The Belgian aims to win the pink race as reigning world champion, a feat he last succeeded in Saronni in 1983, and he tells Sportweek. “Having played football helps me in the time trials. Uphill you can do as many tests as you want but if you lack legs…”
Assisted by Remco Evenepoel, goal by Romelu Lukaku. Or viceversa. For Inter or for the Belgian national team, you choose. Impossible? Now yes. But there was a time when, potentially, it wasn’t. It is the cycling world champion himself who tells it: “I must have been 9-10 years old, no more. I played football and went to Brussels to do one of those summer camps, you know. I was in the chicks while Lukaku played with Anderlecht. In one of the photos we took, I happened to be close to him. It must have been three times my size…”. In the cinema, as in life, there are always revolving doors. Romelu Lukaku opened his career as a football star, while Remco Evenepoel continued on the green rectangle, until he was captain of the Under 15 of Belgium (he even scored a goal against Italy, in a friendly match in Catanzaro, reiterating on goal the rejection of a penalty), but not only: without preparation, at the age of 16 he finished the Brussels half marathon in 1 hour and 16′. But then he turned to cycling from 2 April 2017 – the date of his first ever race, as a junior – and in just over five years he reached the top of the world.