Remco Evenepoel is satisfied with his comeback to competition after recovering from an off-season training crash and a late start to the season, stating that he has found his rhythm through racing the Ardennes Classics and the recent Tour de Romandie, as he now looks toward his targets at the Tour de France in July.
“I can look back on these last couple of weeks with satisfaction. I took two wins since returning to competition and found the rhythm again," Evenepoel said.
"Not everything went as I had wanted and hoped in some of the races, but it’s only normal after so much time off the bike. I will now recover a bit and then continue my preparations for the summer."
The 24-year-old was forced to take almost six weeks off the bike to recover after being doored by a driver in training on December 3.
In the incident, he fractured his rib, hand and shoulder blade, and dislocated his collarbone, which has caused the prolonged problem, later revealing that nerve damage in his shoulder forced him to postpone a return to on-bike training.
He returned to racing with a revised schedule at De Brabantse Pijl and took the victory before finishing third at Amstel Gold Race and ninth at Flèche Wallonne.
The Tour de Romandie was his first stage race of the season, and he took several top-10 finishes but admitted after stage 4 that finished atop Thyon 2000 that, when it comes to climbing, he had "a lot of work to do" in his preparation for the Tour de France.
However, the World and Olympic time trial champion ended the Tour de Romandie with the stage 5 victory, bumping him into fifth place overall.
“I’m happy with this win. We were lucky with the weather, as we didn’t have the rain that was initially predicted. The first four kilometres of the race were rather technical, and then everything was pretty straightforward until the finish line," Evenepoel said.
He covered the 17.1km course in nearly 50 kph in a time of 20:33, beating overall winner João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) by 11 seconds in Genève. Moreover, he said he was pleased with how his shoulder felt during the effort.
"I am delighted with my performance, and especially with the feeling I had in my shoulder, in the corners and on the straight lines," Evenepoel said.
Evenepoel is expected to compete at Critérium du Dauphiné and then the Tour de France, which starts on July 5 in Lille, a race he finished in third overall in 2024.
