On the National Day of Belgium, Soudal Quick-Step’s 24-year-old celebrated a fantastic achievement.
Remco Evenepoel wrote history by becoming the first Belgian rider in 43 years to finish the Tour de France on the overall podium after an incredible three weeks during which he demonstrated his knack to thrive under pressure and established himself as one of the world’s foremost Grand Tour racers.
A debutant in the Grande Boucle, Remco displayed calmness, a maturity beyond his age and an unbelievable consistency, as evidenced by the fact he finished half of the Tour’s stages in the top ten. Regardless of the terrain – and this edition threw all kinds of hurdles into the riders’ way – the former World Champion was always in the thick of the action, giving his best, showing an amazing grinta and fighting for every inch on the road and for every second, backed by a fantastic team that showcased its strength and cohesion on countless occasions.
In Nice, where the Tour de France came to an end for the first time in its 121-year history, Evenepoel concluded the last stage individual time trial on the podium and sealed a remarkable third place in the general classification – the cherry on the cake of a race which saw him take a stage victory as well as become the first Belgian winner of the prestigious white jersey and a result that left him overcome with emotion.
I am proud and very happy. I’ve worked a lot to get where I am today.
It wasn’t an easy season, with that crash in the Basque Country that forced me to miss important racing days and the recovery, so to be on the podium of the Tour de France at my first appearance, after three long and demanding weeks, is a great achievement. I took a win, I took the white jersey, so I don’t have any regrets after this race, it was an incredible level here and I did my best every single time.”
“I want to thank my family and my Soudal Quick-Step team for their support and for believing in me, I couldn’t have done it without them. From here, I will go to Paris for the Olympics, where I hope to be in the mix for a nice result. We’ll see how that goes, but I carry a lot of confidence after these three unforgettable weeks. I hope I have made my countrymen proud”, a visibly emotional Evenepoel said in Nice, where he became the youngest Belgian rider in more than five decades to be on the Tour de France podium.
For the first time in the team’s history, Soudal Quick-Step had two riders in the top ten overall. Mikel Landa was of invaluable help for Remco Evenepoel in the mountains, guiding the Belgian through the Alps and Pyrenees in the latter’s attempt to finish on the final podium, but the Basque exceeded everyone’s expectations – including those he had before the start – by producing a vintage ride in his seventh appearance on the biggest race in the world.
It’s been a beautiful and long adventure together with the Soudal Quick-Step boys.
“This Tour has been a hard race, but we achieved our goal of finishing with Remco on the podium. Our team, and Remco too, kept getting better and better and improving over the past three weeks, and I think we can look at this Tour as an important cornerstone for the future. The race was hard, but we showed that we were capable of doing a great Tour de France. Remco was under a lot of pressure, as people had many expectations from him, but he remained calm and put in an impressive ride. As a team, we kept a strong morale and remained confident the entire time.”
“On a personal level, I didn’t expect to have such a good race. Coming to the start, I was thinking more that I would help Remco and lose time on the climbs, but then I felt better and better with each day and now I am really happy to be in the top five here. It’s an important and morale-boosting result going into the next races in the second part of the season”, said Mikel after racking up his ninth top ten finish in a Grand Tour.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
