When it comes to drawing up the list of contenders for the maglia rosa, the pink jersey awarded to the winner of the general classification of the Tour of Italy, Remco Evenepoel has a few names in mind. Joao Almeida, from the UAE Emirates team, Geraint Thomas, from Ineos Grenadiers, and Aleksandr Vlasov, from Bora-Hansgrohe. But the Belgian world champion recognizes it without false modesty: in the game of predictions, “it’s 50-50” between him and Primoz Roglic.
For weeks, the followers of the peloton have been salivating at the approach of a 106th edition of the Giro, presented as Act III of the duel between the young leader of the Soudal Quick-Step, freshly crowned with his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège , and the Slovenian from the Jumbo-Visma. And what could be better than an inaugural time trial of just over 19 kilometers on Saturday, May 6, in the Abruzzo region – east of Rome – as an appetizer? The 23-year-old Belgian is particularly fond of this exercise, of which his ten-year-old is the reigning Olympic champion.
Before taking the start of the transalpine loop, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic were able to gauge each other twice in stage races in Spain. With, again, a “50-50” balance sheet. In September 2022, the Belgian won the Vuelta, becoming at the same time the first representative of the “flat country” to win a Grand Tour since… May 28, 1978 and the triumph of Johan de Muynck on the Giro . The Slovenian, who was running for a fourth red jersey in a row, had to throw in the towel before the 17th stage, weakened by a fall that occurred the day before, 100 meters from the finish. When he retired, Roglic was second overall less than two minutes behind Evenepoel.
Their opposition, a few months later, on the Tour of Catalonia only delivered its outcome on the last day of the race. On March 26, rainbow jersey on his back, the Belgian crossed the line first in Barcelona. But it was the native of Trbovlje who, this time, offered the coronation, ahead of his rival by 6 small seconds overall, after a week in which the two riders privatized the centenary race – two stage victories each of the seven disputed, and places of honor.
“A three-week race is in his DNA”
The 2023 edition of the Giro is all the more enticing as the two riders have been able to build up their confidence since the start of the year. “My convincing results at the UAE Tour [1st], at the Tour of Catalonia [2nd] and in Liège [1st] show that I am in good shape,” argued the Belgian to some media, before leaving the Costa Spanish Blanca for Italian Abruzzo. Remco Evenepoel is convinced of this: he is “stronger than at the Vuelta”. “I have more reserves, more strength in my legs, I worked more on the time trial too. »
Primoz Roglic, for his part, only took part in two races in 2023. But he won them both: Tirreno-Adriatico, at the beginning of March, with three stage victories, then the Tour of Catalonia, a few days later.
The Slovenian also has his experience of three-week races on his side. Saturday, on the Costa dei Trabocchi Tudor, he will start his twelfth Grand Tour, against only three for his Belgian rival. Still, “Remco has always talked about Grand Tours”, confided his father, Patrick, a former professional rider himself in the 1990s, to Le Soir newspaper on September 5, 2022 on the sidelines of the Vuelta. “That’s his challenge. He won classics [one-day races], but a three-week race is in his DNA. »
The young Belgian has already competed in the Giro, in 2021, but he was then returning from the serious injury which nearly cost him his life on August 15, 2020 after a badly negotiated turn in the descent of the Sormano wall, on the Tour of Lombardy. He had thrown in the towel before the 18th stage, three days from the finish, judged that year in Milan.
For this 106th edition of the Giro, the kid from Aalst will be able to count on team members entirely devoted to his quest for the pink jersey. Rarely, the Soudal Quick-Step, which nevertheless has two of the best specialists in the peloton in its ranks – Fabio Jakobsen and Tim Merlier – has not selected any sprinter for this Tour of Italy, preferring to bet on climbers and rollers to support its phenomenon. “A very strong team,” said the person concerned.
The Jumbo-Visma diminished by the Covid-19
The Batavian armada of its Slovenian rival saw its plans thwarted by the Covid-19. Robert Gesink and Tobias Foss had to withdraw, replaced by Jos van Emden and Rohan Dennis… Before the former was also forced to retire for the same reasons. “It’s not ideal, it’s not the team we imagined at the start, but these things happen and you have to adapt, admitted Primoz Roglic at a press conference, Thursday, May 4. In the end, our mission remains the same. »
But the Tour of Italy is a demanding race, between its often capricious weather, its high mountains – this edition has seven summit finishes, for an overall elevation gain of 51,400 meters – and its three times on the program – with 70 kilometers on the total. And the uncertainty of the final podium is a habit there: last year, the Australian Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) had created the surprise by finishing with the pink jersey in Verona, relegating the big favorite, the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz , in second place.
Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic are “certainly the two strongest riders at the start”, admitted the Welshman Geraint Thomas, with the Dutch specialized site Wielerflits. But, warns the winner of the Tour de France 2018, the level of the peloton incites mistrust. It will be necessary to wait for May 28 and the epilogue at the foot of the Colosseum, in Rome, to find out if Remco Evenepoel is as good at forecasting as on a bicycle.
