Patrick Lefevere has conceded there are nonetheless “doubts” about whether or not Remco Evenepoel can compete for Excursion de France victory in opposition to Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar. The Soudal-QuickStep supervisor has additionally reiterated his opposition to the chance of Evenepoel racing each the Giro d’Italia and Excursion in 2024.
Evenepoel focused the Giro in 2023, and he received each time trials within the opening week sooner than leaving behind the race whilst dressed in the maglia rosa after contracting COVID-19.
He returned to motion on the following month’s Excursion de Suisse, hanging 3rd general, however Lefevere puzzled if he later paid a value for the ones efforts on the Vuelta a España.
Even if Evenepoel were given off to a quick get started on the Vuelta, spending 3 days within the crimson jersey after profitable the primary summit end at Arinsal, his GC problem ended hastily when he misplaced virtually part an hour on degree 13 to the Col du Tourmalet.
“I believe it used to be a mixture of various elements,” Lefevere informed Los angeles Dernière Heure. “Remco raced so much this 12 months and he more than likely didn’t take sufficient time to get better from his COVID an infection. Possibly he will have to have began again on the Excursion of Belgium as an alternative of on the Excursion of Switzerland, which used to be a lot tougher.”
After profitable the Vuelta in 2022, Evenepoel had deliberate to make use of this 12 months’s Giro as a stepping stone against his Excursion debut subsequent season. His abandon in Italy and his next travails in Spain make it tough to gauge his possibilities in his most likely Excursion debut subsequent July.
“Consequently, we nonetheless have doubts in regards to the actual stage he can succeed in within the Excursion de France in opposition to guys like Vingegaard and Pogačar,” Lefevere mentioned. “We’d have most well-liked if he can have loved the Giro for 3 weeks sooner than finding the Excursion de France. However as a result of all the ones setbacks this 12 months, he instantly has to find himself within the Excursion.”
Evenepoel used to be nonetheless some of the exceptional performers of the 2023 season, clocking up 13 wins, together with every other solo exhibition at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and victory within the time trial on the Global Championships. The Belgian additionally claimed a hat-trick of degree wins on the Vuelta, two on the Giro, general victory on the UAE Excursion and a glowing win on the Clásica San Sebastián.
Even if the Vuelta a San Juan may not be a world match in 2024, Lefevere indicated that Evenepoel might but get started subsequent season in South The united states on the revived Excursion Colombia.
Lefevere additionally revisited Soudal-QuickStep’s proposed merger with Jumbo-Visma, which ruled headlines overdue within the season sooner than the theory used to be in the end shelved closing month, noting that the theory would now not be resurrected for the 2025 season.
“The ones weren’t amusing occasions, however that used to be much more true for the riders and staff personnel. They requested official questions, and I did the whole lot I may to not allow them to down,” Lefevere mentioned.
“When the primary house owners of the groups have been discussing, I recommended that we goal for 2025, however they sought after to head quicker. There’s a majority shareholder [Zdenek Bakala – ed.] and if he comes to a decision to promote, you’ll be able to’t do the rest. In the end, each groups took other paths. The subject is over, however that doesn’t imply that different avenues don’t seem to be conceivable for our staff.”