"Anything is possible" - Patrick Lefevere believes in possibility of Evenepoel succeeding at World Championships

Cycling
Tuesday, 13 September 2022 at 16:00
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Remco Evenepoel is coming out of the Vuelta a Espana in stellar form and with the World Championships already at the door, expectations are high for Belgium who have in Evenepoel and Wout van Aert two very strong riders who can fight for gold on both races.
“I enjoy it inside. I'm not that exuberant, but I like to blame people. According to many, the Quick-Step team could only win classics, but apparently people only have a memory of 48 hours," Lefevere said on 'De Afspraak' show. "We already came second in the Vuelta with Mas [2018] and we lost the Giro due to a mistake by the commissioners when Uran was three minutes ahead and lost his jersey [2014]. We have done more than what we have shown in the past three weeks. People always forget that.”
Whilst Evenepoel will ride both events, Van Aert will exclusively focus on the road race. The 22-year old has shown the capacity to fight for the win in both however Lefevere is also keen to point how much he's developed over the last year. “There has been a lot of doubt about Remco's capabilities by the outside world," he said. 
He described the crash and rehabilitation process from 2020 Il Lombardia: "I don't think people really understand what it means to fall ten meters down a ravine. A broken pelvis in several places, and also the mental aspect. That little guy was barely over 20 years old. After that, he wanted to rehabilitate a little too quickly. Some are his fault and some are ours. After which he had a repercussion, which lasted six months to a year.”
Evenepoel will be racing the World Championships these coming two weeks, both individual time-trial and road race where he should have medal ambitions if he doesn't suffer from the fatigue from the Vuelta. "Either there is decompression at the World Cup, or he does a Philippe Gilberte and continues at this level until the Il Lombardia," the team manager said. 
“When you are in such a condition, anything is possible. He was very relaxed on Sunday evening. He is so strong in his head that I suspect he will be top in the World Cup as well.”

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