Remco Evenepoel: "Those Games were the number one moment of my career"
Cycling
Remco Evenepoel has in a recent interview talked about his confidence following the Tour de France and how he believed that he would go on to win at the Olympic Games - which he did, on two occasions, the first male rider to ever do so.
"I quickly felt after the Tour: I can create something unique. I know myself and I knew: if I take care of myself, it can work," Evenepoel said in words to Het Laatste Nieuws. In his Grand Boucle debut he achieved most of what was expected of him: A stage win and a place on the podium alongside Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard; in a performance that was as consistent as he's ever shown.
He went into the Olympic Games and won the time-trial ahead of Filippo Ganna by 14 seconds. "After that first gold medal, I drove home and when I was eating with my parents and grandparents, I was in a flow and I said: 'If nothing happens – no fall, no bad luck – I will win again.' That's how much self-confidence I had".
"My loved ones already knew then that I would also win that second gold. The next morning we left for vacation and lying by the pool it started to sink in. That what I had achieved was 'out of this world'." Evenepoel won the road race with a brilliant performance where he won after a long-range attack and tactical superiority by Belgium.
This was, by all means, Evenepoel's greatest achievement and ultimate career goal. The weight was largely off after two years of great performances, but this was the victory that he had dreamt the most and has already achieved.
"I realize very well: those Games were the number one moment of my career. That's pretty crazy. My career is maybe not even halfway through, I don't know what's coming, but I've already had my number one."
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- And athletes will always try to find advantages, until it's banned, it's legal. I don't understand ehy some people are STILL complaining about itvappaxbipmv15-02-2025
- Your anecdote seems a bit exaggerated. Milwaukee and Madison have NEVER hit -40 in all years of measuring. Even Green Bay has barely hit that mark (Record-40.2). So no, people don’t routinely train in Wisconsin in -40 temps. Even Canadian cities like Edmonton or Winnipeg, which are colder than Wisconsin, can go multiple years without dipping to -40mobk15-02-2025
- Also a huge plus for Loulou! 😀mobk15-02-2025
- I love the UAE Tour, racing through the desert makes for beautiful television.awp15-02-2025
- Go to a decent sized northern city and pull see people training in -40 and colder. When I was living in Wisconsin, I did 4-5hr training rides in -40 and saw men and women twice my age out training... not biking to get somewhere but actual training rides.Veganpotter15-02-2025
- Simply, everything has to be debated as nauseum.. Take it away they'll come up with something else, it's the way of the worldslappers6615-02-2025
- Let's see him off-road on a really technical XCO course......say Mont Sainte-Anne.....wipperman9515-02-2025
- Yves is a great guy. classy.mij15-02-2025
- Most importantly, the new boss 'Spartacus' is not known to berate his riders in public.
KerisVroom15-02-2025