It has been three years since Remco Evenpoel‘s first expertise of gravel racing at a Grand Tour – stage 11 on the Giro d’Italia, the place he struggled on the Tuscan sterrato, shedding two minutes to eventual race winner Egan Bernal in Montalcino.
The information that this yr’s Tour de France – his first – would additionally embrace gravel roads within the parcours was, when the race route was introduced again in October, met with a destructive response from the Belgian as he mentioned, “I do not suppose it is necessary.”
His Soudal-QuickStep staff boss, Patrick Lefevere, has additionally signalled his displeasure with the development on a number of events. Heading into the Tour de France’s ninth stage on Sunday, routed over the dust roads round Troyes, it appears as if one of many males has modified his tune.
“Waiting for that stage, I am trying ahead to it, however I am additionally a bit nervous,” Evenepoel instructed the Belgian media after stage 8 in Colombey-Les-Deux-Eglises. “I am unable to wait to find these gravel roads, and on the identical time, I do know that something can occur. The entire GC riders should watch out to not lose time.
“I do know all of the sectors,” he added. “I’ve explored essentially the most troublesome ones, and, to be trustworthy, I am a fan of them. We’ll see the way it seems. It’ll rely upon the main group and on whether or not there are actually robust riders up entrance, or not.
“In any case, I’ve the impression that tomorrow’s stage will likely be one of the vital watched sporting occasions of the yr.”
Lefevere, chatting with Cyclingnews on the morning of stage 8, within the rain-hit village of Semur-en-Auxois, remained steadfastly towards the concept of gravel in Grand Excursions.
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“I am anti. I am not in favour and I do not suppose it belongs within the Tour de France,” he mentioned. “To start with, I used to be towards Strade Bianche, however I modified my thoughts – solely idiots by no means change their minds. It is OK there, however it does not belong in a stage race.
“I am not Madame Soleil [French astrologer], I instructed you already,” he added when requested for a prediction on what may unfold on the 199km stage. “There will likely be two races within the race, one to win the stage and one to not lose time for the GC guys. We’ll trip to guard Remco as a lot as potential. The others haven’t any private ambitions. We are going to see. The day will inform us.”
Writing in his weekly opinion column for Het Nieuwsblad, Lefevere appeared again to a contemporary basic version of the Giro d’Italia, gained by Ivan Basso after a gradual fightback towards breakaway chief David Arroyo.
The race’s epic seventh stage, run in moist situations throughout that well-known sterrato to Montalcino, noticed Cadel Evans seize the maglia rosa, producing a memorable picture within the race’s current historical past. Fourteen years on, Lefevere stays unimpressed, utilizing the instance as an example his displeasure with the idea.
“A picture of Cadel Evans within the 2010 Giro is burned into my retina,” he wrote. “He gained the gravel stage then however crossed the end line with a caked-on gravel mess protecting his whole face. Is that how we wish to see riders?”
It is a query to which many followers would swiftly reply ‘sure’, even when the Tour de France peloton will likely be hoping that the current forecast for dry climate is borne out.
Evenepoel and the opposite 172 males who completed stage 8 battled via totally different situations on Saturday as rain hit the Tour on the finish of a heat and dry opening week. As sprinters Biniam Girmay, Jasper Philipsen, and Arnaud De Lie battled for the stage win on the rising end, he discovered himself ending up in tenth alongside Fred Wright and Alex Aranburu.
It was an unfamiliar place for Evenepoel to seek out himself in throughout a mass dash end, a state of affairs that took place totally accidentally, he mentioned.
“Ultimately, it was a reasonably good day, despite the fact that the beginning was a bit difficult as a result of results from yesterday’s time trial,” Evenepoel mentioned. “However I used to be effectively surrounded by my teammates and I used to be in a position to spend many of the stage on the entrance of the peloton.
“Within the final kilometre uphill, I needed to verify I would not lose time in a silly method. So, I stayed on the entrance and completed tenth, however that was extra accidentally. I did not do it on function.”
