Giro d’Italia: Week 1 Not the ending we were looking for, but join us and @EvenepoelRemco on our journey from the hard work at our training camp in Tenerife, that led to #Giro maglia rosa ecstasy, and unfortunately, rest day agony. youtube.com/watch?v=WWIG8P…
Remco Evenepoel's father advocates big changes on rider protection from Covid-19: "Something has to change, absolutely"
CyclingWednesday, 17 May 2023 at 13:22
A lot of discussion has been ongoing in the background, as the Giro d'Italia quickly became a race of survival as most fear Covid-19 at this point of the race, and it can be turned on it's head in a split second. Remco Evenepoel's father believes strict measures have to be applied once again to prevent what has happened to the World Champion.
“We can't blame anyone for this, but it was actually a shame how things went. The organization, the press… everyone. When you see that at the start of the Giro, it was a shame. Everyone has to do their job, but things go wrong in this way,” Patrick Evenepoel told Het Laatste Nieuws.
The lack of masks and rider protection in media events mostly has been pointed out, with calls also from different figures within cycling to apply measures to limit contact with crowds on the road. Soudal - Quick-Step have not only lost Evenepoel who has spent his season preparing for the Corsa Rosa whilst he was leading the race, but five riders in total which leave the team virtually isolated having only raced half of the Giro.
“It seems as if the riders are puppets, playthings. Adrie (Van der Poel, ed.) sent me a message. According to him, something must be done, a statement must be made. When you get to the line, you see everyone running to put the microphone under a rider's nose first. However, the riders also have to do their job. What are we all doing?"
The amount of Covid-19 cases is not expected to lower through the upcoming days, as it began to rise in recent days. The outbreak is clearly spreading through the peloton and teams have begun applying their own measures to limit the chances of being affected as much as possible. However the health of riders is also at stake quite a lot, and Evenepoel senior prioritizes the safety of those who are part of the peloton.
“Something has to change, absolutely. It doesn't stop. The danger for the riders is that it will affect their heart muscle. We want to avoid a case like Colbrelli. If Remco is in the red for another three days, the consequences could be major. And then it's just the Giro, right? It's our child. Or someone else's child, husband or father. That is the most important," he concluded.
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- Most of these have nothing to do with rider safety or are completely unachievablevappaxbipmv23-12-2024
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- Some things sound crazy until they aren't, what if he's actually right? 🤷vappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Why make a comment to state the obvious? Of course MvdP is much better at CX than Pogacar, does anyone doubt that But that wasn't his pointvappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- If you look at road alone obvi Pogacar is the better rider. But maybe MVDP is the better overall rider since he can win in three plus disciplines?mobk23-12-2024
- Correction on 2021 Olympics. It was mainly the Dutch ladies who didn’t know who was leading the race. Other teams like the Germans and Italians knew that Kiesenhofer was out front.mobk23-12-2024
- A champion turning into a sore loser. Or is he on coke again?
UltimateOpportunist23-12-2024 - If you look at the major races they’ve both been in, van der Poel had the early edge as lately Pogacar has had the advantage. It’s all on procyclingstats.RidesHills23-12-2024
- I wouldn’t assume Tadej can’t win at cross. He did a cross race, not a World Cup, a few years ago and crushed the field. It was a minor race. But he can win anywhere.mij23-12-2024
- I wonder what would happen if Pogacar attacked on the Cipressa instead of the Poggio in San Remo? Would MvdPoel still be able to follow?Ride197423-12-2024