21/09/2024

Remco Evenepoel responds to Tom Dumoulin regarding Worlds' time-trial - "It was raining, it was slippery, and I won there, didn't I?"

Tom Dumoulin is a former time-trial World Champion and one of the men who knows the most from the discipline. His recent comments on Remco Evenepoel however were not received too well as the Belgian denied the idea that he is not too good at cornering.

"You can divide the time trial into three individual time trials: the first twenty kilometers are pretty much flat, where you have to "pace" until the foot of the first climb," Evenepoel said in a press conference ahead of the race, responding to Het Laatste Nieuws. "Then a zone of fourteen kilometers in the hills where almost all the altimeters are and where you have to go up as fast as possible."

From the Belgian and those around him, it has become clear that the route suits him well. The 46 kilometers will feature two completely flat and straightforward sections, with some hilly terrain inbetween. "The climb is one in shifts and certainly tricky enough because you already have 23 kilometers in the legs, and the steepest kilometer follows at the end. At the top, part three begins, with a descent first, where you have to try to recover, and then it's as fast as possible to the finish over 12 flat kilometers,"

"Evenepoel is made to sit on a time trial bike" - Tom Dumoulin believes in Remco Evenepoel's qualities for the World Championships

Amongst the questions that were asked to Evenepoel was one regarding the comments of Tom Dumoulin. The Dutchman said in words to Wielerflits that "his cornering technique is still a bit inconsistent. Sometimes, I think 'well, he's doing quite well in the corners', but he also rode through time trials with fright. Take the first corners in the first-time trial of the Tour de France this year. That didn't look like it. Compared to Pogacar, he lost an awful lot of time there".

Whilst this is an observation, and not criticism of Evenepoel's riding style against the clock; the reigning World Champion disagrees with Dumoulin. "Tom did not see the time trial at the Olympics, right? It was raining, it was slippery, and I won there, didn't I?" he responded.