Half an hour or so before the start of the final stage of the Volta ao Algarve in Lagoa, directeur sportif Tom Steels was talking to reporters outside the QuickStep-AlphaVinyl when a voice piped up from the doorway of the team bus.
"Hey, can you leave our sports director alone to do his job? He's too stressed," Remco Evenepoel called out, a broad grin across his face.
With a lead of more than a minute in the overall standings, Evenepoel could well afford to be relaxed, and that calm continued through the final exchanges of the five-day race later in the afternoon, as the peloton tackled a double ascent of the short and steep Alto do Malhão.
The first haul up the Malhão splintered the yellow jersey group, and on the second, Evenepoel opted to control matters from the front. After delegating teammates Yves Lampaert and then Louis Vervaeke to set a brisk tempo at the base of the climb, Evenepoel laid down a bracing acceleration midway up that only four others could follow.
From there, he led them all the way to the final 200 metres, in the manner of Miguel Indurain neutralising climbers by gradually toasting them on his wheel.
By the time Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) had beaten fellow countryman Daniel Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) to the stage honours, Evenepoel had already peeled off to celebrate his second overall win at the Volta ao Algarve and the eighth stage race victory of his career.
"I saw that the best climbers of this race were still with me, but I felt they didn't want to make any move until the last sprint probably. Maybe they knew they were not going to win GC anymore," Evenepoel said as he waited to mount the final podium.
"Then I decided to ride a fast and hard pace towards the finish because I knew the last 200 metres were quite flat. That's where the guys started their sprint and that's where I started to enjoy my last metres in yellow."
The final margin of victory – 1:17 over Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) and 1:21 over Martínez – was constructed in Saturday's 32.2-kilometre time trial to Tavira, where Evenepoel conjured up a performance of notable force, clocking an average speed some 1.2kph quicker than his closest challenger, the European champion Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ).
Evenepoel won that title himself in his debut professional season in 2019, but while his ability as a rouleur has long been evident, he now appears inclined to lean more heavily on the time trial as a weapon in stage races.
In 2020, Evenepoel laid down a marker at the Volta ao Algarve by unfurling an interminable acceleration to win atop the Alto da Fóia. Two years on, he tempered his usual instincts, preferring instead to sit in the wheels on that climb and wait for the time trial. The young man in a hurry now appears to be learning the value of patience.
"I think I improved a lot in the time trial, so for me I think every time trial in a stage race will be the most important day," Evenepoel said. "Then in the climbs, [I will] just follow and survive. If I can take time, I will, but I don't have to: I can just follow and try to arrive with the first guys.
"Like today, for example, I knew I could ride some time in front. Because of my effort in the middle part of the climb, I felt that I didn't have the most fresh legs anymore for the sprint, but that's why I just kept riding and enjoyed my last 200 metres.
"The plan before this race was surviving each mountain stage, Alto da Fóia and here. And then in my time trial, I needed to put as much time as possible into my competitors. And I think I did quite a good job in that."
Next up: Tirreno-Adriatico
Already a stage winner at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana this month, Evenepoel will now turn his attention to March's Tirreno-Adriatico, where he is set to face Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) in a stage race for the first time in his career
Of Evenepoel's stage race successes to date – which have included two editions of the Baloise Belgium Tour and the Vuelta a Burgos – only the 2020 Tour de Pologne has come at WorldTour level. He suggested that next month's Italian race would mark another phase in his rapid maturation.
"It was a big goal for me to arrive in good shape in Tirreno and I feel that I'm improving," Evenepoel said.
"I hope to do something very nice in a WorldTour race, which for me will be very important this year. Tirreno is a very nice race to win, and we go there with a strong team. It's good for my development as a climber and a GC rider to do harder stage races every time again."
Asked if he could win the overall title, Evenepoel preferred to focus on the opening stage, a 13.9-kilometre time trial in Lido di Camaiore.
"I'll try to win the time trial," he said. "That's the first goal and then we'll see."
