Remco Evenepoel wins GP Québec despite 'not feeling fantastic': 'I had to grow into the race'

Remco Evenepoel immediately hit the mark on Friday in the first race of his long block in Canada. The Belgian helped shape the finale of the GP Québec before finishing the job in a sprint against Lidl-Trek rider Giulio Ciccone, even though the Italian had been able to sit on his wheel during the final kilometres.

In doing so, Evenepoel immediately strengthened his status as one of the leading favourites for the World Championships in Montreal in two weeks. “It means an incredible amount. Our team did a fantastic job all day. I really had to grow into the race because at the start and midway through, I didn’t feel fantastic,” Evenepoel admitted.

“Fortunately, I found the right legs again toward the end and was able to finish it off in the sprint. I’m very happy about that,” said Evenepoel, who suddenly found himself clear with a five-man group with 28 kilometres remaining. The other favourites, including Paul Seixas, Isaac del Toro and Tom Pidcock, were caught out by the move at that point.

“After one lap, we had built up a nice advantage. I had to take on most of the work, which made it very difficult to pace my effort properly. I didn’t quite have enough explosiveness on the final climb to drop the other two, but I kept pushing all the way to the finish. I trusted my sprint, so in the end it turned out to be the right decision to keep going,” Evenepoel explained.

In the end, only Ciccone was able to stay with him. “He looked very strong. He was in a favourable position because he had a teammate behind him — Quinn Simmons — and could therefore sit on the wheel a little more. I trusted my sprint and took a bit of a gamble by leading it out from the front.”

“With the headwind, that was difficult, but as soon as he tried to come around me, he felt the wind as well and I was able to hold my advantage. I’m very happy with this,” said Evenepoel, who will also line up as one of the leading favourites for Sunday’s GP Montréal.

“It’s always difficult to go straight back into competition after a period without racing, especially in such a hard race. I need to stay calm now and take it day by day. There’s another race on Sunday, then the World Championships; two very busy and important weeks are coming up,” the Belgian concluded.