Remco Evenepoel enters the European Championship road race in Slovenia facing questions over his form following a disappointing performance at the world championships in Montréal. The Belgian star, who has targeted the continental road title all year with a red circle on his calendar, admitted he still has little clarity on why his legs failed him in Canada beyond suffering a bad day. Everything had gone well in the buildup to that road race, including successful intensity training in the preceding days, yet he was left with a poor feeling on the day itself.
Evenepoel and Van Aert Assess Shared Leadership After Montréal Struggles
The post-mortem from the world championships in Canada brought the dual leadership arrangement between Evenepoel and Wout van Aert under scrutiny. While neither rider mounted the podium—with Van Aert finishing 28th and Evenepoel 12th—Evenepoel suggested that sharing leadership duties is not necessarily a tactical disadvantage on the right terrain. He noted that while it might be simpler for teammates to have just one clear plan and a single leader, there are pros and cons to every setup depending on the parcours, adding that in Canada both he and Van Aert had their own ambitions. When reflecting on whether he would have been better off as the sole leader, Evenepoel acknowledged You can’t hide behind someone,
though he admitted that it ultimately simply wasn’t meant to be. Meanwhile, Het Nieuwsblad’s Marc Sergeant defended the selection, pointing out that physical limits rather than tactical errors decided the outcome when Wout wasn’t good enough to follow Mathieu, just as it quickly became clear that Remco didn’t have a super day either.
HLN also scrutinized an early attack by Van Aert, dismissing teammate Quinten Hermans’ defense of the move as intuitive by writing that intuitive rhymes with naive,
while Sporza commentator José De Cauwer observed that after Van Aert played his role, Evenepoel was expected to deliver but failed to materialize while lingering at the back of the chasing group.
Lefevere Points to Weight Gain as Coach Defends Preparation
Attention ahead of the European Championship shifted briefly to Evenepoel’s physical condition after former team boss Patrick Lefevere observed in Het Nieuwsblad that the rider appeared to have added a few kilos following his victory in the world championship time trial. Lefevere suggested that human nature took over after a major goal, with family celebrations easing the tension, noting that Evenepoel has always had to work hard to maintain his ideal racing weight and likely loosened the reins slightly. National coach Serge Pauwels acknowledged that Evenepoel is slightly heavier than he was at the Tour de France—where he finished second overall and also won the Clásica San Sebastián—though he maintained that the extra weight was partially calculated for the time trial and actually brings a bit more explosiveness for the terrain in Slovenia.
Chasing Continental Glory in Slovenia
Evenepoel has won the world road race, world time trial, and Olympic titles in both disciplines, but the European Championship road race jersey remains missing from his palmarès. With the time trial continental title already secured earlier in the week, the focus turns entirely to Sunday’s road event. Evenepoel told reporters that the disappointment of Montréal has played on his mind, driving his determination to set things right against a slightly less daunting start list than the one he faced in Canada.
Remco Evenepoel races the European Championship road race on Sunday, October 5, in Slovenia, looking to claim the missing continental road jersey.
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