Klaas Lodewyck, the sports director of the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team, has described Remco Evenepoel's Vuelta a Espana win as "a team success." Describing how it "brought so many emotions and so much joy to the whole team."
With Evenepoel's success coming in only his second Grand Tour, many doubted whether Quick-Step would be capable to claim the red jersey. This is something the team revelled in proving wrong, Lodewyck says. "People said we lacked the experience to win a grand tour, but what we needed was a leader – he added – Once we arrived, everyone raised their level. Everyone could see that Remco was fine from the first days, and when he won the individual time trial we started thinking that anything was possible."
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As one would expect, winning a three-week stage race is never easy. There are always bumps in the road and challenges to overcome. For Evenepoel and Quick-Step these obstacles came when the Belgian hit the deck and when a number of his most trusted lieutenants were forced to withdraw.
"The day he crashed wasn't easy, but a champion always comes back strong after a moment like that, and that's what he did," Lodewyck says. "Another difficult moment was losing Pieter Serry and Julian Alaphilippe. We had to control half the race with just five guys and it wasn't easy, but we did it. We improvised, changing the role of each rider and adapting to different situations, and I was very impressed with how adaptable the guys were and how they gave it their all .”
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