"It didn’t happen overnight" - Oumi Rayane shares secrets of Remco Evenepoel's Olympic success
Cycling
Remco Evenepoel proved once again that he is the best time trialist on the planet last Saturday afternoon as he powered to Olympic gold against the clock in Paris. They say that behind every great man is a great woman though, and in Evenepoel's case, Oumi Rayane is that woman.
After the dust has now settled on Evenepoel's Olympic triumph, Oumi has taken to her official Instagram account to reflect on the events of the day and the months of hard work in preparation for the 36:12 long effort the Belgian required to defeat the likes of Filippo Ganna, Wout van Aert and Joshua Tarling.
"Still can’t believe it!!! It’s a dream come true, but it didn’t happen overnight. It took years of preparation, and the past months have been a mental rollercoaster," begins Oumi's assessement of the success. "Here are a few key moments that led to this achievement:"
"A lot of testing! We went to Morgan Hill (USA) during our off-season for wind tunnel testing. As we say in my domain: ceteris paribus—keeping everything else constant while changing details like clothes, position, and equipment to analyze the differences in results," she writes as the first point of note. "Eat, train, sleep, repeat. Spending a lot of time on our mountain, living a spartan life, all for the big goals."
"Spending the night in the hospital after the big crash (only in April?!) and forcing a smile despite the circumstances," Oumi continues. "The moment after the surgery... a lot of tears, doubts (Will I find my level again? Was all this work for nothing?), demotivation. Trying to get back up after this disappointment, receiving good care to achieve a good level again, and playing nurse during the rehabilitation."
In fact, more than just a loving partner, Oumi took a hands on approach to Evenepoel's success. "Back to training! Remco wanted to test something ‘new’ so I helped him with it. Call me Coach Oumi," she jokes. "A lot of lonely weeks/months for me. Dinner alone, night alone, waking up alone, and so on… Making fresh and balanced food whenever he was back home, even if it was the night before my exam. It can be tough combining my university studies with all the wife duties, but in the end, it’s all worth it."
"Of course, this is just a small glimpse of everything. But if you keep working hard and never give up, you can make your dreams come true," she concludes. "So proud of you hubby!!"
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Nonsense Mistermaumau. Tom has noticeably more character and personality than Mathieu. Look at the photograph with this article - when was the last time you saw Mathieu crack a smile like that?RupertBear17-12-2024
- Get over yourself! Tom is fine, he's quite a character in his way - he's got a great sense of humour for a start. Watch him and Matt Stephens do one of their cafe rides, they're both a hoot. I don't mind Mathieu, but he's a bit of a cold fish in case you haven't noticed. You guys make me laugh, you get a unique rider like Tom appears on the scene and all you can do is bitch! By the way Senna, your use of a comma and then the lack of a space between words is usually an indicator of ASD. Now I'm being bitchy!RupertBear17-12-2024
- Whining isn’t a good look, Lance. Oh and doping or not, the GOAT is still Eddy Merckx imho - lance couldn’t t even come close when you compare resultsCrashjames16-12-2024
- * not taking anything away from the tireless sacrifices wout has made as a superstar. those are two extraordinary individuals.OCexile16-12-2024
- sadly true. mathieu is the bedrock AD was built on, and he’s always shouldered that role and always seen the bigger picture: took MUCH less money than he could have gotten while the team was growing, and has written them new book on what it means to be a completely selfless superstar, witness every ferocious leadout for jasper and what he did at MSR last year. yup, so far that’s not thomas.OCexile16-12-2024
- ...you could also add diminuer,etiquette,basic PR skills and respect all of which Pidcock lacks in abundance.Senna196016-12-2024
- Just like Remco should have ;-)Mistermaumau16-12-2024
- And you base that on which vast amount of knowledge you have on him please?Mistermaumau16-12-2024
- Not only that but what MVDP did at AD had a lot to do with a personality that TP will never have.Mistermaumau16-12-2024
- i mean, duh, the ONLY reason for pidcock to be at Q36.5 is freedom and autonomy. vande velde has kind of an art for the obvious. but as far as the “you should do what van der poel did” advice goes, well, I’LL state the obvious: doing what mathieu did KINDA depends on being ABLE to do what mathieu did. if it didn’t then yeah, that would really be some terrific advice.OCexile16-12-2024