Reconstruction of Remco Evenepoel’s “crazy” master plan, which was acquired by Vuelta | Vuelta

And whether it paid off.

Remco Evenepoel usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to prepare for an athletic goal. This time, our compatriot doubled the time of the “Madrid master plan”. A sublime move, as it turns out.

“I won the Vuelta with a really long, crazy setup,” said the new Vuelta winner at Vive le Vélo.

Reconstructing those eight “crazy” weeks that gave Evenpoel the Vuelta augmentation.

The timing of the Madrid assignment at Remco Evenepoel began after the Belgian championship. On June 23, he won the Belgian Championship on the clock, a day later he was already thinking about trying time against Alicante.

Click. His preparation for Velta does not begin with a course on altitude or “block” training, but with a well-deserved week of rest after the Belgian Championship on the road, his last moment of rest in the next three months.

“After BKs, I took a week off. I made prime time for Oumi. Last week we had warm time, cinema and restaurants. That was fine. However I was already in the middle of my schedule.”

After a week of fun, Umi waved her fiancé goodbye. But not for very long. “I first left for Livigno. After a 10 hour drive alone, I reached my destination. There I worked with the team for the first 10 days.”

“After 10 days, Umi came to Italy and the team left. Elcho Kiss, Luis Vervaijk and Fausto Masnada stayed with me. Then I went on the road with these guys for two weeks. We had long, quiet days every day. Riding 5-6 hours, each Once a lot of volume, but the intensity was always very low.”

Result: 85 hours of training in 19 days. Marked by two training days of 7 hours.

4 weeks later, the Evenepoel competition animal appeared. “After those three weeks, I started training a few times behind my dad’s bike and then immediately left for Spain to drive the Clasico San Sebastian.”

“I started very recent because of the way I work in Livigno and I’ve also grown some extra speed in my legs behind the bike. And that combination paid off.”

Just like in 2019, Remco Evenepoel crossed the finish line alone in Clasica. 44 kilometers from the finish, our compatriot almost carelessly stunned all competitors and then began his other favorite activity: a time trial against his pursuer.

No pressure this time after winning the match. After his victory in San Sebastian, the young Belgian immediately moved to Alicante. There he and his caregiver stayed for two weeks at the famous “The Rise” hotel of the former cyclist Kolobnev.

Passengers can book special rooms that can simulate the pressure difference in the altitude phase. And so Evenbühl took advantage of the “rise” at night, and during the day learned to acclimatize under the Spanish sun.

“I took off work for another two weeks. For example, I trained very intensely in very hot conditions and we started exploring time trial.”

“Eevenpole and his colleagues had to stop every fifteen minutes to get ice and water,” says team manager Patrick Lefevre. “Actually, training in that was not responsible.” But the Spanish oven certainly didn’t surprise Evin Boyle in the weeks that followed.

It was a Spartan mini-stage in every respect. “I also followed a very tight schedule: going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, weighing my food up to a gram, and even my massages always taking place at the same hour.”

“Before I started the Vuelta, I wanted to get used to my daily schedule.”

However, there was one person who was able to break through the training rut. No, not Omi this time, but Matthew van der Poel.

“I was prepping my block one day and Matthew crossed on the road. He had a lodging there and immediately sent me if I wanted to have a soft drink with him after training. The bond was immediately rigged.”

“Training with him was also a relief. It’s been long days, if you can ride bikes with someone as fun and talkative as Mathieu, it’ll have a motivating effect. Even better: I’m also on the road with Greg Van Avermaet for a day. It was great too” .

Madrid’s master plan will end on Friday in Utrecht. “But first I came home for a few days. I took the time there again for my parents and my mother.”

The Evenepoel Vuelta started Friday with a new head, trained legs and perfect preparation. Yesterday – 3 weeks later – our determined compatriot made history with the first Belgian Grand Tour victory since 1978.

Pay for work.