Deceuninck-QuickStep's Remco Evenpoel said his big goal for the 2020 season is the world championships in Aigle and Martigny, Switzerland, in September.

Evenpoel, 20, was scheduled to make his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia, May 9-31, but the Italian stage race has been postponed to make room for the Belgian's biggest goal of the season: individual time at the Olympic Games in July. Evenpoel, who was scheduled to represent Japan in the trials and road race, was put on the back burner for another 12 months.

"The World Championships is my main goal now," Evenpoel told Belgian media, including HLN.be and Nieuwsblad.be, in a conference call on Thursday. 'The Vuelta ends two weeks before the World Championships, so there is a possibility that I will be at the Vuelta, but I have to be very careful about my recovery. Look at Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) last year. He won the Vuelta, but then he wasn't as strong in the World Championships.

"So there's a 90% chance he won't be able to compete in this year's Grand Tour," he admitted. 'It's a bit disappointing, but there are plenty of races I can do before the World Championships. I could do the Deutschland Tour like I did last year, or I could do the BinckBank Tour."

"It's hard to plan, though, because it's important to resume racing when the coronavirus is 100% gone. There is one big advantage, though. Usually two weeks of intensive training is all it takes to get back into racing shape," Evenpoel said.

In 2020, his second year as a professional, Evenpoel has raced 12 days so far, winning three of them in two stage races: the Vuelta a San Juan in Argnetina and the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal.

It's an impressive number of victories for Evenepoel, who has been touted as Belgium's "new Eddy Merckx." However, while the "Cannibal Demon" has won the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia five times each and the Vuelta once, Evenpoel has not competed in any Grand Tours since the Giro this year.

On Thursday, Cycling News published what could be a "post-coronavirus calendar" for the rest of the season.

Evenpoel also reiterated on Thursday what he had already said earlier this week.

"I don't have enough experience to make the Tour my first Grand Tour. The Tour is the hardest stage race and I have said I will not be in the first GT. And next year, he could use his first Grand Tour (the Giro) to prepare for the Olympics."