Remco Evenepoel ‘obliterated’ Giro d’Italia time trial, will force rivals ‘back to the drawing board’ – Dan Lloyd

Remco Evenepoel ‘obliterated’ his rivals in the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia, according to Dan Lloyd, while Adam Blythe feels the other contenders need to come up with a new plan.

Lloyd felt Evenepoel delivered times that were comparable to a team time trial, and that the Belgian’s performance could have demoralised his rivals.

“He obliterated it,” Lloyd said on The Breakaway. “I think you can say he has come into the Giro hot.

“The average speed up that last climb to the finish, almost 59 kph, that is the sort of speed you would see in a team time trial and to put that much time into his rivals on day one of the race, everyone else will be going back to the drawing board.

“If he can carry that form through three weeks then no one else has got a chance. That is the question.”

Robbie McEwen feels Evenepoel’s rivals will be clinging to the hope that the Soudal-Quick Step man may have peaked too early in the race.

“It is what his rivals have got to tell themselves that he has come in hot, and when you come in hot there is a chance of being overcooked,” McEwen said. “They have got to tell themselves that, otherwise they are fighting a losing battle.”

Adam Blythe feels that Evenepoel’s sizeable advantage may force rival teams to change strategy and attack earlier in the race.

“We are talking about this last week of racing,” Blythe said. “Are they all just going to sit back and wait for that last week?

“If they do, that is an easier challenge for Remco as he will think ‘if you’re sitting back, I will sit back and be fresher going into the last week which you are not wanting.’

“So what they are going to have to do is completely throw the book at it and come up with a new plan.

“They just can’t gamble on Remco falling in that last week.”

McEwen was surprised that Roglic could not finish closer than 43 seconds behind Evenepoel, but expects the Jumbo-Visma rider to improve as the race progresses.

“I think he can ride himself into this race because he hasn’t raced since Catalunya,” McEwen said. “He is significantly older than Remco Evenepoel so maybe needs that time to get the engine fully wound up.

“On the up side for Primoz Roglic, he did not lose any time up the final climb towards the finish so it looked like he was starting to come through.”

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