Evenepoel: "I'm broken": Tour cancellation: Cycling star describes "most vulnerable moment" of career
Remco Evenepoel was far from his best form at the Tour de France.
(Photo: IMAGO/Belga)
Remco Evenepoel is unable to compete for the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. At least the white jersey seems within reach again, but then the Belgian pays the price for major problems in his preparations.
Five days after his bitter exit from the Tour de France, Belgian Remco Evenepoel revealed that he started the race in a bad way. "I entered the toughest race in the world with a broken rib and a tired body," the double Olympic champion wrote on Instagram. Evenepoel admitted: "It certainly wasn't the best combination, but I didn't want to give up on the goal I had worked so hard for."
After his serious training accident in December, the 25-year-old had struggled to compete in the Tour de France in the spring. "When I was finally allowed to train again, everything suddenly happened very quickly. It became a constant rush," Evenepoel explained. The Classics in April, the subsequent altitude training camp, and then the Tour de France: "I always felt like I was lagging behind."
Shortly before the start of the Tour, Evenepoel crashed again and broke a rib at the Belgian Championships. "Not the worst, but definitely not ideal," he wrote. Despite the injury, he won the time trial around Caen in Normandy ahead of Slovenian Tadej Pogacar and took the white jersey for best young rider. "But in the second week, the price of the effort became apparent. After twelve days, I was broken."
"I'm human. With ups and downs."A developing infection did the trick, and on the final Pyrenees stage, he fell behind and dropped out. "That day became one of the toughest and most vulnerable moments of my career," Evenepoel wrote. German Tour hopeful Florian Lipowitz took the white jersey and third place in the overall standings.
Despite all the disappointment, Evenepoel doesn't look back on his participation in the Tour with bitterness. "It takes strength to show that things don't always go your way; that even when you desperately want something, your body sometimes has other plans. This moment, as tough as it was, showed that I'm human. With ups and downs," he wrote to his followers.
Source: ntv.de, tno/sid
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