'It's a big two weeks for me' - Evenepoel begins Worlds countdown with Québec triumph

Evenepoel was active in the finale, and the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe man sparked the winning move when he attacked with 28km to go. He still had Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) for company on the final lap, but he saw them both off to claim the spoils.

Charmig was distanced under pressure from Evenepoel inside the final 2km, and the Belgian proceeded to overwhelm Ciccone in the dash to the line to claim his 11th win of the season.

“We had a nice gap after a lap, I did most of the work and I had to manage my effort because I didn’t really have the explosivity on the final climb to drop the two others, but I was confident in my sprint,” said Evenepoel, who was lining up for the first time since he won the Clásica de San Sebastián on August 1.

“It was a very particular race and difficult to manage, but I’m very happy to take the win. I needed to feel my way back into racing and I managed to find the good legs by the end.”

With US champion Quinn Simmons chasing on the final lap, Ciccone was able to work a little less than his breakaway companions, but he was unable to match Evenepoel’s power in the uphill sprint.

“It was tough, I think he seemed to be pretty strong as well,” Evenepoel said. “He was on the lucky side to have a teammate behind so he could stay a bit more in the wheels, but I had confidence in my sprint as well, so I gambled a bit to start from the front when the headwind was difficult.

“I think once he tried to come over, he also felt the wind on the face and I managed to keep my advantage, so I’m super happy.”

Evenepoel is lining up in Canada for the first time since he was a neo-professional in 2019, and he will now be strongly fancied to complete a double at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sunday.

But Evenepoel’s Canadian expedition is built primarily around the following two Sundays, when he defends his time trial world title and then takes aim at regaining the road race rainbow jersey he previously won in 2022.

“Obviously, it’s always tough to come back into competition after quite a while and also it’s a very tough race to start with again,” Evenepoel said. “I’m super happy and now I need to stay calm and take it day by day, because Sunday is another day, and then it’s next Sunday and the Sunday after… It’s a big two weeks for me.”