Following his COVID-19-enforced abandon from the Giro d’Italia last month, Remco Evenepoel is preparing to return to racing at the Tour de Suisse, which starts on June 11.
The Belgian has fully recovered from the virus which saw him abandon the Giro from the race lead after nine days of racing, and his first race back will be in Switzerland, where he won the closing time trial last summer.
Evenepoel’s June plans will see him take on the eight-day Tour de Suisse, which includes a time trial at either end of the race, before heading home to defend his Belgian time trial title in Herzele on June 22.
He’ll then tackle the road race in Izegem three days later before joining his Soudal-Quickstep teammates at a two-week altitude training camp in Val di Fassa in the Italian Dolomites, his team confirmed.
A Tour de France debut has been definitely ruled out after Evenepoel was forced out of the Giro, his main goal of the season. Instead, he’ll prepare for a defence of his world title in Glasgow, with the 271km men’s road race falling on the first weekend of the Road World Championships on August 6.
“It has been quite the challenge to see a pathway through the rest of my season,” Evenepoel said in a statement released by his team. “We know that my main goal of this year was the Giro d’Italia and what happened was really unfortunate, so it was important to plan the right path with the team management.
“I think to begin in Suisse is the perfect start, and it allows me to revisit a race where I have good memories from my time trial win last year. Hopefully, I can take some good legs from there to the Belgian Championships, to defend my TT title and to see what I can do in the road race.
“And then I can spend some weeks at altitude in the beautiful area around Val di Fassa. I have really enjoyed training there before and it is a stunning place to visit, with the advantages that being at altitude give, and it’s a great place to start looking forwards to the World Championships”
More to come…
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