Remco Evenepoel had an outstanding performance in 2024, winning gold medals in both the men’s time trial and road race at the Paris Olympics. He also achieved a podium finish for Soudal Quick-Step at the Tour de France, but he wants to do even better next year.

The Belgian is only 24 years old but already has an incredibly impressive CV; That resume includes his first Grand Tour General Classification victory at the Vuelta d’Espana in 2022. Having ticked that off, he now sets his sights on the other two Grand Tours. to add more titles to its collection.

However, in doing so, he will be going head-to-head with Tadej Pogacar; It’s a daunting challenge, even for someone as talented as Evenepoel.

“I think it’s an honor to race against him and to be able to race with him. I see it as a challenge to try to beat him. I’ve already won races with him at the start. I hope it will be the same next season.” It will be one of those again every now and then.”

The 2024 calendar is complicated by the Olympics in August, which come on the heels of the Tour de France. The drivers then had to reunite for the Vuelta and World Championships.

But next year’s calendar looks more manageable and that means multiple targets for Evenepoel, who still has his sights set on some Spring Classics before the Grand Tours begin.

“Last year, the Giro-Tour combination was not possible if you wanted to be in top shape for the Olympics. “We can evaluate it now, but first we will wait and see how it goes,” he said.

“If I ride the Giro, I will not ride the Ardennes classics like La Fleche Wallonne or the Amstel Gold Race. If I am healthy, I will never skip Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

“(Paris-Roubaix) was an idea. But that was before I had a taste of the Tour. I won’t be riding the Tour of Flanders next season. Milan-San Remo is still an option, depending on whether you choose Tirreno-Adriatico or Paris-Nice.

“We haven’t actually talked about specific programs yet. We’ve talked about ideas and goals.”

Known as a time trial specialist, he held his own in the mountain stages before losing time in the final week as the toll began to become clear. However, he had pulled away from both rivals at some points in the race, which gives him confidence for next season.

“(The Tour) will be the focus,” Evenepoel added. “Last season, I dominated the time trials. I also realized that I am among the better climbers, but there are two better than them. Pogačar and Vingegaard are my new reference points. Everyone knows that my remaining goals are to win the Giro. This is the Tour. That’s why I want to fully invest in this.

“The Tour is not a toy. It’s not easy to qualify for the GC there. Everyone in the team really needs to be 110%. I won’t say this year wasn’t good, but I think it was. It could have been better.

“I’m talking about the form of some of the riders. Patrick (Lefevere) confirmed this. If we want to be competitive against teams like Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates, we have to collectively raise our level. But they know that.” I also stated shortly after the Tour that this was the most important thing to work on. “It’s up to the drivers and coaches to do it the right way.”