World Champion Remco Evenepoel makes his 2023 return to European racing Monday at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in what he confirmed would be, more than anything else, a major test-run for the Giro d’Italia.
Although Evenepoel will make the briefest of incursions into the Belgian Classics at the Brabantse Pijl and to defend his title at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Catalunya will be his last stage race prior to heading to Italy for the Giro start on May 6th.
The Belgian sounded quietly confident in a press conference on Sunday afternoon, with his morale boosted by his victory three weeks ago in the UAE Tour and a fortnight of altitude training.
Looking ahead to the Giro, “the biggest difference between 90 percent and 100 percent is to get that last small bit of weight down,” Evenepoel said. “But power-wise everything is good, probably better than expected.”
Evenepoel has never raced the Volta a Catalunya before, where he will be taking on Giro rivals of the calibre of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and, above all, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).
Other top names taking part in the Volta include Giro defending champion Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), although these four are all aiming at the Tour de France, rather than the Giro, so may not yet be so close to their top form.
The Belgian star recognised that in any case the Volta, which he had hoped to tackle in 2020 before the pandemic caused its cancellation, constituted the ideal opportunity to gain reference points prior to making his return to the Giro in May.
“I’m really happy I can take the start here, we’ve already checked out Monday’s finish,” Evenepoel told reporters. “Overall it looks like a hard race, it’s a perfect simulation of the last week of the Giro, so it can be a big test for all our team.
“Lots of people will be in form here, so I hope to take things step by step and progress. It’s a second test after my first test in the UAE Tour, which went really well:
“My form is better than it was a month ago, so I should be up there with the others.”
On paper, the Volta is usually decided in its two or three Pyrenean stages mid-way through the week. But the events of last year, when Richard Carapaz and Sergio Higuita completely upended the overall on a seemingly inoffensive transition stage, ousting Almeida from what seemed like an…
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