"Was that the question?"

Remco Evenepoel has just been asked what he and Tour de France co-leader Florian Lipowitz can learn from each other over the coming weeks. It's a relatively straight-forward question, but he feigns confusion.

"I mean, it's like if I asked you what do you want to learn from this journalist, then I say to you: you are a bad journalist."

The atmosphere in the Hospital Sant Pau building has turned bristly and bullish. In what has been a pretty nondescript press conference so far replete with all the necessary pre-race clichés – although seeing Mathieu van der Poel glowing after the recent pregnancy of his wife did make for sweet viewing – it's nice to finally have something to chew on. Even if that's Remco not giving us anything at all. You'd probably be more likely to get an answer to why he's wearing black trousers when it's 35 degrees outside in central Barcelona (I really am dying to know).

The proposed dual-leadership between the two riders has naturally fielded curiosity. Having a duo at the helm isn't unusual, nor is the kind of strategy sports director Ralph Denk is going for: "Eventually, there will come a day when one or the other feels better. Then they will have to fight it out between themselves on the road," he told Belgian media this week.

But seeing them side-by-side on stage, the queries form themselves. One thing is immediately clear. The two could not be more different. Evenepoel, semi-reclined in his chair with shiny sunglasses atop freshly cropped trim, is ready to play. Journalists prod, and he prods back. He's almost always disconcertingly assured in his dealings with the media, and has been since day one: when he turned pro in 2019, he confidently declared his ambitions to win all three Grand Tours, the World Championships, and an Olympic gold medal – a list which, in fairness, he's half-achieved.

Meanwhile, Lipowitz sits mostly in silence, apart from the odd moment when his teammate passes him the mic to answer the questions targeted at him (and those that bore Evenepoel). The responses of Lipowitz are of prim-and-proper media-trained ilk, as he reflects on his recent win in the Tour of Slovenia, and about his personal goals. It's textbook from the German rider, whose statement after winning his surprise Tour podium on debut last year was equal parts shy, composed, and confused: "I am super happy being on the podium of the Tour. It was always a dream but I thought it would maybe never happen," he said plainly in Paris – and off he popped to celebrate the biggest achievement of any cyclist's career.

(Image credit: Zac Williams)

But the bigger question on all of our lips is a practical one. Now that we're here, less than two days before stage one, how is it actually going to work if both riders get themselves into a position where they could feasibly compete for the GC podium?

Yes, Lipowitz's palmarès, apart from his Tour result last year, hardly scratches the surface of Evenepoel's multiple Grand Tour stage wins, World Champion title (three World Time Trial championships), double Olympic champion ecetera ecetera. Evenepoel is a classic wonderkid: ex-footballer turned pro-cyclist hot off the junior ranks without ever racing U23, and was winning WorldTour races from the off. Lipowitz is a biathlete who only got a road racing licence in 2020 after knee and ACL injuries ended that career, joined Bora as a trainee in 2022, and had no serious WorldTour results until 2024.

It makes the symmetry that does exist between the two even more interesting: both have finished third overall at the Tour behind Vingegaard and Pogačar, winning the white jersey along the way.

And if we look at recent stage race results, Evenepoel's dominance falters. Where Lipowitz took GC title at this year's Tour of Slovenia, and was runner-up at both Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie, Evenepoel hasn't won anything that isn't a time trial or a one day race for three years. At Volta a Catalunya, Lipowitz finished third and proved he was the better climber that week, while Evenepoel placed fifth.

(Image credit: Zac Williams)

(Image credit: Zac Williams)

At the press conference, he remained stubborn, giving nothing away: "I know where you want to go, because you want to hear that I say I want to be on the podium and Florian says I want to be on the podium. Of course we want to be on the podium, but whether it is him or myself, I think if we do it in a good way, without having this negative energy, it is good for both of us and for the team."

"We both really want to do what we did already in the past, to be on the podium behind Tadej and Jonas, and then just try to be up there as much as possible for stage wins as well, with both of us. That is why we go with two different characteristics and just do our own thing, in our own way, I guess," he continues. "With the team, [we want to] win the stage for sure, win the TT, and take yellow with the team on day one."

Given that the particularly pointy Tour parcours doesn't feature as much time trialing as the Belgian would have hoped for, it's no wonder Evenepoel is prickly before the press. He looks trim and is clearly well-prepared, reporting an FTP of 425 watts and that he's lost four kilos ahead of the race. Those are numbers which he's revealed openly to the media. But why so open? For an athlete so successful, does he feel he has to prove himself?

"I have nothing to prove," he shrugs, palming it off as another silly question.

The next three weeks can only tell.