For all Remco Evenepoel has tempered his occasional outbursts and matured into not just one of the sport's best communicators but one of the best bike riders in the world, fulfilling the promise he first showed after switching to cycling from football at the age of 17, he still needs criticism and doubters to fire him up, to power him towards yet more history.
And so, as he celebrated finishing third in his maiden Tour de France and winning the best young riders’ jersey, an emotional Evenepoel combatively took aim at all those who have questioned whether he ever could attain the results that his cycling-mad home nation demand of him.
“You’re also from Belgium as well,” he said, addressing a question from a compatriot in the post-race press conference, “and everyone is always doubting me. I think from today on that should be finished. Finishing third behind the two best riders in the world with a big gap behind me [to fourth shows that] I’ve been on a very consistent level. It shows that I’ve made a step forward.”
It took six years being a professional before Soudal Quick-Step allowed Evenepoel to race the Tour, but the 24-year-old’s preparations were affected after he broke his collarbone in April. “I was in a rush to get into shape, and after the Dauphiné [in early June] there were again questions [about] whether we knew what we were doing," he said.
“It was my first Tour de France, there was a lot of pressure from my home country, a lot of work behind, and just delivering on my own race, not comparing with the two big boys, it’s something I am very proud of.
“Sometimes I think people don’t realise how much pressure can really lean on the shoulders with negative comments already starting from Paris-Nice where second place was not enough. So this is where the emotions and tears come from.”
Evenepoel finished more than nine minutes adrift of yellow jersey winner Tadej Pogačar, but became the first Belgian since Lucien Van Impe in 1981 to stand on the Tour podium properly (Jurgen Van den Broeck was belatedly awarded third place in 2010 after Alberto Contador’s suspension for doping).
Though the time trial world champion reiterated on several occasions how he is currently still some way short of Pogačar and the man between them both, Jonas Vingegaard, he sees a future in which he could one day win the maillot jaune. “Being third in my first Tour de France is already pretty good, and that shows the base is there to maybe become a Tour de France winner once, but for sure the gap is still quite big,” he assessed.
“What do I need? I need to work on my capacities, more specific climbing training probably, maybe leaving the TT work a little bit on the side and really go for the longer climb, the bigger efforts, more specific training in altitude, all that knowledge we can use a bit more in the team.
“I think this is the first step and it’s already a pretty good one. I think I just need to become stronger, and I think this Tour will really help to build experience and to really feel how high the level actually is. In a few months we can re-look at the Tour and build from there.”
It’s two years since Evenepoel won the Vuelta a España, a victory that prompted the King of the Belgians to call him and was commemorated with a huge national celebration in Brussels. When he reflects on the period since then, a journey that has brought with it two world championship medals, a second Monument and several more GC and one-day victories, he only sees constant improvement.
“Being world champion is another level… [but] honestly, for me this podium is one of the highest achievements in my career,” he said. “My numbers are now way higher than what I did in the Vuelta. The level is higher in the Tour, and every year it’s the same: we go faster and faster, uphill, downhill, on the flat, in time trials, everything is faster and more powerful. Maybe this podium place for my future plans about becoming a a pure GC rider means more to me than winning the Vuelta.
“Of course winning a Grand Tour is very special, but like I mentioned, being behind the two best riders in the world, the winners of the last five Tours, this is like a victory for me. All the knowledge they have, this was all new for me, for us.
“I came here with the idea to do a top five, but in the end I have a clear top-three spot with the white jersey and a stage win. It comes on the same place and maybe a bit higher than my Vuelta victory.”
