Julian Alaphilippe and Remco Evenpoel promised to join forces to take on Taddei Pogachar in Tirreno - Adriatico.

"We all know who the player to beat this week is," Evenpoel said of Pogachar on Sunday afternoon.

"If you look at his race, he looks unbeatable," Evenpoel added.

"Last year at the Tour de Flanders, everyone thought (Mathieu) Van der Pol would win. Even if there is one rider better than the others, we must always believe in ourselves," Evenpoel said.

"It is truly an honor to race with such great talent and riders. It's only a pleasure, but sometimes it's also a pain."

Due to cycling fate and career paths, Pogachar and Evenpoel have never competed in a stage race; in 2021, Evenpoel competed in the Giro d'Italia and Pogachar won his second Tour de France.

Their first meeting will be an interesting duel and will no doubt be fought over seven days of Italian racing. This season, Evenpoel won the Volta Ao Algarve, while Pogachar won the Tour of the UAE before Strade Bianche's solo victory.

"This race is a bigger challenge than the others," suggested Evenpoel, noting how the season has stepped up in March.

"I'm here to grow, open my eyes, and perform well in the next couple of days."

The Tirreno-Adriatico, now in its 57th year, has a new race profile, with a short seaside time trial on the first stage instead of the final day. There will be many short, steep uphill finishes, with valuable seconds and time bonuses up for grabs, but no major summit finishes.

Next Saturday's final stage will feature a two-stage climb up Monte Carpegna followed by a quick descent to the finish. This is the Queen's stage, but Monday's time trial will create the first time difference and reveal who will be on the defensive and who will have to attack.

Time trial world champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) is the favorite to win the first stage, but Evenpoel will be looking to push him and gain a few seconds on the still tired Pogachar. Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl will be aiming for a sprint stage with Mark Cavendish, while Alaphilippe and Kasper Asgreen will be a threat on the hilly stages.

"It's the same thing as racing with Pogachar. He's the best in the world," Evenpoel said of his chances of beating Ganna for the stage win.

"I want to be as fast as possible and compete with him. Let's see what happens. His legs and his head look good, so I want to make his life quite difficult."

"If I lose time, I have to be aggressive. There is still not enough time to make a big difference. Everyone can run 14 km pretty fast."

Alaphilippe sat alongside his young teammate and talked about his battle with Pogachar. He admitted that the somersault in Strade Bianche left him with a sore back and booked a long session with team osteopath Soigneur, but vowed to help Even Paul fight Pogachar and others in the Tirreno Adriatico.

"Pogachar was just as outstanding at Strada Bianche as he was on the UAE tour. He was stronger than anyone in the peloton and I just had to watch him attack. But I'm happy for him," Alaphilippe said.

"We are not at 100% this season. We are going to push in the coming days and in the coming months."

"We are going to push in the coming days and in the coming months.

Alaphilippe will not run the Cobblestone Classic this spring, instead aiming for the Ardennes Classic in late April. In March I will enjoy my race, try to win a stage, and next week I will help Evenpoel."

"Lemko knows why he is here and everyone is around him," Alaphilippe promised.

"We will never be enemies," Evenpoel retorted, denying any resurgence of rivalry or the kind of internal tension he experienced with fellow Belgian Wout Van Art at the World Championships.

"People think we are rivals, but we can race together. We have already done so. We are never enemies, we are good friends," said Evenpoel. [He's] my idol. Julien would never do something stupid like lose a race.