Remco Evenepoel

Remco Evenepoel

Evenepoel at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships.
Personal information
Nickname	Aerobullet
Born	(2000-01-25) 25 January 2000 (age 21) Aalst, Belgium
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)[1]
Weight	61 kg (134 lb; 9 st 8 lb)[1]
Team information
Current team	Quick-Step–Alpha Vinyl
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Amateur teams
2017	Forte Young CT
2018	Acrog–Pauwels Sauzen
Professional team
2019–	Deceuninck–Quick-Step[2]
Major wins
Stage races Tour of Belgium (2019, 2021) Volta ao Algarve (2020) Vuelta a Burgos (2020) Vuelta a San Juan (2020) Tour de Pologne (2020) Danmark Rundt (2021) One-day races and Classics European Time Trial Championships (2019) Clásica de San Sebastián (2019) Brussels Cycling Classic (2021) Coppa Bernocchi (2021)
Medal record Representing  Belgium Men's road bicycle racing World Championships 2018 Innsbruck Junior road race 2018 Innsbruck Junior time trial 2019 Yorkshire Elite time trial 2021 Flanders Elite time trial European Championships 2019 Alkmaar Elite time trial 2018 Brno Junior road race 2018 Brno Junior time trial 2021 Trento Elite road race 2021 Trento Elite time trial

Remco Evenepoel (born 25 January 2000) is a Belgian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Quick-Step–Alpha Vinyl.^[3]

He is the son of Patrick Evenepoel, a former racing cyclist who won the 1993 Grand Prix de Wallonie.^[4] Remco Evenepoel started his sport career in association football, playing for the youth teams of R.S.C. Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven, as well as being featured in the youth national teams of Belgium. Realising that his physical abilities made him more suited for cycling, he switched to the discipline in 2017. After winning the road race and time trial in the junior categories at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships, Evenepoel turned professional with Deceuninck–Quick-Step, skipping the under-23 rank.

Career[]

Evenepoel winning the junior world time trial title at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships

Junior career[]

The son of the former professional cyclist Patrick Evenepoel, Remco Evenepoel started his sporting career as a football player. At the age of five he joined Anderlecht. When he was eleven years old he changed to the youth academy of PSV Eindhoven returning to Anderlecht again at the age of fourteen. He played four times for the Belgian U15 team and five times for the Belgian U16. After some setbacks and disappointments he made a switch to cycling in 2017. He won both the time trial and road race at the 2018 European Junior Road Cycling Championships. The gap between him and the second place rider in the road race was 9 minutes and 44 seconds.^[5][6]

Later in the year, Evenepoel also won both the road race and the time trial at the UCI Junior Road World Championships.^[7]

Deceuninck–Quick-Step[]

2019[]

Evenepoel celebrating victory at the 2019 Clasica de San Sebastian

Electing to skip the under-23 ranks, Evenepoel announced in July 2018 that he would join Deceuninck–Quick-Step for the 2019 season.^[8] For his first season, Evenepoel was scheduled to compete in shorter stage races, and skipped the cobbled, one-day Classic races.^[9][10] In his debut race, the Vuelta a San Juan, Evenepoel won the young rider classification and 9th overall whilst also winning his first professional podium in the stage 3 time trial behind teammate Julian Alaphilippe and Valerio Conti.^[11] Evenepoel's first professional victory came at the Tour of Belgium, where he won the general classification as well as a stage and the points classification.^[12] On 3 August 2019 Evenepoel scored his first World Tour victory when he won the Clasica de San Sebastian. He escaped from the field, accompanied by Toms Skujinš about 20 km (12 mi) from the finish, dropping his companion on the last hill and soloing to victory.^[13] He became the third-youngest rider ever to win a cycling classic in the history of the sport.^[14] On 8 August 2019, Evenepoel won the time trial at the 2019 European Road Championships.^[15] At the World Championships in September, Evenepoel would have been eligible to still ride in the under-23 category, but decided against it and started in the elite men's events.^[16] He went on to win the silver medal in the time trial.^[17] He spent much of the year sharing a room with Philippe Gilbert who acted in a mentoring role.^[18]

2020[]

Evenepoel started the 2020 season at the Vuelta a San Juan, where he won the individual time trial on stage 3 and the general classification.^[19] He then competed at the Volta ao Algarve. Here, he won stage 2 as well as the final stage, a time trial, to clinch overall victory ahead of Maximilian Schachmann.^[20]

After the extended break in the cycling calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he won the Vuelta a Burgos^[21] and the Tour de Pologne.^[22]

Evenepoel suffered a serious accident at Il Lombardia. While descending the Muro di Sormano and after a sharp curve, he collided with a low wall on the side of a bridge and was thrown over it with the impact, falling in a dirt area near some trees, several meters below the road.^[23] No other cyclists were involved in the accident and he was swiftly removed from the scene by the emergency services, being conscious and responsive all the time. Hours later, his team reported that he had suffered a fractured pelvis and a right lung contusion, also stating that he would not be returning to competition in the near future.^[24]

