Heal up, champ 💪 We and the #Giro are going to miss you, but we’re sure more opportunities to show yourself will come sooner or later! Photo: @BeelWout
"I had a bad feeling, and it turned out to be right" - Remco Evenepoel's father talks through difficult moments at Giro d'Italia
CyclingMonday, 15 May 2023 at 12:26
Remco Evenepoel's abandon from the Giro d'Italia is the talk of the Giro d'Italia's first rest day with no doubt, with many discussing the conditions and already thinking of the next step. The World Champion's father admitted that he had a bad feeling over his son's health in recent days.
"I had a bad feeling, and it turned out to be right... We could see that he was not in his normal state. Agna had also mentioned it during the Walls stage: we didn't like really her look," Patrick Evenepoel told Le Soir. "Of course, we don't immediately think of the Covid because there had been this double fall a few days before. It's a shame but, on the other hand, we can also tell ourselves that there are worse things in life".
Evenepoel tested positive for Covid-19, just hours after he won the second time-trial of the race and pulled on the pink jersey for a second time. He has been one of the Covid cases identified throughout the week in what is an active outbreak in the Giro d'Italia peloton. Other big figures such as Filippo Ganna and Rigoberto Urán abandoned in the previous 36 hours, with the race being heavily affected by the vicrus.
"Today, he is the one who pays the price. But I told him: 'It's not your fault. You've worked hard enough for this, you've done everything for it. There's absolutely nothing you can do about it, you're helpless'. Knowing him, he'll be struggling for a while," Evenepoel senior adds. "But I think very quickly he will be able to turn the knob to focus on new and different goals. First he has to take some distance from everything for a while."
Covid will remain a risk until the very last day of the race and he brings up a very valid point on the security measures the race needs at the time to prevent as much as possible more cases from showing up. "Everyone has to question themselves: the organizers, the riders, the media, the other followers of the Giro caravan... Because it is clear that we are not rid of Covid. To the outside world it might be next to nothing but, in sport, it's still relevant. Can't blame anyone for it, but it inevitably suggests new precautions."
"Riders have already abandoned. Today it was all Uran and Remco. And when you see how the riders had to come down from the Gran Sasso on Friday, for example," he says, referring to the fact that riders took cable cars down the mountain alongside press and fans.
"I think there will undoubtedly be other who knows, maybe they'll take a risk with Primoz Roglic? Personally, we didn't want that to happen to Remco. But when the team doctor says 'stop', we just stop," he concluded.
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- Talented lol Riis massive doper HAHA Rasmussen doper yes really talented lolpaultryan200220-11-2024
- Oh, so now you know Pog better than he knows himself? Saying that when at the same time you can see an article quoting Pog saying “sometimes I don’t know why I attack” and not ever analysing emotions as men tend to is really rather naive and reductive. Hardly worth wasting our planet’s energy and ressources for. How about elevating the discussion to think over things a bit deeper?Mistermaumau20-11-2024
- They couldn’t convict him criminally because he paid up to escape it (that weird American possibility that ensures not all are equal before the law). He was convicted civilly but technically for committing crime. I on the other hand live in a country where unexplained damage to a baby in your care in theory leads to minimum 5 years of prison, if you admit an accident it’s more lenient but telling the truth that you don’t know how a bump on the skull happened exposes you to the as much risk as some who murder and rape. The developed world doesn’t deserve that designationMistermaumau20-11-2024
- Doesn’t deserve criticism considering all he won with all the crashes plus how close he got to a TdF (Pog had luck). If Pog and Jonas battle and wipe each other out we have Remco and Primoz to put on a show.Mistermaumau20-11-2024
- Agreed. Until he can stay upright on his bike, he’s at best an incomplete for a grade. That doesn’t mean that on his best form he can’t win it all. We just haven’t seen it.mij20-11-2024
- He's still sour over that uphill time trial upset.Front24220-11-2024
- What crime was he convicted of?Front24220-11-2024
- Demare and Pog and possibly Kristoffabstractengineer20-11-2024
- After the Cian Saga, all contracts should have a release clause or at least a legal framework for contract breaking. this is getting ridiculous.abstractengineer20-11-2024
- Other than Pog, the other leaders are beatable and They contributed 56 wins. But when team strategy is to pit best leaders against Pog and so-so leaders against Hirschi, Yates, Mcnulty, that team is going to lose everything.abstractengineer20-11-2024