Remco Evenepoel builds confidence for the Tour with team time trial win: "We were close to perfect"
A strong start for Remco Evenepoel with Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. With his new team, he won the Trofeo Ses Salines on Thursday, a team time trial in Mallorca. This gives the Aero Bullet from Schepdaal confidence for what’s ahead.
"In terms of elevation gain, the course wasn’t very tough, but a team time trial is always quite demanding," said Evenepoel afterwards on Eurosport. "But we had a well-structured plan. It worked out well, so we have to be happy."
"We knew that the stretch back would be the most important because the wind was against us there. There was also a small climb about three kilometers from the finish. We knew that’s where we could make the biggest difference. I think we did that, so I am very happy with this. It’s quite nice to start the season with a victory. Also, with the new teammates, this is good for morale."
Halfway through the time trial, Jayco AlUla had the best time. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe was 'only' third there, two seconds behind the Australians. Still, Evenepoel never panicked.
"We all knew we had to go very controlled up to the turnaround. From there, it was thirteen kilometers and we had to go all out until the climb, and especially on the climb. Well, climb... The false-flat section," laughed the world time trial champion. "We went as fast as possible. And a win is a win. It was a very fast TTT and I think we executed it perfectly."
Tour de France
The team time trial in Mallorca was also a test towards the Tour de France, which will start this year with a TTT in Barcelona. Is there anything to improve despite the win?
"Every course is different, so it’s always very difficult to say what you can improve and what you can’t. But what we did today was pretty close to perfection. At the top of the climb, there was a critical moment because it seemed uncertain if we would remain with four riders, but we solved that well."
