"Cian Uijtdebroeks is being compared to me. That remains very strange" - Remco Evenepoel admits bad feelings towards continuous comparisons

Remco Evenepoel has recently talked about the early years of his career, and has specifically talked about his time as a football player in the youth ranks of the Belgian Anderlecht Football club, and how that has led him to a cycling career where to this day he remains the target of comparisons.

Evenepoel told L'Équipe how his past in football has helped the transition onto the bike. "For example, it helped me in terms of stability. I've developed abs, which helps me maintain my cycling position better at times. From my last years as a footballer I still have strong muscles in my upper body. I did a lot of bodybuilding back then. I have the feeling that there is still a lot of football player in me," he said.

Famously Evenepoel was a football player and whilst recovering from an injury on the bike he found out the talent he had. Then began a meteoric rise through the ranks, where in his final junior year he culminated with incomparable success among his peers. However things were not always as bright for the 23-year old.

"They hurt me. My heart was really broken, Anderlecht was everything to me," he recalls his experience in the team where he didn't frequently play. "After that period I became more stubborn. If there was something negative in my life, I would deal with it and move on. It happened, for example, after my crash in the Giro di Lombardia. I then went through my rehabilitation without any problems. When I was in pain, I kept going. Sometimes even a bit too much," Evenepoel continued.

Ever since his young years he's also been compared to compatriot Eddy Merckx, a position of pressure that few riders have experienced. That has calmed down over the past year as Evenepoel took the Velo d'Or for best male rider of the year following stupendous wins, but now he finds himself on the other side of the situation.

"No one will ever be able to be compared to Eddy Merckx. So many victories in a relatively short period of time, that can never happen again. It is cycling in another world. That's not the same anymore. Now, for example, 19-year-old Cian Uijtdebroeks is being compared to me. That remains very strange. I don't like being compared to anyone. There are no two identical people on earth. That's why I struggle with comparisons," he concluded.