• Sunday, August 4, 2024 at 7:38 AM
Analysis Fifteen minutes before the start, Remco Evenepoel is one of the first to turn onto the Pont d’Iéna at the foot of the Eiffel Tower towards the finish and starting line. The Belgian godson rides the last 250 meters over the bridge at a snail’s pace to take in the uniqueness of this location. He realizes that a unique moment of glory awaits him here at the end of the Olympic road race. That an Olympic title can be won here that will be celebrated as a highlight of his entire life.
In Belgium, Evenpoel has to live in a country that compares him to Eddy Merckx. That compares the Cannibal’s palmares with that of this 24-year-old boy. A comparison that has to stop because you can’t compare careers from other eras. It is therefore good that Evenepoel chooses his own goals with which he also writes cycling history in a unique way. Just like he is now the first male cyclist to win the road race and time trial at one Olympic Games.
It is typical of Evenepoel and his wife Oumi that they decide in the morning to take the gold medal of the time trial with them to the finish of the road race. Initially, Remco had left the first gold at home, but Oumi thought that something unique could happen.
Photo: Cor Vos
Suppose he could show his two gold medals in front of the Eiffel Tower right away. Just like he saw Michael Phelps do with his eight gold medals in Beijing 2008. With the two gold medals he immediately emphasizes the unique double with which he is already one of the biggest heroes of Paris 2024.
In fact, Evenepoel rules the 272-kilometre race as he had planned in his head beforehand. He did not want to dwell on the difficulty of the climb at Montmartre during his press conference the day before the race. That was not his thing. And then immediately indicated that he had not chosen the usual moment for his decisive attack on the way to his world title in Wollongong, Australia in 2022.
National coach Sven Vanthourenhout indicates after the match that the spot where Remco placed his attack was already indicated by him the day before. Although it is especially in the match a moment that proves to be tactically very strong due to a merging of groups.
Key role
Van Aert has a very important key in the race. On the Parisian ‘Oude Kwaremont’ at the foot of the Moulin Rouge he is the only one who can follow Mathieu van der Poel. Twice he manages to neutralize the important Orange favorite and thus ride out of the race.
‘MVDP’ had already taken into account that his eternal Belgian rival would do this. Although Van der Poel thinks after his first attack towards the Sacre Coeur, in which Van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Julian Alaphilippe and Tom Skujins join, that the race is over. That this quintet will decide the battle for gold. “We were the strongest men in the race there and I wouldn’t know who should close that gap”, Van der Poel says later in the mixed zone.
Mathieu van der Poel with his shadow Wout van Aert. Photo: Cor Vos
When the groups merged 38 kilometres before the finish, things went wrong for the Dutch team. Van der Poel: “Of course we knew that Remco would choose such a moment of despair, but it was still a surprising attack. Dylan van Baarle was a bit too far behind and I can’t react to everything. Dylan then did well by immediately chasing.”
“On the second climb of Montmartre I tried again from the foot to the top, but the gap was already too big to make the crossing. Wout van Aert was on my wheel again and of course he didn’t ride with me. That’s also logical when Remco is on the attack. That’s racing.”
Van der Poel is very realistic after the match. He knows that this is the price of his role as favorite. “Too bad, tomorrow is just another day,” he downplays the lost chance of Olympic medals.
The orange trio of national coach Koos Moerenhout cannot reproach themselves for much. Van Baarle concludes afterwards that he was good, but not super. The absence of the six-man strong leading group with Stefan Küng, Nils Politt and Valentin Madouas just for the first time Montmartre in the pre-final is perhaps the only hiccup in the Dutch performance.
Photo: Cor Vos
Normally, Van Baarle has a nose for such escapes. He often manages to reach the final by attacking just a little bit earlier than the favorites. A tactic he applied at the 2021 World Championships in Leuven (second), but also in the 2022 Tour of Flanders (second) when he was already away with silver medal winner Valentin Madouas before Van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar unleashed their demons.
If Van Baarle had been present in this group, it would have been a completely different race for the Netherlands. Then Van der Poel would have had more space to play a tactical game. On the other hand, it is also a weakness in Dutch cycling at the moment that, besides Van der Poel and Van Baarle, there is no third rider who can handle a highly regarded one-day race of 272 kilometers to the final. Behind this duo, there is a gaping void in the Dutch team.
Photo: Cor Vos
Class
But let us especially reflect on the class that Evenepoel demonstrated again on this day. To break away at a tactical moment after a tough race and then use his time trial skills in the attack for 38 kilometers is something only a few can do.
Evenepoel climbed the Olympus as a great champion during these Summer Games in Paris. The 2024 cycling season will definitely be dominated by the unique doubles. Van der Poel in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Pogacar in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France and Evenepoel now with his two Olympic titles in Paris 2024. We live in a cycling era in which very big gentlemen call the shots.
