least according to his Soudal-QuickStep team. But Remco Evenepoel’s return to competition is the storyline of the week all the same. The Tour de Suisse is always something more than a mere preparation race.
As ever, there are dozens of subplots at the Tour de Suisse. Ahead of the race, Cyclingnews looks at five of the key questions that will define the week’s action.
Can Remco Evenepoel pick up where he left off at the Giro?
Remco Evenepoel’s decision to return to action at the Tour de Suisse didn’t meet with the full approval of Soudal-QuickStep manager Patrick Lefevere, who strongly hinted at the appearance fee that was being offered by the Baloise Belgium Tour. “In all honesty, this is a purely sporting choice by himself and by trainer Koen Pelgrim,” Lefevere wrote in his Het Nieuwsblad column.
Therein lies a hint as to Evenepoel’s aspirations this week. The world champion is not in Switzerland simply to make up the numbers or pocket a cheque, but to win. Ostensibly, the prime attractions of the Tour de Suisse are the time trials that bookend the race, given that Evenepoel is looking to defend his Belgian time trial crown and pick up a world title in the discipline this summer.
In reality, the chance to run through the scales before those two events is merely a bonus. Evenepoel will start in Switzerland as the obvious favourite for overall victory and he will surely be eager to prove a point after COVID-19 forced him out of the Giro d’Italia while wearing the maglia rosa.
Evenepoel looked the overwhelming favourite to carry pink to Rome after his fast start in Italy and his (relative) travails on the second weekend were placed in a very different context once news of his COVID-19 case emerged. The Belgian instead had to watch as the Giro played out without him, and the Tour de Suisse offers an obvious chance to channel some of his frustration and underline his stage racing credentials all over again.
If Evenepoel showcases that Giro form here, of course, another question will inevitably bubble to the surface. Soudal-QuickStep remain adamant that the world champion will not make his Tour de France debut this year, but the murmurs will…
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