"I didn't get to bed until half past four in the morning" - Remco Evenepoel's wild six days between Tour de France and Olympic time trial
Cycling
Remco Evenepoel has had himself a very busy week on the bike. After becoming the first Belgian since 1981 to finish on the final podium of the Tour de France, the Soudal - Quick-Step leader claimed a sensational gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympic time trial.
But just what did the 24-year-old superstar get up to in the week in between the conclusion of his debut Tour de France campaign and the beginning of what could be a doubly golden Olympic games for the former Vuelta a Espana winner. Well, in quotes collected by HLN, the Belgian's six day spell in cast in new light.
"I didn't get to bed until half past four in the morning," Evenepoel recalls of Soudal - Quick-Step's post 2024 Tour de France party, that started on Sunday night and went well into the early hours of Monday morning. "I stayed there (in bed ed.), almost the entire day."
“On Tuesday I tried to cycle a bit. But it felt anything but great,” continues the winner of the White Jersey for Best Young Rider at the 2024 Tour de France, having stayed in Nice immediately following the Grand Tour's end. On Wednesday, he flew to Belgium and another training ride, this time proper reconnaissance of the Paris time trial course. "Again, not a good feeling," Evenepoel recalls however.
Filippo Ganna (L), Remco Evenepoel (M) and Wout van Aert (R) complete the Olympic ITT podium
"At 7 o'clock in the morning we were already dragged out of our beds," Evenepoel says of a rude awakening on Thursday morning as he was sent for a pre-Olympic doping test along with compatriots Lotte Kopecky and Wout van Aert. "On Friday, I got out of bed feeling a little fresh for the first time. And I felt that there was still something left in the tank. That gave me confidence. Eventually I found my best legs again at the right moment."
That definitely proved to be the case, as on Saturday afternoon, the time trial world champion added Olympic gold to his glistening palmares in style. “A magical moment," as the Belgian described it himself.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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Still no words, Olympic Champion… 🥇💭🇧🇪
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