Remco Evenepoel has to leave the Giro d’Italia because of a positive corona test. That’s bitter for him, it also takes the young Belgian star to mythical heights.
The Giro d’Italia produces drama. On Sunday (05/14/23) Remco Evenepoel won the time trial with a tiny lead of nine hundredths of a second ahead of former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas. At the same time, he regained the pink jersey of the overall leader. A few hours later, however, came the shocking news: Giro-Aus because of a positive corona test. “It was a routine check for the team. Of course I’m very disappointed to have to leave the race. I was really looking forward to the next two weeks of fighting,” he shared.
The Dominator departs
His departure reshuffles the cards at the Giro. Because Evenepoel has been the defining figure of this tour of Italy so far. He dominated her for good. And he was also a protagonist in the depths. He won the opening time trial with ease. Even after that he kept his toughest rival Primoz Roglic in check. He beat him by bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint, and he was also ahead of the Slovenian in the first hill sprint on Friday.
In the exuberance of his powers, he also verbally provoked Roglic. “I can see that he is nervous”, he said. He took that back a little later. “You journalists make a small thing a big one. I just remembered that I was a little nervous when I was behind Primoz in the Tour of Catalonia. And then I thought that he must feel the same way now.” he tried to recapture his earlier spell.
However, he also had to accept real setbacks. On Saturday he lost 14 seconds to Roglic. And he has already fallen twice. Once a stray dog was to blame.
Parallels to Pantani and Merckx
That reminded the historically savvy cycling fans of Marco Pantani. He fell at the 1997 Giro when a cat ran into the peloton, totally disoriented. Pantani had to leave the Giro the following day because of his injuries. Evenepoel, on the other hand, continued. The ex-footballer even took advantage of the start in Napoli the following day to juggle a ball in the colors of the new Italian champions SSC Napoli.
Evenepoel is an artist on many stages. He also masters the media staging business perfectly.
The fact that he now has to leave the Giro is of course a tragic moment. The Covid infection also explains why he only just beat Thomas in the time trial on Sunday, his team boss Patrick Lefevere reported briskly on Twitter.
At the same time, the end raises him to the mythical heights of heroes like Pantani and Merckx. The Italian eventually retired early after the cat collision. And Merckx also had to leave a Giro d’Italia prematurely – like Evenepoel as the wearer of the pink jersey. In 1969, a positive test also proved fatal for him. At that time, however, it was a doping test.
One can expect that Evenepoel will come back even stronger and more mature after this mishap. Even the horror of the Lombardy tour in 2020 did not prevent his rise. She delayed him, but Evenepoel came back even more determined and mentally and physically more compact. It was not for nothing that he won the Tour of Spain and the World Championship road race last year. Perhaps he will now even prefer the start of the Tour de France, which was previously only planned for next year.
In the Giro, the cards are reshuffled
Of course, his end has an impact on the Giro. “It will change the dynamic of the race”, predicted Bora hansgrohe captain Lennard Kämna. “Ineos can now go into defense mode instead of having to attack”, he said on the rest day. The two Ineos captains Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart are separated by just five seconds in places 1 and 3. Between them is Primoz Roglic. Until Sunday he was Evenepoel’s main challenger. Now he is still in the challenger role. But instead of one world champion, he is now dealing with the double of ex-tour winner and ex-Giro triumphant. That too is a fascinating three-way battle. Because Roglic has won the Vuelta three times so far. The fact that the winners of all three tours are fighting for the Giro crown is a historic event.
The greatest uncertainty factor, however, is a being without a bike and without a start number: The corona virus is already having a massive impact on this Giro. Before Evenepoel, time trial world champion Filippo Ganna at Ineos and Bora’s climbing talent Giovanni Aleotti had to leave the race because of a positive test. Jumbo-Visma, Roglic’s team, exchanged two drivers before the start of the Giro because of a corona infection. The virus is actively participating in this Giro.