Remco Evenepoel has entered taper mode ahead of the Vuelta a España after completing his final block of training in Spain, where he stayed at Alexander Kolobnev's altitude hotel and rode with Mathieu van der Poel.
The 22-year-old Belgian, who won Liège-Bastogne-Liège-Liège in the spring, rode the Tour de Suisse in June and then laid the foundations for his second Grand Tour over the summer with a long altitude training camp in Livigno, high in the Italian Alps.
His form was clear to see when he romped to a second solo victory at the Clásica San Sebastián on July 30. Since then the Belgian prodigy has been applying the final touches to his preparation for the Vuelta a España.
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Evenepoel travelled south through Spain immediately after his San Sebastián victory for an 11-day camp in the Alicante region, near the Mediterranean coast.
He was staying in the Syncrosfera hotel run by former pro Aleksandr Kolobnev, which is becoming increasingly popular among pro riders due to its altitude-controlled rooms, where the air pressure can be adjusted to mimic the red blood cell-boosting effects of thin air at high altitude.
Altitude chambers, which also include the more widespread use of tents, are banned under anti-doping regulations in certain countries, including Italy, whose riders are even forbidden from using them abroad.
For most, however, they afford the opportunity to sleep high - and to adjust that height depending on recovery - while training at oxygen-rich sea level.
"Let's say I'm going to sleep high and train at sea level, which is maybe the best way to get into the Vuelta," Evenepoel said before heading to the hotel. "You can train a bit more on intensity like that."
Evenepoel's first outing was a recovery ride of 40km the day after San Sebastián, followed by another relatively gentle 66km outing, where his caption on his Strava upload read 'Cappucino, Coca Cola, and cheesecake'.
The proper training started on August 2, where he did a recon of the all-important 30km time trial of stage 10 of the Vuelta, starting in Elche and riding the full course to Alicante before heading onwards back to his hotel for a total distance of 124km.
He then had Greg Van Avermaet for company on a a 126km 'effort day' with a number of intense intervals in the hills. A ride of more than 200km rounded off his first block before a 55km 'recovery' ride on his time trial bike.
The second block kicked off with a 153km outing in the hills before return to the Vuelta time trial route, this time backing up a second recon with an 'endurance' training reaching 223km and almost seven hours.
After another recovery outing on the TT bike, he linked up with Van der Poel for his final two rides, dropping the Tour of Flanders champion at times on the harder climbs as they racked up 7300 metres of elevation gain over two days - the final one reaching 209km.
Evenepoel, who was accompanied on the camp by a dedicated QuickStep-AlphaVinyl soigneur, covered more than 1400km and spent more than 44 hours on the bike over the course of the 11 days.
He will now head home to Belgium for some family time before travelling to Holland next week for the start of the Vuelta in Utrecht on August 19.
"I'll have a few days at home, which will be really relaxed. I hope we can do a nice barbecue or something like this. I will also do some trainings behind the scooter again," Evenepoel said.
"Let's say my legs won't be really fresh but my head will be fresh."
