Evenepoel wants to imitate Pogacar

After spending Valentine’s Day in Paris with his wife Oumaïma, whom he married last October, Remco Evenepoel headed for the United Arab Emirates, to compete in the UAE Tour this week, the third round of the World Tour 2023. In the absence of Tadej Pogacar, the star of the UAE Emirates team, the world champion will be the most anticipated rider of this seven-stage race, where Adam Yates or Pello Bilbao will also be to follow. Before taking the start, the Belgian said he was motivated by the recent successes of Tadej Pogacar, who won the Jaen Paraiso Interior a week ago for his resumption, before winning three of the five stages of the Tour of Andalusia, as well as the general classification.

“It’s a very good way to open his season, it must also be said that the courses there suited him very well. Each stage, each arrival was made for him, recognizes the 23-year-old runner, in comments relayed by Cycling News. It’s always a great boost to see another top runner win so easily. It is now up to us to try to reach his level. It’s not that it’s been in my head all day, but it will help give some motivation for this week’s training and racing. I came here to the Emirates with goals, new goals. Maybe aim for a stage win and maybe finish on the overall podium, which I think is a very fair goal for me this week. »

A first victory this season for Evenepoel

This is the second time that Remco Evenepoel has taken part in the Tour of the Emirates, after 2019 when he was then competing in his second professional race, for his first season with Deceuninck-Quick Step. He had abandoned during the 4th stage following a fall. This year, the winner of the last Vuelta will be watched closely, he who started his season with a seventh place (without stage victory) in the Tour of San Juan in Argentina last month. With 37 career victories to his name, he has only 14 fewer successes than the Slovenian, who is 15 months older than him.