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Lining out as the defending world time trial champion, Remco Evenepoel is feeling good about his chances for Sunday’s race.
The Belgian star beat Filippo Ganna (Italy) and Josh Tarling (Great Britain) last year to win the world title, and more recently took the Olympic time trial and road race in late July.
Now Evenepoel will aim for his fourth gold medal in just over a year, and believes he is in a good place.
“Everything is going well. I trained at intensity, long hours to prepare as well as possible for the next 2 weeks,” the Belgian told Sporza.
Third overall in his first Tour and winner of the first time trial there, Evenepoel is continuing to make rapid progress in the sport. He will start on Sunday as the clear race favorite, and has faith that he can meet those high expectations despite missing out on his usual high-altitude camp.
“The period was too short to train at altitude,” he said, referring to his tight schedule after the Tour of Britain.
“I felt like I had to train at sea level at intensity instead of leisurely training at altitude. That’s why we went purely for exercises and wattages.”
Evenepoel’s faith in his condition has been boosted by his performances in a specific test he carries out prior to important goals.
“In the run-up to one-day races, I usually go for VO2 Max workouts with an accumulation of exercises of 4 to 5 minutes,” he said.
“If I finish it without a difficult moment, then I know it’s okay. And that was the case now. I found the form I was looking for just in time.”
Respect for his big rivals: ‘I don’t just write them off’
Evenepoel will make history if he triumphs on Sunday. He would become the first rider to win both the Olympic Games TT and worlds time trial in the same season.
Asked if that the chance of doing unprecedented things is motivating for him, he was categorical about that importance.
“Gladly. For the European Championships I hoped to win the three titles, but I had to miss the European Championships due to illness,” he said.
“Of course I’m going for the highest [result] on Sunday. I can target that and I can impose it on myself.
“If not, then someone has been better.”
Evenepoel can take encouragement from the recent form of Ganna and Tarling, who have both appeared well off their best level in recent races.
He said that both riders had gone all in to try to win the Olympics and that their placings of second and fourth may have been demoralising
“Ganna and Joshua Tarling had really dedicated themselves to the Games,” he said. “I beat them there without any specific preparation and that must have been a downer for them, I think.
“But they’ll be here at the rendezvous. They are championship riders. I don’t just write them off.”
He was 15 seconds and 28 seconds ahead of them in Paris, a solid margin but one which could be overcome Sunday.
Asked if he had similar form to the Olympic Games, he said he wasn’t sure exactly where he is at.
“It’s hard for me to compare. I then came out of a Grand Tour that had ended well,” he said. “Then you get extra punch.
“But the feeling was good and the exercises were similar to the period before the Tour. It’s been a good test.”
Dygert feeling many frustrations despite 2023 worlds victory
As for the 2023 women’s champion, Chloé Dygert will start Sunday’s elite women’s TT hoping that continuously fluctuating form will come right on the day.
The American was third in the Paris TT, 1:32 behind winner Grace Brown (Australia), but did lose a chunk of time due to a crash.
She told Olympics.com that she has struggled mentally at times since her crash at the 2020 worlds. She went into that race as defending champion but hit a guardrail and sliced open her left thigh.
That required several surgeries to heal and that plus COVID, a bout of Epstein Barr virus and a heart rhythm abnormality have meant that she is yet to return to her previous level.
“It’s been very difficult since the Olympics,” she said. “I keep having bad days training, you know, and of course there are thoughts of like, ‘why do I do this? Like, what’s the point?’
“You know, if I can’t even hit the numbers that I want to hit, if I can’t even stay right on my bike, if I just keep making these stupid mistakes, what’s the point? You know, why am I here?”
She said that even winning last year’s world championships was not enough to satisfy her. It was a fine result, but she didn’t have the sensations that she’d felt when she took her first gold medal in 2019.
“I thought I would be a lot more happy than I was. I hate to say this, but it’s like I didn’t have a good day,” she said.
“You know, I had Covid. I felt sick. I mean, yes, I won, and it’s amazing. But I still did not feel like myself.”
‘I feel restricted’
Dygert is clearly being hard on herself, considering all she has gone through in recent years.
It’s natural for an athlete to want to get the very best out of themselves, but the extent of her frustration is clear.
She admits to uncertainty about whether she will ever feel the same as before. She vows to keep trying, to keep working hard, and says she is hoping that she can get back to her previous level.
“I think that is the feeling I’m waiting for. I’m waiting to feel like my old self,” she explained.
“The day that that happens, I’ll be so happy. I think that’s where my joy is lacking right now. I just feel restricted.”
Still, she makes a commitment to remaining in the sport, saying that she wants to keep racing a long as she can.
“I’m enjoying it now and I want to push through and just continue on, because God’s given me an amazing gift. And I want to use it.”
She, and Evenepoel, will both have a chance to show their talents on Sunday.
