"We watched with our mouths open" - How Belgian analysts reacted to Remco Evenepoel's Giro d'Italia victory

Remco Evenepoel has started off the Giro d'Italia on the right foot. Although it is only one of 21 days, the Belgian has gotten the race lead and has taken time on all of his rivals, putting him in the lead before the race reaches the mountains.

"Evenepoel starts mentally better charged than everyone else. With Liège-Bastogne-Liège in your pocket you are strong. But Roglic is also strong: he has won two WorldTour stage races with the Tirreno and Catalunya," Jan Bakelants told Het Laatste Nieuws.

Safe to say that on the opening day of the Corsa Rosa Evenepoel has already gotten the mental advantage, taking 43 seconds on Primoz Roglic. Perhaps most importantly, this early performance also sets him up as the main favourite for stage 9, which having 35 flat time-trialing kilometers could see him take even more time on even the strongest of rivals.

"There is no one who can ride as fast on the flat as Remco Evenepoel. The wind simply has no hold on him," Michel Wuyts argued. "Is this the changing of the guard in ultra time trialling?" His dominance was notable very much because of his performance on the flat section of the time-trial, where it was expected that the purists such as Filippo Ganna and Stefan Küng would have an advantage.

It was there that Evenepoel did the difference, with João Almeida and Tao Geoghegan Hart being the fastest on the final climb - although a transponder mistake saw Brandon McNulty take the KOM jersey after his time wasn't properly calculated.

“We watched with our mouths open. It was a time trial to lick your fingers and thumbs. It was on his Remco's. You think it can be done, but you are not entirely convinced that it will actually work," José de Cauwer said. "But it works. He is really molded on his bike. It is no longer Evenepoel versus Roglic, but Evenepoel versus the rest. I would still show respect for Roglic. It was 43 seconds, but on the climb he more or less kept pace. He's not completely gone yet."