Remco Evenepoel talks out for the first time since Giro abandon, criticizes Covid deniers: "What is hard to accept is all the fake and negative comments"
Cycling
Remco Evenepoel has talked for the first time since abandoning the Giro d'Italia, using social media to voice his feelings a week later. He has words of gratitude, disappointment, but also criticism after having been the target of some fans who disputed his decision to abandon the Giro with Covid-19.
"...Let’s start with the positive news. After today’s check-ups and medical screenings, I got the green light to start training again and to think about new goals," Evenepoel shared in an Instagram post. "I should thank in first place my wife & parents for the support they gave me the last few days. Also my closest family members & friends really supported me a lot and well! Also people to thank: my teammates and team members of Soudal - Quick-Step."
Evenepoel has not talked to the media since the faithful day, when he abandoned the Giro testing positive for Covid-19 hours after winning his second stage - stage 9's time-trial - and jumping into the pink jersey. It was a huge disappointment for the World Champion and turned the race upside down, with a new leader, without perhaps the biggest of favourites, and without one less team to dispute the overall classification.
"Then, my feelings after having to abandon the Giro. Definitely one of the hardest setbacks in my still very short career. Leaving the race with a COVID-19 infection was a very brutal end of what could have been a beautiful story," he continued. "6 months of full preparation for only this race. Sacrifices, long days in the rain, long periods away from home. Everything was going according plan but that is how sport goes."
Many words of support were given at the time, but others were not. At the time many questioned his decision to leave the race before the rest day, and some such as Pier Bergonzi wrote an article for Gazzetta dello Sport on how Evenepoel 'fled' the race, giving further spotlight to such comments across social media. These comments specifically have shaken the Belgian who responds:
"Ups & downs are part of our job and I can accept that without any problem at all. What is hard to accept is all the fake and negative comments I got after having to leave the race. I am not the type of person that is going to hide or is afraid of losing. So this is for those thinking that. The last days were emotionally very hard because of these comments.
Soudal - Quick-Step took a major hit, and over the coming days saw several more riders abandon with Covid. The team currently has only Ilan van Wilder and Pieter Serry at the Corsa Rosa. Patrick Lefevere has already confirmed the World Champion will in the meantime not race the Tour de France, and the Vuelta a Espana is also unlikely to see a return. The World Championships and Il Lombardia remain, as initially planned, the biggest goals of the year in the coming months.
" But I will take those moments with me on the bike, preparing for my next goals and races. So, I just want to ask everyone to remember I am not a robot, but also a normal human being, husband, son, teammate etc. with normal feelings.I am really looking forward to set some new goals and feel ready to make it a beautiful second part of this till now beautiful season. See you soon," he concluded.
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- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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