2016 Climbing Project manager on discovering Remco Evenepoel via running test: "We immediately saw that Remco had a lot of potential"

Remco Evenepoel was 17 years old and he had never ridden a cycling race, but confidently put himself forward as a candidate for Cycling Belgium's Climbing Project. Sports journalist Frank Van de Winkel re-tells the Belgian's first steps to becoming cycling superstar in the recently published book Remco Evenepoel.

"Youth riders with possible climbing qualities had few role models and there was only a limited range of relevant competitions for youth. We wanted to get them excited about it and that is why we started the Climbing Project in 2016," said Erwin Koninckx.

Evenepoel eventually applied after the deadline thanks to his father. "Remco applied by e-mail and sent the results of his most recent exercise test. That was not a cycling test, but a running test. The report from that running test was very convincing with very strong scores for all endurance parameters. We saw that Remco had a lot of potential," concluded Carlo Bomans.

In addition, training coordinator Koninckx was impressed by Remco's football career and his leadership as captain. "This was someone who knew what he wanted and had shown several times that he had the right mentality to achieve his goal. Compared to most other young cyclists, he had actually already had half an international sports career behind him."