"He just didn't understand it" - Opponents left flabbergasted by Remco Evenepoel's incredible engine

Remco Evenepoel was unable to secure the Belgian road title at the recent National Championships in Binche. Still, the winner Tim Wellens had only words of praise, acknowledging his compatriot's qualities. Just like the men who raced against the Olympic champion, also former National team coach Sven Vanthourenhout saw the great level of Evenepoel.

In the Vals Plat podcast, he points out that it was mostly due to others' tactics that Evenepoel didn't win. Jasper Philipsen (3rd) spent most of the race on the wheel of Soudal - Quick-Step star: "That makes sense. It is not strange that Philipsen was given that assignment. I would have said the same, because he only had to keep an eye on one person."

According to Vanthourenhout, Evenepoel often forgets that most mortals can't keep up with his devillish pace. "That was also the case last year at the World Championships in Zurich. He rode five to six kilometers at the front and came to about 35 seconds behind Pogacar with five or six men in his wheel. Then he asks to take over, but that just doesn't work. They are completely at the limit in the wheel."

Vanthourenhout also recalls an anecdote from last summer's Olympic Games. "After the road race we came back to the Olympic village and I ran into Stefan Küng. He had been in that breakaway, where he was then outridden by Remco. He told me that he just didn't understand it."

"He said: 'I'm just on his wheel, he doesn't attack, but you just feel that you have to pass. It's going to be one meter, two meters, five meters, ten meters.' He was dropped on a flat road, and that's also what happened to Wout van Aert in the Brabantse Pijl. He just couldn't sprint anymore."