Evenepoel, Van Vleuten, Boilard and others

With races ending in the middle of the night, the UCI Road World Championships, which concluded on Sunday in Wollongong, Australia, did not have much resonance on this side of the globe. A brief return to the event in five acts.

Simon Drouin
The Press

Evenepoel’s Confirmation

The “new Merckx” or the “little Cannibal”, announced the Belgian press when Remco Evenepoel won two world junior titles in 2018. A competitive cyclist for only five years, he confirmed the enormity of his talent by winning the arc jersey -en-ciel among the elites, Sunday, in Wollongong. The 22-year-old phenom won in his usual fashion, flying alone with just over 25km to go to cross the line with a lead of more than two minutes over the contenders’ peloton. Frenchman Christophe Laporte and Australian Michael Matthews, two participants in the Quebec and Montreal Grands Prix as five of the top ten, won silver and bronze respectively. Wout van Aert, Evenepoel’s compatriot and big favorite, settled for fourth place.

A year earlier in Leuven, Evenepoel had been widely criticized at home for his impetuosity in a race where he should have put himself at the service of van Aert. This time, he was indeed co-leader of the Belgian selection after his Vuelta title and his bronze medal in the individual time trial. Winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in the spring, he became only the fourth cyclist to win a monument, a grand tour and a world gold medal in the same year, after Alfredo Binda, Bernard Hinault and… Eddy Merckx.

Boilard comes close to the podium

Fourth in the new under-23 category, Simone Boilard came very close to repeating her feat of 2018 when she won bronze in the juniors. To say that she almost missed the meeting… Due to an invalid visa – she had ticked the wrong box – she only arrived in Australia the day before the race after four days of adventures and worries. After two years of questioning and health problems settled by a delicate operation on an iliac artery, the cyclist from Quebec confirms her undeniable talent and potential. In total, she took 22^e rank of the event contested with the competitors in the elite category. Alison Jackson, future teammate of young Quebecer Magdeleine Vallières Mill at EF, achieved the best Canadian result with an 18^e square.

The van Vleuten phenomenon

Annemiek van Vleuten concluded a brilliant season by winning the gold medal in the road race. The 39-year-old Dutchwoman surprised her competitors with a solo attack in the last kilometer. All this while riding with the pain of a fractured elbow three days earlier in a violent and strange fall in the mixed relay.

“Miracles can happen,” said van Vleuten, winner of the Giro Donne, Women’s Tour de France, Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2022. It’s hard to imagine more complete domination.

Van der Poel’s Bad Night

One of the favorites in the men’s elite race, Mathieu van der Poel spent part of the night before the start being questioned at a police station. At the hotel where he was staying with his girlfriend, the Dutchman would have been disturbed by noise from neighbors and knocking on his door. Exasperated, he would have made known his dissatisfaction to the two young girls of 13 and 14 years old in question, according to his testimony.

“According to the alleged facts, he pushed the two teenage girls, one falling to the ground and the other being thrown against a wall, causing a small scratch on her elbow,” police told AFP.

Returning from the interrogation at 4 a.m., van der Poel insisted on taking the start, but he gave up after 30 km, to everyone’s amazement. On Monday, the 27-year-old cyclist pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and paid a total fine of AU$1,500 (about C$1,332). He announced that he would appeal his conviction. According to a leader of his professional team, he is “mentally destroyed”.

Côté and Zukowsky defend the maple leaf with honor

Deprived of its most seasoned members, who boycotted the event to protest against the policy of Cycling Canada to charge the plane, the men’s national team managed well under the circumstances. Without weighing on Sunday’s race, Pier-André Côté and Nickolas Zukowsky, two of its four representatives, “existed”. Côté slipped into the early breakaway and stayed there for almost 200 km. The Canadian champion then found Zukowsky in the counter peloton which served as a launching pad for Evenepoel. Crippled with cramps, Zukowsky weakened with just over 25 km to go. The athlete from Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides nevertheless reached the finish in 36^e rank, less than a minute behind the group that fought for the silver and bronze medals.

Côté and Zukowsky will no longer be teammates at Human Powered Health next year. Côté will line up with the American ProTeam for a fifth season, while Zukowsky, second in the Maryland cycling classic earlier this month, will wear new colors, he announced to Sportcom colleague Mathieu Laberge. Of note, the 19^e place of national champion Tristan Jussaume, 21, in the M23 time trial.