From the red pastries from Bossuyt bakery near his hometown of Schepdaal to a red bicycle on the final ride to Madrid. Remco Evenepoel (22) unites Belgium in the color of the leader’s jersey in which he won the Tour of Spain on Sunday. He is the first Belgian to win one of the three Grand Tours since Johan De Muynck 44 years ago in the Giro. And what also counts in Belgium: he wins his first big round even at a younger age than Eddy Merckx, the best of all time.
“This means that we can look at the grand tours with confidence in the next ten years and expect that a Belgian will participate for the overall victory,” television commentator José De Cauwer exulted on Sporza after Evenepoel had secured his overall victory in the Vuelta on Saturday with a solid performance. performance in the final mountain stage, won by Richard Carapaz. On Sunday, Juan Sebastián Molano won the last stage in Madrid. Belgian cycling enthusiasts know the unique achievements of Merckx: five overall victories in the Tour, five in the Giro and one in the Vuelta. Can Evenepoel do that too?
Enough weapons
The leader of Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl showed in Spain that he has enough weapons to win a three-week round. On the steep short climb of Les Praeres, he trailed all his competitors in the ninth stage. Two days later he did that again in the time trial and he won a mountain stage in the final week. Perhaps more importantly, Evenepoel was not confused for a moment when he had to unload from his main competitors Primoz Roglic and Enric Mas in the tough mountain stages in the penultimate weekend. He limited his loss and kept the red leader’s jersey. When Roglic had to give up after a fall in the sixteenth stage to Tomares, the overall victory could hardly have escaped him.
“The question is whether Roglic could have won this Vuelta,” said De Cauwer about the Jumbo-Visma leader, who has already won the Spanish round three times. The Belgian former rider and foreman of Hennie Kuiper discovered another essential quality at Evenepoel in this Vuelta. “I have never seen any other rider radiate such leadership. Remco Evenepoel was the only real leader in this Vuelta.”
Cycling-loving Belgium is already looking forward to the Tour debut of Evenepoel, winner of the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Clasica San Sebastian earlier this season. Team boss Patrick Lefevere is sympathetic and previously stated that his leader will not start in the Tour until 2024. But in the Vuelta it turned out that in addition to successes in one-day races, his team can also dominate a three-week round in the service of Evenepoel.
Annemiek van Vleuten
As far as the Dutch riders are concerned, the young Thymen Arensman stood out, who after his victory in the queen stage on Saturday finished second in the last mountain stage and finished sixth in the standings. The most striking performance was Annemiek van Vleuten with the women, who drove their Vuelta, which expanded to five days, somewhat in the shadow of the final week with the men. Van Vleuten was now also the best after victories in the Giro (over ten stages) and the Tour (eight stages). Even Eddy Merckx never managed to win three rounds in one season.