The 2022 Vuelta a España will be a journey of discovery for Remco Evenepoel. This fascinating next step in his already-illustrious career could quickly confirm him as a future Grand Tour kingpin or suggest that high, steep mountain stages over three weeks may always remain beyond the reach of his cycling talents.
Whatever happens between the opening team time trial in Utrecht on Friday and the final stage to Madrid on September 11, Evenepoel’s performance and his results will be one of the leading storylines of the Vuelta. He is ambitious, on form, and the Flemish media will be optimistically watching his every pedal stroke in the hope of success.
The 22-year-Belgian has built the second half of his 2022 season around the Vuelta a España, spending much of July at altitude and more recently finishing off with a spell at Alexander Kolobnev’s high-altitude hotel near Alicante to be at his very best.
Evenepoel and his QuickStep-AlphaVinyl team are rightly playing down their hopes and ambitions but his victory at the Clásica San Sebastián indicated a superb level of form. He and the Belgian team lack Grand Tour GC racing experience but will surely not be afraid to take on Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), should he decides to defend his Vuelta crown.
“I’ve been training to do something good. A specific GC result is difficult to predict but if I can leave the Vuelta with a stage win or two, then it’d be a good Vuelta. Everything in the GC that comes would be extra,” Evenepoel said recently, playing down his hopes.
Of course, Evenepoel is ambitious; it is one of his natural strengths. It is clear that one day he hopes to challenge Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, Egan Bernal and the rest of his generation of super-talents in Grand Tours.
“That’d be a dream…” Evenepoel said, his guard slipping slightly, when asked about taking on his rivals.
“To work towards my big dream, to stand on a Grand Tour podium, you need to push your limits and that’s why we’re going to the Vuelta with this preparation, this approach and the team we’ll have. It’s an adventure. Let’s say it’s like a highway which you don’t know will end. I’m really curious to see where it leads and really looking forward to starting the Vuelta.”
Learning from the pain of 2021
Evenepoel was dubbed ‘the next Eddy Merckx’ when he won the junior world time trial and road race titles in 2018. He turned…
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