Evenepoel with less weight and a lot of mountain training for the Vuelta

Objectives: To win the stage and the top ten

Remco Evenepoel won the Classic San Sebastian in superior fashion. In the Vuelta he goes much more defensive Photo: Cor Vos

07/31/2022 | (rsn) – At Clasica San Sebastian, Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) went on the offensive with 45 kilometers to go and was in his own class. The Belgian celebrated his second victory in the Basque Country after 2019, two minutes ahead of his nearest rival.

Evenepoel appears well prepared for the Vuelta a Espana, which begins in less than three weeks in Utrecht, the Netherlands, after her high-altitude training camp. But as bold as he was on the bike on Saturday, the Quick-Step pro was defensive — at least by his standards — when setting goals in the Tour of Spain. “My dream is to win a stage and finish the top ten,” he announced after winning the Clasico in San Sebastian.

If Evenepoel starts the race, he is automatically a candidate to win. Only the overall standings in the big state rounds hasn’t worked well so far. Mainly because he still had weaknesses in absolute high mountains. And in Spain, evenepoel will face many ascents, especially steep ones. He showed that the short climb suited him not only with his success in the Basque Country, but also with his brilliant single victory in the spring at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

In order to get stronger on the tall mountains, he did a lot of training on the heights in Livigno. As well as losing weight. “The steeper the climb, the more weight I feel. Losing weight can help me. The 22-year-old, who has trained a lot on Mortirolo, one of the steepest difficulties in Italy, explained during training camp, I have never been as light as I am now in 2022. “During training, I noticed that I quickly got used to steep climbs. “And despite my weight loss, I haven’t lost any of my strength,” Evenpoel said happily.