"Press, social media, YouTube...etc. Everyone wants a piece of Remco" - Jurgen Van den Broeck attempts to explain Evenepoel's disastrous stage 13

Remco Evenepoel has been front and centre for much of the drama and excitement during the 2023 Vuelta a Espana. His one bad day however, was so disastrous it saw him completely drop out of GC contention.

In Belgium, that dramatic collapse remains a big talking point. Jurgen Van den Broeck, the last Belgian to podium at the Tour de France has attempted to try and explain just what happened to the reigning time-trial world champion. "For me, during that period it was just shielding myself from everything and focusing on my job. I left everything else behind it," he says to Sporza, recalling his own experience of mounting a GC challenge at a three-week Grand Tour. "Press, social media, YouTube...etc. Everyone wants a piece of Remco."

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Van den Broeck believes this constant pressure of attention on the Soudal - Quick-Step leader may have played it's part in the fateful crack on stage 13. "That might give EVEN more pressure," he explains. "It is difficult for me to judge because I am not and was not really concerned with that, but that is today like this. Maybe his competitors are less concerned with that. A big round is simply difficult and every detail where you have to invest too much energy can be fatal."

Could this disappointment have an effect on the long-term GC ambitions of Evenepoel though? Adam Blythe recently said on Eurosport that Evenepoel would be better suited as a stage hunter rather than an overall contender but Van den Broeck isn't so sure. "I find it difficult to judge that now. He already won the Vuelta last year, so he can do it. The Giro was twice less successful. It has ups and downs," he says. "They have to analyze with the team where things went wrong. Learn from the experiences. Remco is still super young and he still has plenty of time to figure that out."

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