The Belgian, who crashed heavily during the Tour of the Basque Country on April 4, is recovering from a broken collarbone and is not expected to change his preparations before the Grande Boucle.
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Remco Evenepoel will “every day better” and he is “on time” perform well at the Tour de France in two and a half months (June 29 – July 21). “I suffered a lot, especially the first week, but I feel that the pain is going away, I hope to continue my preparations on and off the bike next week.”he said in an interview on the website of his team Soudal Quick-Step, on Friday April 19, two weeks after his heavy fall at the Tour of the Basque Country.
Having undergone surgery for a fractured right collarbone (along with a fractured scapula) after a fall at 80km/h, he assures that he is well in time to compete in the Tour de France for the first time in his career and is performing well there.
No changes in preparation
“The only thing that will change is that I will start the preparations a week earlier, since I stopped with the fall and I still plan to participate in the Dauphiné or the Tour de Suisse, depending on my form, but if everything goes well the program should not change.said the Belgian, who put the Critérium du Dauphiné on his program in June.
“I can’t wait for the Tour de France to start. Every training since this winter has been based on this goal and the Olympics behind it. I’m happy in the end that I got injured (now) and not in a few weeks“, the Belgian added, he believes that there is none “no complaints” compared especially with the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, a double winner of the Tour, a victim of a broken collarbone, but also several ribs and a pneumothorax.
“It was less serious than others and it could have been much worse”commented the Belgian who found himself next to the Slovenian Primož Roglič, also involved in the fall, at the hospital in Vitoria where the runners were arriving “one by one”.
After some exercise and playing mini golf “keep the body moving”to eat “And plenty of ice cream“, he has to get back on the bike, first indoors, in a few days, and to continue watching cycling races on television.
“It is difficult, especially the Amstel Gold Race (last Sunday) where I had to race for the first time and where I had big ambitions. For Liège-Bastogne-Liège (where he is a double exit winner) on Sunday, this may be a little easier to digest considering I’ve already won the race twice”did he state.