Pauwels moves early to align Van Aert and Evenepoel ahead of the Montréal Worlds

Pauwels kept the trip simple. “I was there for three days because it’s very easy to speak to a lot of riders,” he said to Sporza. “And to sound out their ambitions for this season, and more specifically for the Worlds in Montréal.”

He was not there to sell a plan, but to listen and to make sure everyone knows where they stand.

“In general, I try not to convince riders,” Pauwels said. “First of all, it’s important to listen to what they want to do. And also to tell them what other riders want to do, because that’s obviously not unimportant.” 

Then he put it plainly. “If Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel both have ambitions, then it’s important that they know that about each other.”

Last year in Rwanda, Van Aert was absent at the World Championships, and in the years before that, the partnership between Evenepoel and Van Aert in the national team did not always come easily. So it makes sense that Pauwels wants to get clarity early and streamline the process long before the Worlds.

Pauwels plans to visit Montréal in April. “I know the course itself. I raced there myself,” he said. “But at the Worlds you also have an approach section of around 100 kilometres. And I also want to see the time trial in advance.”

He is already ticking off the checklist, including where the team would stay. “The hotel is already fixed,” he said. But he wants to see how it works in real life, not just on paper. The key issue is time. “If the riders who do the Worlds road race also ride Québec and Montréal, then you still have to bridge two weeks on site. That’s an important factor.”

As for whether riders need those Canadian one-day races to be sharp for the Worlds, Pauwels is not convinced. “I don’t think so,” he said. “It can be just as good in the Vuelta. Maybe that’s even better.” Most of the riders he spoke to have been there before anyway. “Most of the riders I spoke to have ridden those GP's before, only Victor Campenaerts has not.”

And then there is the one thing no planning session can control. “It can be very windy there, so I want to see that in advance,” Pauwels said. “It’s still Canada, where all weather conditions are possible. It can be 4 degrees and rain, but also 25 degrees and sunny.”