2021[]

Evenepoel returned to competition in the 2021 Giro d'Italia, finishing 7th in the prologue time trial, after which he said: "I was standing on the start ramp with some tears in my eyes. It was a hard way to come back and start the Giro like this. But immediately a top-10 spot, I didn’t expect it – I’m really happy."^[25] After spending the first 15 stages in the top-10 of the general classification, he crashed during stage 17 and was unable to continue the race.^[26]

He competed in the rescheduled 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in both the road race and time trial earning a top 10 place in the latter. During the 2021 World Championships in Flanders he claimed his second elite level world championship medal, taking the bronze in the time trial. Evenepoel was the centre of a furore in the World road race. Ahead of the race, it was felt that Wout Van Aert was the protected leader for a Belgian team that was very hopeful of a home win,^[27] and Eddy Merckx stated to Het Nieuwsblad that "If there is only one leader, you really shouldn't take Evenepoel [...] He rides mainly for himself; we saw that at the Olympics". Evenepoel responded "He always has to say something and that's a shame [...] Maybe it stings that I didn't ride for his son's team. I have a lot of respect for Eddy and apparently that is not mutual." On the race ahead "I'm here to work for Belgium, for Wout, because I know that it's the chance of his life to be world champion. He's in the form of his life, and it would be stupid of me to ride for myself. On this parcours, no one is stronger than Wout. I said already a lot of times that I will do everything Wout."^[28]

Evenepoel at the 2021 Danmark Rundt, which he won

In the road race Evenepoel appeared to answer Merckx' criticism that he is a selfish cyclist by joining an early attack with 180km still to race, followed by a second mid-race attack, and then created the decisive selection in the finals laps.^[29] Van Aert was unable to win the race, which was won by Julian Alaphilippe. After the race, people from the world cycling such as Evenepoel's trade team boss Patrick Lefevere praised Evenepoel's strength and wondered if the Belgian team had made the wrong choice of leader.^[30] Lefevere asked: "[W]hy did the Belgians want to break open the race so early? And above all, why did they throw Remco into the fray so early? For me, Remco was the best man in the race after Julian. But they just sacrificed him and rolled out the red carpet for Julian."^[31]

Evenepoel responded to the criticism of Belgium's tactics by revealing that he felt could have won the race but that "[o]n Friday evening before the World Championships there was a meeting with everyone. It was very unclear to me what exactly was expected of me. So after sleeping on it, the next day I went to [Sven Vanthourenhout and Serge Pauwels] and asked: 'What do you expect from me in concrete terms?' "I also said straight out that I thought I might be able to win the race in a certain scenario. 'Do I get a chance or not?' I asked. ‘No,’ was the answer."^[29] This caused a rift in the team; Van Aert said "I expected to hear criticism because we didn’t win but that it came from someone on the team is not smart and only serves to add fuel to the fire. It’s a shame, and I regret it. Remco issued more criticism on TV than in the team meeting"^[32] and "He was the one who agreed with the tactics, who agreed with the selection. He has been preaching for weeks on end how he was looking forward to it so I think it’s really weird to turn 180 degrees now".^[33]

Days after the race Belgian team-mate Jasper Stuyven said that Evenepoel had failed to show up for the team debrief: "Everyone was there, except Remco [...] He was aware, but didn't think it was necessary. I think that is a shame, especially because he thought it necessary to say things on TV. That stuck with some of us. [...] I think that Remco should sometimes be slowed down by his entourage. He still has to learn when he can and cannot say things. Also, a super-strong rider – which he certainly is – should realise that some things should remain internal."^[34]

Career achievements[]

Major results[]

General classification results timeline[]

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour	2019	2020	2021
Giro d'Italia	—	—	DNF
Tour de France	—	—	—
Vuelta a España	—	—	—
Major stage race general classification results
Stage races	2019	2020	2021
Paris–Nice	—	—	—
Tirreno–Adriatico	—	—	—
Volta a Catalunya	—	NH	—
Tour of the Basque Country	—		—
Tour de Romandie	76		—
Critérium du Dauphiné	—	—	—
Tour de Suisse	—	NH	—

Classics results timeline[]

Major championships timeline[]

Event		2019	2020	2021
Olympic Games	Time trial	Not held		9
	Road race			49
World Championships	Time trial	2	—	3
	Road race	DNF	—	62
European Championships	Time trial	1	—	3
	Road race	—	—	2
National Championships	Time trial	3	—	2
	Road race	84	—	3

Awards[]

• Belgian Sportsman of the year: 2019^[35]
• Crystal Bicycle: 2019^[36]

References[]

External links[]

• Remco Evenepoel at ProCyclingStats

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Remco Evenepoel.