World time trial champion Remco Evenepoel travelled to Rwanda on Thursday to begin his quest to add two more championships to his palmarès, with Sunday's time trial at the UCI Road World Championships his first goal.
Evenepoel, who has won the time trial world title in each of the past two seasons, is the favourites to do so again this weekend, and he'll also compete for a second road race title in the Rwanda capital Kigali on the following Sunday.
After that, he will quickly travel to France, where he'll take on the UEC Road European Championships, where he'll bid for a second time trial title and a first elite road title.
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Evenepoel told Sporza from Brussels airport that he's well up for the challenge of winning "as many jerseys as possible", having recently spent time at a post-Tour of Britain training camp in Calpe, Spain.
"I was able to do everything I needed to do perfectly. It was a relaxing ten days. I trained well and have a good feeling about it. I'm ready to go," Evenepoel said, travelling with Belgian coach Serge Pauwels and his time trial teammates, Florian Vermeersch and Ilan Van Wilder.
"We can use today as a recovery day and then fit in two more good training days. Then we should be fine.
"Rwanda is going to be a unique experience. I'm really curious about what the crowds and the course will be like. I'm pretty open-minded, so I'm not stressed about that."
With no Filippo Ganna on the start list for Sunday's hilly time trial, Tadej Pogačar will line up as Evenepoel's main challenger on the hilly 40.6km route in Kigali.
Evenepoel said that he's anticipating the battle for the rainbow jersey and also singled out Pogačar's trade teammate Jay Vine as one to watch, with the Australian recently finishing second at the Vuelta a España stage 18 time trial.
"When Pogacar sets his mind on something, it's a sign that he feels ready for it. I'm looking forward to the battle. Hopefully, it won't be a close one, but he's a nice extra challenger," Evenepoel said.
"There are other strong men, of course. Jay Vine, for example, is in good shape. But it's up to me to defend my rainbow jersey."
A win on Sunday and a third time trial world title would represent a perfect start to Evenepoel's championships challenge, with the 267.5km road race and then two days of racing in the Drôme-Ardèche region of France up next.
"I won't be home right away, because I'm still racing the European Championships, which immediately follow the World Championships. I'm just going to try to give my best in every race and hopefully come home with as many jerseys as possible.
"Of course, there may be the occasional bad day, but I have prepared well enough to be ready for two weeks of competition.
"I won't be doing much training in between, either. That makes sense, to be in the best possible position at the start of each race. The plan that has been drawn up is well structured."
