I do not see a black hand in the abandonment of Remco in the Giro

I do not see a black hand in the abandonment of Remco Evenepoel in the Giro

Sunday night, people thought about the week that begins, the day of rest and we go to bed with the news of the abandonment of Remco Evenepoel in the Giro d’Italia.

Absolute majority in “Tuiterciclismo”: Remco has screwed up after 2 stages in which he does not sweep and retires alleging Covid when finding himself unable to win the Giro. This is a tweeter, a forum for opinion (and for insults, like a football stand or a traffic jam). I do believe that he is infected. Anyone else? ????

— Antonio Alix & Eurosport (@alixeurosport) May 15, 2023

Fucking Covid, I don’t know how many times I’ve said, thought, or written it, but once again it’s back like the ghost of Christmas past.

Looking back, taking stock, I think it is without a doubt the worst news that the disease has given us in this sport, and it does so when it does not even make the headlines.

The departure of Remco Evenepoel is a downera blow to the bone of the career that continues to have attractions, but …

It has been reading the bomb and beginning to read about the “real” reasons for this abandonment.

We all know Evenepoel, he plays hard, with everything, without reservations, and always wants to win

And he was doing it, perhaps not with the expected margin, but he was doing it and leaving a beautiful race, with a tight general and a lot of mountains ahead.

The duel with Roglic looked epic and the presence of the Ineos gave it a plus.

I don’t agree with people who comment that they have withdrawn because they didn’t have everything with them, it seems mean to me.

I always like it look at the face of the stage winners in the post interviews.

For Pogacar, the effort does not take away his smile, but it does make his eyes red, Vingegaard also marks the effort on his face, the same as other regulars to victory.

Evenepoel, on the other hand, usually takes the beatings that are given on the road well, his face shows fatigue, but content.

I remember him in Liège and the opening of the Giro.

yesterday though Her face was a poemeven having won the time trial in extremis.

A face that shows that something is not right, half-open eyes, a frown,… the Covid that many consider harmless can leave you KO or almost KO.

The torture that Evenepoel underwent in the time trial can only be told by him, but empty is little to explain the feeling he must have had when crossing the finish line.

That’s why I doubt scheme with other reasons for his withdrawal, I find it unfortunate and sad.

This guy is the first screwed with this withdrawal and if he has made the decision I don’t want to imagine how his body will be.

That he has left the race being a leader…

The connection that has always been sought between Evenepoel and Merckx now has a very obvious line: leave the Giro dressed in pink.

Among the darkest chapters of the best in history is that expulsion from the Italian race, being the leader, for a positive.

That caught Merckx very young and with the feeling that his career would be the soufflé that it ended up being, without anyone, so long after, threatening to match him.

Belgians who leave the Giro while being in a pink jersey due to a positive (for some type of positive), and who after a month and a half ride their first Tour and destroy it. For now: pic.twitter.com/FMpwwipoki

— Ander Izagirre (@anderiza) May 14, 2023

What will Remco do now?

Turning the page on the fraudulent departure from the Giro, the question hangs in the air.

The Tour is a temptationbut at the same time a campaign that I don’t see now for the Belgian, who has conditions, without a doubt, but I see rivals one or two points above him.

Defending the crown in the Vuelta is more feasible, although now I don’t think he has anything planned at all, the blow of the Giro is one of those that stingsespecially knowing how the champion prepares things, to the point that Lefevere one day said that he even felt sorry for the kid.

The abandonment of Remco Evenepoel in the Giro has a first and great loser, himself, everything else is castles in the air.