TNT Sports
Remco Evenepoel says Soudal-QuickStep exit talk ‘b******t', hails Jasper Philipsen and Wout van Aert ahead of Worlds
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Published 28/07/2023 at 22:30 GMT+1
Remco Evenepoel is back in action at the Clasica San Sebastian on Saturday. He then has the Vuelta a Espana and Road World Championships as goals in the second half of the season. The Belgian's future at Soudal-QuickStep is up in the air, but he claims the media know more about what the future holds than he does. "It's funny because, from the outside, you guys know more than I do," he said.
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Remco Evenepoel has described reports suggesting he is looking to extricate himself from his contract at Soudal-QuickStep as "b******t".
The Belgian has been persistently linked with a move to Ineos Grenadiers, which has led to fiery responses from Soudal-QuickStep team manager Patrick Lefevere.
Lefevere’s repeated denials have done nothing to put a lid on the speculation and ahead of the Clasica San Sebastian on Saturday, Evenepoel was once again questioned about his future.
The 23-year-old, who was forced to withdraw when leading the Giro d’Italia after a positive Covid-19 test, suggested the media knows more about his future than he does.
"It's actually funny because, from the outside, you guys know more than I do," Evenepoel said. "So it's some things that are going around that I'm not even aware of myself and also within my entourage, and my family doesn't even know about all those things. So it's things going around that I don't even know about, which is pretty special.
"I think mentally I'm strong enough to focus on what I have to do in the summer. I mean, there's no reason to be unhappy here. It's all a bit of, let's say, small b******t that is going around. Sorry for the word I didn't know a better word to say."
The defence of the World Championship road race and Vuelta a Espana titles are aims for Evenepoel in the second half of the season, and he is confident of his chances in Spain and Scotland respectively.
“Of course with the World Championships being next week already, I should be in a bit better shape than last year but then I need to keep the shape quite high for the Vuelta,” Evenepoel is quoted as saying by Cycling News. “My weight and all that stuff is on point so I think I should be OK for San Sebastian and for the next few weeks.”
Looking ahead to the road race and time trial at the World Championships, which take place on August 6 and 11 respectively, Evenepoel said: “I think the TT is long and not super technical, which will help me and then the road race is pretty technical.
“I think it's gonna be a special race. Let's hope the rain will stay away, but of course it’s in Glasgow.
“The local lap (in Glasgow) has a lot of corners and a lot of up and down but the race will be close to seven hours, which will put a lot of fatigue in the legs and where I think that attackers or a breakaway will have a benefit.
“I think they should suit me both but we'll see. We have a very strong team with the Belgian team, we have different cards to play with Jasper Philipsen, Wout van Aert and myself and also some other guys. We have a lot of strong guys that can win the race.”
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Stream the 2023 Tour de France Femmes live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.com.
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