“I will be happy if we leave the Netherlands without bad luck,” said team boss Patrick Lefevere in advance.
His wish was granted, because Remco Evenepoel and his teammates were not involved in the crashes on Saturday and Sunday and – except for the team time trial – were not given any seconds.
“These first days were a bit stressful,” said sports director Geert Van Bondt. “Not the team time trial in itself, because you are in control there.”
“But in these two sprint stages we were still very busy protecting Remco Evenepoel, so that he would finish safely and unscathed.”
“That first assignment was a success. We did not win in the team time trial, but we did put in a good performance.”
“In these many small villages, with all their traffic islands and traffic furniture, danger was around every corner, but we stayed out of trouble. So we are happy with our passage through the Netherlands.”
The peloton now travels to the Basque Country, where it will race again tomorrow. It is a region that Evenepoel is well suited to, just think of the Clasica San Sebastian.
“From Tuesday, the Vuelta really starts with a few tough stages in the first week”, the team leader of Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl also knows. Evenepoel is 14th in the stand at 14 counts from the Jumbo peloton.
“He knows the region well, he has already achieved great results and is looking forward to racing there.”
“We still have to study everything in detail, but if he has the legs like in San Sebastian, you should not miss a chance of course.”
“Although it is not the case that we are already working on things like: “We have to strike there and over there too”. The game itself will show that.”
