Evenepoel Hoping for Better at Euro Champs: ‘I Wouldn’t Say I’m Out for Revenge’

Second to Tadej Pogačar last year, Remco Evenepoel has one goal in mind for Sunday’s European championships: to win.

The Belgian has already won many of the big one day races he has been targeting in the sport: he was road world champion in 2022, Olympic champion in 2024, has won TTs at the same level and has clocked up two editions of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and four of the Clasica San Sebastian.

He’s a winner, and Sunday’s mission is to triumph.

There’s a problem though: his performance last weekend in the road worlds.

Evenepoel had looked supreme in the time trial seven days earlier, and also dominated the GP Cycliste de Québec. But his form deserted him when it was most needed, with things simply not working out in the road worlds.

It is, he said, something that will spur him on.

“I wouldn’t say I’m out for revenge, but I was definitely a bit disappointed that I wasn’t at the appointment,” he stated, referring to what was one of the biggest goals of his this season.

“It’s definitely been in my head over the last few days.”

When both Evenepoel and Belgium teammate Wout van Aert failed to perform at their best level in Montréal rumors went around that they were sick. That presumption was furthered in part by the illnesses of Lore De Schepper, Fleur Moors and Lotte Claes of the Belgian team.

Evenepoel was quick to quash those suggestions in the pre-Europeans press conference held on Friday evening.

“No, no… Don’t start, hey,” he smiled when asked if he had a cold.

“I’m not sick,” he said, according to Sporza.

Instead it was down to something else.

“Everything had gone well in the run-up to that road race, but in the end it was just a bad day in terms of feeling,” he continued.

“The intensity training in the days beforehand went well. But now I just have to switch the button and try to ride a better race on Sunday.”

Who are the big rivals?

Montréal was a bigger challenge for Evenepoel.

Although last year’s winner Tadej Pogačar was absent, strong riders like Paul Seixas, Isaac Del Toro, Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock and others were present.

Each of those riders will be absent from the European championships, as will US competitors such as Matteo Jorgenson and eventual winner Brandon McNulty.

The field is less stacked and that could work in his favor, provided the race is hard enough.

He’ll be keen to put the worlds disappointment behind him. He’ll also be spurred on by the thoughts of winning the European road race title for the first time.

“That’s a big motivation for me,” Evenepoel confirmed. “The urge to do it is certainly present. That was actually the case last year, but it didn’t work out then.”

The issue then was Pogačar, who dominated the race. But the Slovenian champion is absent this time around due to injury, which removes one major challenger.

Several of those other rivals from the worlds will also be missing, but there are still strong riders to contend with.

One big concern is the Italian Giulio Ciccone. “He is really in good shape and will definitely compete for the win,” he said. Primož Roglič is another. “He was good at Montreal and will be motivated for his own audience,’ he said, referring to the championships being held in Roglič’s native Slovenia.

What’s crucial is that Evenepoel performs at his best on Sunday.

He said the shift in time zones from Canada made things a little trickier and that he still felt the effect on Tuesday. However by Wednesday he said his usual rhythm had returned.

“The training has gone pretty well, so I hope everything goes in a positive line towards Sunday now,” he said.

If it does, he will certainly be right up there.

Canada didn’t work out well but Slovenia might.