Remco Evenepoel and the Soudal-QuickStep squad are aiming for a top three finish in Tuesday’s crucial team time trial at the UAE Tour, Belgian media reported, which the enter with the dual aims of defending Tim Merlier’s overall lead and placing Remco Evenepoel as high up the general classification as possible.
Evenepoel is already in a strong position overall after he and 12 other riders broke away in Monday’s echelon-filled stage 1. The world champion is sitting in sixth place on the GC at 8 seconds behind his teammate.
The biggest time gaps between the WorldTour team in the last TTT at the race, on a very similar course in 2019, were just under a minute. The gaps on the short, flat but very fast TTT course round Khalifa Port on Tuesday may well be equally small but in a race where last year's top five finishers on GC were all within a minute, they will be equally significant.
“We have three really good time triallists,” Evenepoel told Belgian reporters, likely referring to himself, Mauro Schmid and Josef Cerny.
"We must reach the finish line with at least four," said the Evenepoel quote in Het Nieuwsblad. "If you still have seven riders after a short time trial of seventeen kilometers at the line, something has gone wrong along the way.”
Evenepoel’s goal is a top three on the stage, but quite apart from the placing, he and his team will be looking closely at the gaps between themselves and Bahrain Victorious, riding for GC contender Pello Bilbao and Ineos-Grenadiers with Luke Plapp. After stage 1 Bilbao was on the same time as Evenepoel and Plapp had an advantage of three seconds.
Other pre-stage favourites undoubtedly include Jumbo-Visma, winner of the UAE’s only previous TTT and at the Vuelta a España last year, along with UAE Team Emirates. Both teams were badly caught out in Monday’s echelons, with their key contenders losing around a minute, and know that a standout performance at Khalifa is a vital, if uncertain, gateway back into the GC game.
Tim Merlier was unreservedly nervous about riding in the TTT, saying cheerfully “the way I've seen Remco ride and the way my legs feel now... I'm not feeling upbeat about it. It's going to be hell." Pieter Serry, due to be riding after Evenepoel in the line which is probably the most difficult position of all, was grimly determined about his chances, saying, “I will hang on as long as possible.”
A top three may be the stated goal for Soudal-QuickStep, which had practised their TTT on a remote stretch of UAE highway in the countdown to the race, ultimately the desired outcome is always the top step. As Het Nieuwsblad quoted sports director Klaas Lodewyck as saying “winning must also be achievable.”
