After seven years at Soudal-Quick-Step, Remco Evenepoel will soon be over. Next year the Belgian will compete for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe. Despite the impending farewell, he is not particularly sad or emotional.
Tadej Pogacar is also the measure of all things on Remco Evenepoel’s last tour for Soudal-Quick-Step. The Slovenian also took victory in the Tour of Lombardy. Evenepoel finished second in his last appearance in the team’s jersey. A podium place as a farewell gift.
And now big feelings of farewell? “No, it’s actually about my emotions,” Evenepoel told Eurosport. He was “simply very happy and proud to have been the leader of this team and to have won many victories for the team. I think I will remember the last seven years for the rest of my life. But now it’s time to start something new,” the 25-year-old continued.
“There were also some bad moments”
Evenepoel: “It was a very nice time in the team, with a lot of good memories. There are also some bad moments, but I think the good memories far outweigh the bad memories.”
He couldn’t express “how grateful I am for my opportunities and for all the years I was in the team and for everything we went through,” said Evenepoel.
“It went pretty well today, I would say,” he said, looking back on the last section of the Tour of Lombardy. “We had a rider in the leading group, that was the goal. Everything went smoothly, we actually didn’t make any mistakes. My position before the penultimate climb was also perfect, right on the rear wheel of the UAE riders. So everything really went great.”
Video: Expert sure: Lipowitz benefits from Evenepoel
Nevertheless: There was no match against Dominator Pogacar.
“It’s just a good motivation to want to get to his level. I’ve fought for it in the last few weeks. We’ll take that with us and work on getting closer to him in the winter,” said Evenepoel, who will then be a teammate of the German shooting star Florian Lipowitz.