Remco Evenepoel celebrated his Olympic Games gold medal in Paris on Sunday night and then travelled to Belgium for a few quiet days at home. Still hard days of racing and late nights do not appear to bother him.
After winning the Olympic time trial in central Paris, Evenepoel revealed that he celebrated his Tour de France podium place until four o’clock in the morning last Sunday in Nice but still recovered in time to be at his best for Saturday’s race against the clock.
On Saturday night Evenepoel’s gold and Wout Van Aert’s bronze medal were celebrated at the Belgian Olympic House in Paris, in the presence of Eddy Merckx, 2016 gold medallist Greg van Avermaet and their emotional families.
The riders and their families then drove across northern France to their homes in Belgium. Evenepoel will only have a few days to recover from his efforts and the emotions of winning Olympic gold but is confident in his ability to stage another rapid recovery. It worked after the fatigue of the Tour de France and Evenepoel hopes it will again ahead of Saturday’s men's road race.
“It’s true, I really only went to bed at 4:30 last Sunday after the Tour,” he confided. “I was not thinking about how I was going to feel in the time trial because I had something else to celebrate at that moment.
"After my late night I spent all of Monday in bed and I went to a restaurant. On Tuesday I went on the bike but again went out to a restaurant. Then we flew to Paris for the recon on Wednesday and then I had some very long sleeps. I only started to feel fresh again on Friday and suddenly I felt that there was something still in the tank. That was a confidence boost and something that helped me to perform in the time trial.”
Evenepoel was the fastest at every checkpoint, averaging 53.7kph on the wet roads to deliver a winning time of 36:12 in the 32.4km Olympic time trial. He finished 15 seconds ahead of Filippo Ganna (Italy) and 25 seconds ahead of fellow Belgian Van Aert.
“I had questions about my form and I didn’t know how I was going to perform. So it's one of the most beautiful moments in my life and my career,” said Evenepoel.
Celebrating vs winning the next one
Time at home will no doubt allow him to savour his latest success. Belgium is a small nation and only wins a handful of medals at each Olympics and Evenepoel has won a rare gold one.
“Still no words, Olympic Champion…” Evenepoel posted on social media on Sunday after a late wake-up at home after five weeks on the road.
Evenepoel is still only 24 but he has already completed his set of time trial titles. He was European champion in 2019, Belgian champion in 2022 and world champion in 2023 and now in 2024 he has secured the Olympic title in the discipline.
“It was the last championship that was missing from my time trial career, in the time trial aspect. I think that list is ticked off,” he said.
“It's just incredible to be able to win this after an amazing Tour de France. This means a lot. It's every four years that we get a chance to win this one.”
Evenepoel put off any major celebrations until after the road race on Saturday August 3, where he is part of a powerful four-rider team that includes Van Aert, Jasper Stuyven and Tiesj Benoot.
“There's not much time to party because there's a big and important race coming up," said Evenepoel. "I hope that we will have an extra party next week. Now we’ll savour this moment and then go for it again next week.”
Evenepoel’s confidence is sky high after a month of incredible performances, yet he knows the 273 km road race, with small teams and a peloton of just 90 riders, will be difficult to win. His biggest rivals include Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands, his French Soudal-QuickStep teammate Julian Alaphilippe and Biniam Girmay of Eritrea.
“I think it's a completely different race. Luckily, I'm not a lone leader in my team, we have multiple cards to play,” Evenepoel suggested.
“Wout is in very good shape, Jasper too, while Tiesj is also always, always good in Classic-style races. I think we have a very strong team. Of course there are other strong riders and nations too.
“First I'm going to enjoy this one, rest-up and I still have almost a week to think about how we will try to win the road race.”
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