THANK YOU REMCO EVENEPOEL! YOU HAVE PUT US BACK ON THE TOUR DE FRANCE MAP!
That this Tadej is much better than those of the past two years – as well as those of three and four years ago is beyond question. But that the Vingegaard against whom he competed was not at all the Vingegaard of those past two years is also indisputable. However, the difference was very large and it seems to many that in the near future there will be no limit to the Slovenian’s reign.
But doesn’t part of the reason for this oh… so strong Pogačar lie in the fact that last year too the difference was so great – then Vingegaard was 7’29” faster in the final reckoning than Pogačar. Is it what Tadej needed to train even more and better and plan the season better that made him come out so strong now? The Dane was good without question, but as we wrote in our preview, being good is not at all good enough against a Pogačar in super shape. However, a Vingegaard with perfect preparation will also come out stronger in 2025 than in his fantastic year of 2023. And then we want to see what the result will be then.
Remco may one day close the gap!
Remco Evenepoel has also shown great things. Yes it is true, … there is still a big difference between him and the two tenors. However, he is still the youngest of the three. Therefore, he still has the most margin. Let’s not forget that the basis in cycling is endurance. And throughout history, that stamina increased with the years of training the rider went through. That some riders of this generation are blessed with different/better genes than the riders of previous generations is more than obvious. But surely the basis remains, that those better genes are trainable and that it takes time to fully get everything out of those exceptional genes.
That Remco is not yet at his peak has four distinct reasons:
1. He started cycling much later than his competitors and therefore his base has not yet been laid as large and wide.
2. Remco has lost almost an additional six months of time/training with his terrible fall in the Tour of Lombardy on August 15, 2020 – on top of the point mentioned here under 1. So in other words yet another extra time lost to broaden the base.
3. Remco is 14 months younger than Tadej! Just look at what a level difference Tadej had recorded by 2023. Also, Remco is more than three years younger than Vingegaard. Take a look at what Vingegaard’s level was three years ago (2021). Compare that to 2022, 2023 and 2024.
4. Both Vingegaard and Pogačar were always able to carve out their careers and hit the ground running without too much pressure/criticism from the press and public opinion. Remco was/is never left alone in his totally cycling-crazy Belgium. Not by the press nor by public opinion, who are either too euphoric or too ruthless in their comments. Remco may have a hard bolster, but as we see him, underneath that bolster is a gingerbread heart that is sometimes afraid of not living up to expectations and also very sad to hear/read so many negative comments from (mostly) compatriots.
That is why we dare to write that if Remco Evenepoel is spared from major bad luck, if we all let him do things calmly, if he himself is patient and little pressure is imposed from outside, he will one day become the next Belgian Tour winner. However, the social media critics who gagged Remco with his Tour debut will find in such words a new drive to jeer him. Let that, then, be just another drive for Remco to one day finally unmask those remaining critics as well.
"Remco may have a hard shell, but underneath is a gingerbread heart"
Before concluding this article, I quickly google Remco Evenepoel’s name and yet again I see the comments in the press that, in my humble opinion, again need not be. One press writes that he should not devote himself fully to climb work and that he should keep what he has – read: his time trial abilities. Somewhere else we then read that with Pogačar’s preparation and training, he can have a shot at winning the Tour as early as 2025. Still, let him quietly do what he believes in himself. Stop giving that (perhaps well-meaning) advice through the press and stop that endless speculation. Is there really nothing else to write about? Wouldn’t the entourage, the trainers, the team and Remco himself, know better what to do and not to do?…. We think so!
Being proud and grateful is the only thing that is appropriate here
As a Belgian cycling magazine, we are just happy and proud of what Remco accomplished!
Just like we are happy when Victor, Wout, Arnaud, Jasper & Jasper and all the other Belgians deliver a great performance. We are a cycling country and cherishing cycling heroes is part of it.
Criticism is allowed, questions can be asked, truths can be said, but respect and dignity should be evident in all comments.
That’s why we say now: Thank you Remco for really putting Belgium back on the Tour de France map! And … whether you are already a candidate winner next year or not doesn’t matter. Take your time and seize the opportunity when it presents itself to one day make that top step yours too!
Text: Patrick Van Gansen
