(Brussels) Still a young cycling hope a few months ago, Belgian Remco Evenepoel moved into a new dimension by winning the world title on Sunday in Wollongong in Australia, continuing an exceptional year 2022.
Posted at 7:23 a.m.
Barely 22 years old, the one who is often considered the successor of the “cannibal” Eddy Merckx has a 2022 record to make more than one cyclist jealous: Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, the Classica San Sebastian at the end of July, the Vuelta in September, becoming the first Belgian to win a Grand Tour since 1978 (De Muynck at the Giro), before the Australian coronation on Sunday.
By offering Belgium its first world title for 10 years, “the Phenomenon” continues a dazzling trajectory that began with a bang in its first professional season in 2019, but slowed down by a fall during the Tour of Lombardy 2020, which left it the basin in crumbs in a ravine.
A half-marathon the day after a match
Before becoming cycling world champion on Sunday, Remco Evenepoel forged an exceptional physique and character on football pitches, even if the bike was never far away.
Until he was 17, the cyclist’s parents, Patrick and Agna, were convinced that their son would become a professional footballer. They have also invested heavily in the future career of their son, who has passed through the training centers of Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven.
“Remco had a very strong personality. I immediately made him my captain, ”recalls AFP Stéphane Stassin, coach of the U16s in Anderlecht.
An anecdote perfectly sums up the capacities of the young Remco. In October 2016, while participating in the Brussels half-marathon, Stéphane Stassin was surprised to be overtaken by his young player.
“I saw a few Kenyans pass then the young Remco who must have been seventh or eighth. We had played the day before and I had asked the players to rest. But apparently having an entire match in his legs before running a half-marathon didn’t bother him…”
But if the young player has extraordinary athletic abilities, he lacks technique and above all explosiveness. Anderlecht will make him understand before letting him go to Mechelen.
Later, Remco will say that he felt “destroyed” by his heart club.
Perhaps upset, the young Flemish will quickly reorient himself.
The fall in Lombardy
On March 24, 2017, after his day as a plasterer, his father noticed that his bicycle had disappeared from the garage. And for good reason: Remco has gone “for a little walk”. 117 km at an average speed of 34 km/h to the mythical Wall of Geraardsbergen, he tells his father, proudly showing the GPS of his bicycle.
It was on that day that he announced to his parents his desire to pursue a career in cycling.
This environment is not foreign to the teenager: his father was professional for four seasons. As soon as his choice is announced, the father prepares his son’s bike for his first race. He competed in his first event on April 2, 2017 in Flemish Brabant, the day his compatriot Philippe Gilbert won the Tour of Flanders.
Nothing and no one will stop Remco.
Not even a fall that could have cost him his life during the Tour of Lombardy 2020. While he is already nicknamed the “Phenomenon” for having won the Clasica San Sebastian during his first professional season in 2019, Evenepoel performs an impressive cabriole above the parapet of a bridge in the descent of the Mur de Sormano 40 kilometers from the finish.
An end of career is feared. But the young man, who got up with numerous pelvic fractures, will get back on a bike nine months later. Despite abandoning the Giro, he reassures himself in 2021 by winning the Tours of Belgium and Denmark before signing an exceptional year 2022: a monument (Liège-Bastogne-Liège), a Grand Tour (the Vuelta) and the world title. What comfort him in his choice to have abandoned the round ball.