Remco Evenepoel: “Does Pogacar see Belgium as the favourite? We are happy to take on this responsibility” | cycling world championship

Tadej Pojjakar did not win a medal in the world championships time trial on Sunday, but he could live on by his sixth place. “I had a good feeling and I’m satisfied with my performance,” said the two-time Tour de France winner. “Sixth is fine and I am very excited for the road race on Sunday.”

“I’m looking forward to it. We have a good team, even if there are only six of us due to injuries, among other things, but I hope we can get a good result.” Slovenia has to do it in Australia without Matej Muhoric and Primoz Roglic, among others.

According to Pojjar, who should carry the race weight a week ago for Wout van Aert a week ago? The Belgians are the candidates. But there are still such large countries as the Netherlands, France and Great Britain.

Mount Pleasant may be the hangman on the local circuit in Wollongong. “I haven’t explored it yet. We are staying a bit away from Wollongong and I am focused on trying time. I still have time this week and besides, we will cycle a lot so on the last lap we will know all about the course.”

Renate Schott immediately made a statement about the Belgium favorite role of Remco Evenepoel. “Do we have to take responsibility? We will,” said the Vuelta winner.

“We’re happy to take on that responsibility. We probably couldn’t do otherwise. It’s a bit of a Flemish cycle and Wout has a great chance of winning anyway. Then you have me too, Quentin and Jasper. We have a great team.”

How does Evenepoel see road racing? “It will depend on how I get through this week. I hope I can continue to recover now. I can sleep here at the table now.”

“I’m starting to feel the season anyway and hopefully I can recover, that will definitely be necessary for Sunday. Seven hour race so you have to be fresh. My values ​​from the time trial are promising for Sunday. But it’s still a long week without competition, so I hope my level continues.”

What will this week look like for Evenepoel? “In any case, we will continue to train well, I think especially with Yves (Lambert), because he also led the time trial. We will explore the course also with the other Belgians and then discuss everything properly.”

Lambert himself sees advantages in controlling price. “The technical part will be crucial in a road race. It’s not a fan-shaping track. It’s a lot of twists and turns and with Mount Pleasant it’s going to be tough. The teams that come out will have the advantage. So it wouldn’t be bad if we controlled the race.”