With outsider chances, Remco Evenepoel shoulder the hopes of the Belgium cycling nation at the Tour de France. By Stephan Klemm.
Remco Evenepoel shoulder the hopes of the Belgium cycling nation. The best time driver in the world has behind Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaardchances on the overall success. It would be the crowning glory of a very special career and the return after dramatic setbacks.
After his time trial in the village of Saint-Péray in the Ardèche department, Remco Evenepoel wore a T-shirt and a cap, on which the number 1000 was seen. His team Soudal-Quick Step had reached so many victories since its foundation in 2003 on June 12th. The fact that it was reserved for Evenepoel to enter this special triumph is a coincidence that the cycling calendar made it possible at the Critérium du Dauphiné. But that Evenepoel, the captain of the selection, the great star of the team and the cycling nation Belgium, is anything but a matter of luck.
Because this little man, he measures 1.71 meters, combines talent with class, courage with strength and transformed opportunities often into victories. At the Dauphiné, after his triumph in the fight against the clock, he was also allowed to cover the yellow jersey, which was heard with euphoria in Belgium. Evenepoel, 25 years old, not only led the overall ranking, he also distanced his reference sizes Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar on a 17.2 kilometer course, and by 20 or 48 seconds.
The hope of a cycling nation
Evenepoel is the hope of a wild cycling nation. Since the tour of the mountain king Lucien van Impe in July 1976, Belgium had no winner on the tour of France. Evenepoel is supposed to breastfeed this longing, as soon as possible, which describes the pressure that this driver is exposed to. He is considered the third man, the third largest candidate for overall success at the largest bike race this summer behind Pogacar and Vingegaard.
This was the main reason why Evenepoel was feeling great relief at Saint-Péray, because he was not sure whether he would be able to advance into the world class again. His medical records bothered him. Evenepoel has already achieved 62 victories in his career, but so far it has been interrupted three times for a very long time for serious injuries.
Long downtimes after severe falls
During the Lombardy tour, Evenepoel fell down a slope in front of a bridge in autumn 2020-a pelvic break, nine months downtime. In the spring of 2024 he broke a shoulder blade after an accident on the Basque Country Tour. He failed again for a long time, but he had reached his top form until the Tour de France. There he took third place in his debut behind Pogacar and Vingegaard.
Shortly thereafter, even afterwards, Evenepoel rose to a Belgian sports hero. At the Paris Olympic Games, he won gold in the individual time trial and in the street race in August 2024. The finale of his solo used Evenepoel for a spectacular staging.
Iconic photo at Olympia
A few centimeters behind the finish line on the trocadéro, he pulled on the brake levers, stopped in a jerk, descended, stood in front of his bike and spread his arms, while the best known landmark of Paris greeted stoically. “I just wanted to have a special photo with the Eiffel Tower”said even at the time.
Remco Evenepoel celebrates his victory in the street race at the 2024 Olympics in Paris
He had done that. The picture went around the world, it became one of the most iconic of the games, and on even Evenepoels Instagram account it was liked almost 700,000 times.
Collision with a post bus
Just a few months later, in early December 2024, it seemed uncertain whether the triumphal trip of the Olympic champion would be continued. He was collided in training with the suddenly opened door of a post bus, rushed heavily, broke several ribs, the right hand and the right shoulder blade. In addition, there were bruises of the lungs and a dislocation of the right -wing keybone. “In winter there were moments when I doubted whether I could ever reach my best level again”Saint-Péray said that after his time trial success.
But he has perseverance, a combative fortune that has already recognized him in his first career. Then he was a footballer, a very good, defensive midfielder and left defender at RSC Anderlecht, PSV Eindhoven and the KV Mechelen. He was captain of the Belgian U16 selection, technically versed, combative and runner even outstanding. But the career stagnated in Mechelens U19. What now?
First footballer, then cyclist
Evenepoel knew that he had shiny endurance values. Because at 16 he had completed the half marathon of Brussels in the field of top starter with a time of 1:16:15 hours and took 13th place. And on his father Patrick’s bike, a former, less successful cyclist, he made another remarkable performance.
On one day in spring 2017, Remco Evenepoel drove 120 kilometers over wavy terrain without preparation, the speedometers showed an average of 34 kilometers per hour. The father was amazed and the son had discovered a new passion. The excavated footballer soon decided to try to try it as a cyclist. It succeeded right away.
Remco Evenepoel for the Belgian U15 national team in 2014
Evenepoel won the first races in 2017, and in 2018 he was already successful in his age group, including at the Junior’s World Cup time trial and street races. In 2019, at the age of 19, after only two years in the saddle, Evenepoel already won the heavy Clásica San Sebastián as a soloist with the professionals. After that there was a time when he won all the smaller tours with which he was at the start.
He feared that everything was over
But setbacks followed again and again. The multiple fractures of the December fall, however, had a particularly dramatic quality for him: “I had violent problems with my right shoulder”he says. This part of the body is as important for a cyclist as a leg for a footballer. However, he remained calm, as his nature corresponds, says Evenepoel, “Day after week after week I regained trust on the saddle”. In times when the problems seemed insurmountable, “I put everything aside, my performance data, the pressure. I lived like a normal person and did things that I would otherwise not get to in the season.”
Evenepoel came back, and how. He even won his first race after his injury, the arrow of Brabant. Shortly afterwards he finished third at the Amstel-Gold-Race and place ninth at the flèche Wallonne before there was a setback at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Evenepoel, the world champion of 2022, the Vuelta winner of 2023 and the two-time winner of the Monument of Liège, was cut off and suspended, 59th place.
Lipowitz as a danger
After a training phase, Saint-Péray and the victory in the fight against the clock came confidence. However, the yellow jersey later had to pass on to Pogacar, in the overall ranking it was also overtaken by Vingegaard and the young German Florian Lipowitz. But even after this experience, Evenepoel remains calm: “I know what to do.” He even finished the Dauphiné of the previous year in seventh place and still made it onto the podium of the tour. This is also his goal this year, although he knows that Lipowitz unexpectedly has a new threat to him: “He is an extraordinary driver that I have to be careful”said Evenepoel of the Sportschau during the Dauphiné.
Evenepoel tried to reduce weight to the Dauphiné, because in the mountains the following applies: slightly climbing well. But this company is a tightrope walk because less kilos usually go hand in hand with the loss of strength in the time trials. “The fact that it is not so makes me confident”says Evenepoel.
General Evenepoel
His team leads even with a large aura and leadership. Klaas Lodewyck, his sporting director, said last July: “Remco has had a natural authority since childhood. You can’t teach anyone like this. All greats of sport have this property.” The French sports daily L’équipe described the Belgian as “General Evenepoel” due to these qualities. This general has proven to be particularly robust over time, as confident and mentally strong. It is this mixture with which Evenepoel starts the tour as a secret favorite on July 5 in Lille.
He is certainly supported by thousands of compatriots. Lille is located directly on the Belgian border and only one hour’s drive from his place of residence Schepdaal.