Two Key Chances for Evenepoel to Make Huge Worlds History

Remco Evenepoel has not one but two opportunities to stamp his name all over the record books at the world road championships, which gets underway on Sunday in Montréal, Canada.

The Belgian is one of the red hot favorites for both the time trial and road race, being the defending champion in the former. He is also a past winner in the latter.

He picked up the road title in Wollongong in 2022 and is on everybody’s radar following his second place overall in the Tour de France plus his victory earlier this month in the GP Cycliste de Québec.

His odds are further boosted by the absence of Tadej Pogačar, who crashed while leading the Vuelta a España and ended his season early.

Pogačar won the past two editions of the RR worlds, with Evenepoel taking second in that race last year. He was also second to Pogačar in the European championships.

Talking another rainbow jersey in the road race would be a huge prize for the Belgian but, before then, he’s got the TT to focus on.

And he’s got a big chance to set a special statistic there.

Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara are the most successful riders in the history of the event, winning four titles each. Evenepoel will equal them if he triumphs on Sunday.

However he can also do something even more special: talking those wins across four consecutive years. That’s never been achieved before.

One clear rival

Evenepoel will start Sunday’s 39.2km TT as the clear number one, given that he is practically unbeaten against the clock.

Of his 78 career victories, exactly a third of those are in time trials.

And fifteen of those wins have come in the past three years, out of 18 TT starts. That’s a staggering run of success.

But his rivals will all seek to disrupt.

Filippo Ganna, who won the TT in 2020 and 2021, believes he could trouble Evenepoel.

“The route in Montréal is largely flat with 220 altimeters over 39.2 kilometers, with the road running up a bit towards the end,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “In those circumstances, I could get pretty close.”

They have clashed in TTs on 19 occasions since 2019 and while the older rider Ganna had the edge at the start, since 2023 the pendulum has very much swung the other way.

They have faced off eight times since then, with Ganna coming out best only once. That was in the 2023 Vuelta a España, when he beat Evenepoel by 16 seconds to triumph.

“I think it’s a good rivalry,” Ganna said. “There is mutual respect. No one is trying to bring the other person down.

“We are two different athletes with different characteristics, but we are both strong in the time trial.”

The second big record opportunity

Barring a last minute upset by Ganna, or by outsiders including Stefan Küng (Switzerland), Brandon McNulty (USA), Isaac del Toro (Mexico), Paul Seixas (France), Callum Thornley (Great Britain) and his teammate Ethan Hayter, Evenepoel will likely exit the TT with another gold medal to hang on his wall.

The focus will immediately shift to next Sunday’s road race, which is much hillier in profile and will test his climbing abilities.

Those seemed to be in good shape in the GP Cycliste de Québec, which he won in a sprint ahead of Matthias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek). However he was a little off the pace two days later and had to accept fifth in the GP Cycliste de Montréal.

He said afterwards that he hadn’t fully recovered from his exertions in Québec, and that a long transfer between the two races had likely also affected him. He added that he expected to grow stronger between then and the world championship events.

If everything does align and he pulls off the win, he’ll achieve a statistic that nobody else has managed to do. Winning the time trial and road race in the same year has never happened, and being the first to do so would be a huge achievement.

The competition for that race will undoubtedly be tougher but he give it his all. He’ll also hope that he won’t have to put his own chances on hold because of teammate Wout van Aert.

Both are amongst the favorites and having to pull his brakes because of Belgian loyalties will be a difficult thing to do.

Ink as an incentive

Evenepoel will be plenty motivated for both races. But if he needs anything else to convince him when the going gets tough, he can think of another permanent mark he can leave within the sport.

That is a rather more quirky one: Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe boss Ralph Denk has offered to undergo his own taste of pain if things work out in the road race.

Back in 2017 he and his then-star rider Peter Sagan had an agreement that Denk would have the latter’s name tattooed onto his leg if he won the worlds. If Sagan lost, he would have Denk’s name instead.

In the end, the Slovakian took his third consecutive title and his boss had to go to a needle studio.

“Peter already had a lot of tattoos, I had zero,” Denk told Wielerflits, adding that it remains the only one he has.

Now he could end up with two, as a result of a bet with Evenepoel.

“There is room on my right leg, but it is up to Remco to dare to do that,” he said, presumably on the condition that the rider will agree to do likewise if things don’t work out.

“I’ll just do it for a world title in the road trip.

“For the time trial I don’t make a bet with Remco, for that such a tattoo is too painful, and he is the best time rider in the world.”