This week last year, Remco Evenpole (Deceuninck-Quick Step) arrived in Argentina for his first bike race in unlimited gear. Twelve months later, he returns to the Vuelta a San Juan as the overall favorite. Few riders in recent memory have progressed so quickly.

Evenpoel was candid when asked if it was the physical or tactical aspects of his first season as a pro, having jumped directly from juniors to the World Tour, that have improved the most.

"Both. 'We're stronger, we're better tactically. Everything is getting better. Hopefully we can prove that this week. Usually, everything should be better than last year."

We've already talked about Evenpoel's incredible physical abilities, from rumors about his incredible power output during a recent test at Calpe to the 1 hour and 16 minute half marathon he ran at the young age of 16. Indeed, on Friday, a reporter for Het Laatste Nieuws recalled that Evenpoel first appeared in the paper in 2005, when he attracted attention for running 50 km at the precocious age of five.

However, questions remain about Evenepoel's tactical and technical acumen, given that he avoided finishing school for the under-23 race because of his World Tour contract. Those doubts were allayed by Evenepoel's remarkable summer 2019, when he won the Baloise Belgian Tour, the Clasica San Sebastian, and the European Time Trial title.

"Everything. Everything," Evenepoel replied when asked about the biggest lesson he learned in his first year at Dečuninck-Quickstep. You can never learn enough." Every rider teaches you every little thing, and you pick it up and put it in your backpack."

If Evenepoel's 2019 campaign was, at least initially, about gaining experience, his 2020 season will focus on specific goals and will be divided into three distinct parts. The first half is Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Giro d'Italia, the middle part is the Olympics, and the finale is the World Championships and Il Lombardia.

But Evenpoel's ambitions go beyond these lofty goals, and he intends to start with an early victory in Argentina next week, where he will share the Deceuninck-Quick Step leadership with Julien Alaphilippe.

The seven-day race features five stages where sprinters, including teammate Alvaro Hodeg, are likely to do well, with a short time trial to Punta Negra on stage 3 and a summit finish at Alto Colorado on stage 5 to decide the overall classification

"The time trial will be a short time trial to Punta Negra.

"We will both give our all in the time trial and help each other as much as possible in Colorado. After that, we will both aim for the best position on GC," said Evenpoel, adding that he and the Frenchman have not yet discussed race strategy.

"Not yet. We both know that we are already in pretty good shape. Last year Julien was better - I mean, he already had the leader's jersey - so we had to work for him. This year might be different, but we'll see what happens."

Tuesday's race against the clock will be Evenpoel's first attempt at the European champion jersey and the first of six or so time trial races between now and the Tokyo Olympics.

"It's always difficult here because I ride a normal bike. So I don't think my best aerodynamics will work as well as on a TT bike. 'Of course, it's a time trial, and it's my first time running in a European jersey, so maybe ......

Evenpoel turns 20 on Saturday. He said, "I don't usually celebrate my birthday in a big way," he said, suggesting that in Argentina it will be limited to eating dulce de leche ice cream.

He is accustomed to growing up in public, a process that already began when he was a teenage soccer player. Witness, for example, the TV crew he was sent to report from the first bicycle race he entered after switching codes in April 2017. During this time, media attention only increased.

"I do my job and they do theirs. It's normal for me. I don't want to say too much, but I know I've become one of the biggest stars in cycling. I don't want to be like that, but that's the way it is."

After a very successful debut year with five wins and a World Championships silver medal, Evenpoel is setting a high bar for himself ahead of his second season, though he says he is taking the burden of expectations lightly.

"I don't feel pressure from the outside, I don't put pressure on myself. I just have goals and I want to achieve them. 'But I don't put pressure on myself. It's just healthy stress."

As for the idea that his peers, jealous of his success and fame, might start riding aggressively to stop him from winning - a phenomenon, for example, that his compatriot Eric Vandeirden encountered when he first turned pro in the 1980s, Evenpoel merely smiled. 'You can be jealous if you want,' he said. I don't lose sleep at night over it."