Jan Bakelants on Remco Evenepoel's lashing out regarding Tim Declercq: "He even gets energy from negativity"

Remco Evenepoel was upset at the Paris-Nice team time-trial and for good reason, as the sudden weather changes put a big dent on the team's result on the day. He later criticized - and apologized afterwards - former teammate Tim Declercq for a move during the TTT; Jan Bakelants believes this anger fuels Evenepoel.

"That's just Remco. He needs that negativity," Bakelants said in the Wielerclub Wattage podcast. "That's also a bit of an outlet for him. Actually, it doesn't hurt, because his results don't suffer. He even gets energy from negativity." Whether Evenepoel and Soudal - Quick-Step did lose time because of Declercq not moving out of the way in a corner can't be answered, the now Lidl-Trek rider admitted it was not purposeful but still that was enough to trigger Evenepoel at the time.

The Belgian rider, although more contained than in past years, remains rather explosive and in recent days has also (rightfully so, according to most) lashed out at the UCI for suddenly banning Specialized's head sock which the team had been using for year and a half in the time-trials. This came right after a controversy emerged over Team Visma | Lease a Bike's new time-trial helmet.

Tom Boonen however does not relate to Belgium's newest supertalent, he says that at this point point in his career these little incidents did not bother him too much anymore: "I was already a completely different person. I didn't care about too much."