Remco Evenepoel, from playing for Anderlecht and PSV to winning the Vuelta at just 22

A teacher with a ball at his feet and a bicycle prodigy. The young Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel (22 years old) this Sunday confirmed, if more was needed, his immense quality as a runner. Since he started cycling, Remco always declared that he saw himself as a Grand Tour rider and that he liked this type of racing, but the brilliant results he achieved in the one-day test and in the five and seven day racing seems to last. you are far from success in a three-week date.

An opinion where the clouds flew after leaving it last year in Italy is spinning, on his first great cycling tour. A withdrawal that did not affect him psychologically or sportingly, that same year he won the Tour of Belgium and classics like Druivenkoers-Overijse and the Brussels Cycling Classicbut it casts a little doubt about him putting in a big performance, not forgetting that his team was probably wrong to align him within ‘Corsa Rosa’, because it was the first race he contested after a serious fall suffered Lombardy last year.

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They say that man is the only animal that stumbles twice over the same stone, but Evenepoel He’s a different race, ‘cannibal’ blood runs through his veins and he doesn’t want to make the same mistake again, so he made thorough preparations to get to the best condition. After arguing the Belgian Championship At the end of June, where he won the time trial, he took a few days off. Then he got into the car and headed Livignowhere he spent three weeks training, “two of them really hard, with more than 30 hours of training”, so that “I’m thinner than before. I’m at my lightest weight all year. Compared to the San Sebastian Classic From three years ago – where he impressed everyone with an amazing victory at the age of only 19 – I have a kilo and a half or two less. Arrived before the third week of Lap This is the most important thing”, acknowledged Evenpeoel before the Clásica de San Sebastián.

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He was also honest in saying that he was not entirely sure if he would have a good result in the general classification. “If I can win one or two stages, I can say that the Vuelta has been a success. This is the main goal.” But that’s great Alst not only did he win two stages – the time trial and one in the mountains – but he became the leader in the sixth stage and will not let go of the red of his jersey for the remaining 15 days. More than expected.

No one doubts that Evenepoel is a cycling prodigy, but at the beginning it wasn’t so clear. Remco, like other cyclists –Van Avermaet He became a Beveren goalkeeper, Axel Merckx played for Anderlecht, Roger Adria in the quarry of RCD Espanyol o’Juanpe’ Lopez he dreamed of being a footballer before becoming a cyclist- he tried to be a cyclist first, until he lost his appetite.

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At the age of five he began to play with Anderlecht and he did it so well that he was PSV from the Netherlands noticed him. From his father’s hand Patrick transferred to Eindhoven, which is the quarry he came to play for three years. He captained the team and played defensive midfielder. His progress in football was not rewarded with the minutes he thought he deserved and he returned to his beloved Anderlechtwhereupon it shone again, so that it was summoned by Belgium national team. He played in the Sub15s and Sub16s, but once again ran in fewer minutes than he would have liked, no matter how much he wore the captaincy.

The Mechelen He offered him a contract and he signed for them and went on to do the preseason with the first team, but he didn’t feel that love for football or for the ball since years ago, to the point he decided to leave here. “I saw it clearly, I wanted to ride a bike,” which also helped his father become a professional cyclist.

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And in less than a year he went from kicking a ball to running the ranks of Acrog-Pauwels Sauzen and the results soon came. After a first year where he only competed for six days -but where he took off La Route des Géants and the PPhilippe Gilbert Juniors-, swept the Junior World Championship, declared himself world champion on the road and against the clock, proving the good results he had achieved in recent months. The following year was after Deceuninck-Quick Step He offered her a contract and since then exhibitions numbered her participations. The question is not who he will beat, but how and by how much.

All powerful sky, now Ineosknocked on his door with a big offer which he turned down for staying true to his colors and the team that opened the doors of cycling for him – “money is not the reason I dedicate myself to the sport. In fact when I started I wanted to run my first year for free. Money is not my priority to be a professional, otherwise I would have accepted a proposal of one million euros” – and last year he renewed until 2026 with the Quick step, bringing together a society that draws a future full of success. It has no roof.

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He improved his father’s results

His father, Patrick, was a professional cyclist in the nineties and came to compete in a great cycling tour, coincidentally the Vuelta. It was the year of the Swiss double for Rominger and Zülle, 1st and 2nd, and Patrick Evenepoel finished penultimate, 3h14’51” behind the champion, something they both remembered one day in the garden of their house.” My father always said. to me He finished last in the 1993 Vuelta (he was penultimate). When we were next to our pool at home having a barbecue with my girlfriend, I joked that I would be happy if I was first and last. And it looks like it’s going to be the same!” Remco said half-jokingly before starting the 21st and final stage from Las Rozas.