Remco Evenepoel is looking forward to pinning a race number on his jersey for the first time since August. The 21-year-old star of Belgian cycling will make his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia this weekend in Turin. Evenepoel has not raced since the Il Lombardia crash where he was thrown off a bridge into a ravine and he is not putting any pressure on himself to be challenging for the maglia rosa in his first race back.
"I’m happy to race again after such a long period, during which I worked hard to be ready for my first Grand Tour," he said. "Being my first race since last August means that we’ll need to see how my body will react. We will take it day by day and see how things go. The most important thing is that I am back with my teammates and staff again, which makes me very happy."
Should Evenepoel be a touch shy of his prodigious best, Deceuninck-Quick-Step have a decent second card to play in last year's fourth placed rider João Almeida. "Last year it was an incredible Giro," Almeida said. "The team put in a huge effort in what was an amazing but at the same time hard three weeks. We fought for a good result, and in the end, I finished fourth on the GC.
"I would like to be up there again, fight for a nice result and keep a good feeling, which is the most important thing. Hopefully, things will go well and we’ll score some nice results. This year, the mountain stages are going to play a more important role in the final outcome, which means consistency will be the key."
Brit James Knox will be part of the Quick-Step squad supporting their two leaders. Roll on Saturday...