racing in Australia
Like Merckx once: Radstar Evenepoel races to World Cup gold
Belgium’s cycling star Remco Evenepoel is now also world champion in road racing. photo
© Dirk Waem/BELGA/dpa
Remco Evenepoel follows in the footsteps of the legendary Eddy Merckx. Like his compatriot, he won the world title at the age of 22. Another cycling star caused a scandal.
Remco Evenepoel adjusted his rainbow jersey on the grand podium, then put his hand to his chest and sang the Belgian national anthem.
Like his legendary compatriot Eddy Merckx, the talent of the century stormed to the title at the Road World Championships Down Under at the age of just 22. “It’s a dream, unbelievable. I couldn’t be prouder,” said Evenepoel after an impressive triumph and said: “A monument, a difficult classic, a Grand Tour and the world title. I’ve won everything this season I could win. This is crazy. It’s going to be a big party.”
Evenepoel in the footsteps of Merckx
What began on this glorious spring day in Wollongong, Australia, with the scandal surrounding Dutch co-favorite Mathieu van der Poel, who was arrested at short notice, ended with the crowning of the “Cannibal from Schepdaal”. At least now the comparisons with Merckx are appropriate. In the style of the insatiable veteran, Evenepoel clinched victory with a lead of more than two minutes after 266.9 kilometers ahead of Frenchman Christophe Laporte and Australian Michael Matthews.
Evenepoel had already attacked 72 kilometers before the finish and gradually shook off every escapee. “There’s no reason to wait on a course like this,” said the youngster, who succeeded Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe. Evenepoel was on the fast track – as in his entire career, which culminated in 2022 with victories at the Monument Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the classic in San Sebastian, the Vuelta and now at the World Cup.
Evenepoel is an exceptional talent that cycling has only produced a few. In 2016 he was still a junior international with the Belgian soccer record champions RSC Anderlecht, and at the age of 16 he also ran the Brussels half marathon in 1:16:15 hours before he discovered his passion for cycling. Only two years later Evenepoel, whose father Patrick was also a professional cyclist for a few years, was already double world champion in the juniors. His entry into the pros with World Cup silver in the 2019 time trial was just as furious, before a serious fall on the Lombardy Tour in 2020 with a broken pelvis forced him to take a nine-month break.
But Evenepoel came back stronger and almost humiliated his rivals. Even the two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar, also an exceptional talent at a young age, could do nothing. “This year I’ve learned to deal with the pressure,” he said.
Mathieu van der Poel is arrested
One who might have intervened in the title fight robbed himself of all chances. Van der Poel had been arrested the night before for assaulting the hotel. There had been an altercation with two children who had knocked on his door several times. A girl’s arm was reportedly injured. The 27-year-old was charged with two counts of assault and released on bail early Sunday morning. Van der Poel has to appear in court on Tuesday. The former cross world champion still started in the road race, but gave up after just over an hour.
“It’s true, yes. There was a little argument,” van der Poel told Belgian TV station Sporza before the start. “It was about noisy neighbors and they are pretty strict here.” He went to bed early. However, many children in the corridor of his room would have found it necessary to knock on the door. “After a few times I’d had enough. I didn’t ask kindly to stop. Then the police were called. I wasn’t back in my room until 4 a.m. It’s definitely not optimal. It’s a disaster, but there’s nothing I can do about it .”
German drivers without a top ranking
The German drivers had no chance in the World Championship race. Georg Zimmermann, who was most likely to be able to place in the front, fell 74 kilometers before the finish line. “It was super tough. It didn’t go optimally. We were unlucky that Georg fell. Then I had a bit of support. But the last two laps were too hard, I had to give up,” said Arndt, who finished 52nd as the best German .
So there was no medal for the Federation of German Cyclists in the elite races. On Saturday, despite a strong performance, Liane Lippert narrowly missed out on a podium place by finishing fourth in the women’s race when Annemiek van Vleuten from the Netherlands won. The 24-year-old from Friedrichshafen also finished fourth in the mixed team time trial with the German team.