'It will be full throttle right away' – Remco Evenepoel wary of Tour de France's opening week

After winning his second Belgian time trial title on Friday, Remco Evenepoel said that this weekend's action is his "last heavy block" as he looks ahead to the Tour de France, adding that he can use the sprinter-friendly opening week of the Grand Tour "to build up a bit" ahead of the GC stages later on.

The Tour will kick off with a flat stage for the sprinters in Lille on July 5, but there's the small matter of the Belgian National Championships road race on Sunday, a hilly 230km based around the Walloon city of Binche.

Evenepoel blitzed the 40.2km course in Braaschaat with a time of 44:43 to add the Belgian TT title to his world and Olympic titles on Friday, beating Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to the win by 1:11.

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The Soudal-QuickStep leader will be joined by 11 teammates on Sunday, including Yves Lampaert, Tim Merlier, and Ilan Van Wilder, as the team looks to take back the Belgian title won by Arnaud De Lie last year.

"I would definitely use this weekend as the last heavy block, and that started well," Evenepoel told Sporza after his time trial win. "Sunday will be something different, because that course suits a lot of riders. It's also going to be very hot, and that can be an advantage.

"We have a lot of spearheads in our team, and we're in good shape. The most important thing is to get the jersey back with our team."

Soudal-QuickStep have won five Belgian road titles since the team's founding in 2003, with Tom Boonen (twice), Stijn Devolder, Lampaert, and Evenepoel taking the tricolour.

Another win, with Evenepoel the likely candidate to succeed again, would be another confidence boost ahead of the Tour, where the team will support European champion Merlier during the early sprints as Evenepoel looks to stay safe ahead of later challenges.

"Luckily, the first week is pretty flat and I can maybe use that to build up a bit," Evenepoel said. "But with the predicted weather and wind, it will be full throttle right away.

"The Tour only starts in the second week for the GC contenders, but that doesn't make the first week any less important. I just have to trust that everything will be fine."

In any case, Evenepoel can celebrate once again ahead of Sunday's race and the final week of preparation ahead of the Tour. His time trial victory is the 20th of his pro career, dating back to August 2019, when he took the European title in Alkmaar.

He was never in danger of losing on Friday, putting 26 seconds into his rivals at the first checkpoint and only adding to his lead over the remaining 30km to win by more than a minute.

"It was quite tough. It was a time trial where you had to keep pushing and could hardly recover," Evenepoel said of his ride. "I mainly had to keep my tight pacing and had to base myself on the intermediate times. I was able to maintain those well.

"At the end, it was still a goal to keep up with Alec Segaert, and that made me accelerate even more. I didn't want to risk being behind him in case of a crash.

"I am happy with the feeling and the result. After the training camp, I have a good feeling and everything is fine."

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