Unable to challenge Tadej Pogacar’s domination over the last few races, Remco Evenepoel is showing signs of weariness at the end of the season.
He is one of those runners who can’t wait for the season to end. Before starting the Coppa Bernocchi on Monday, Remco Evenepoel admitted that he was starting to get tired of it. “I feel like my batteries are draining”the Belgian told VTM Nieuws.
Evenepoel nevertheless had great ambitions for the end of the season. After his third place in the Tour de France, he did not relax his preparation, and achieved a historic time-line race double at the Olympic Games. His dream was to do the same at the Worlds, but after winning the time trial, the Belgian leader had to settle for 5th place in the road race. Like the rest of the peloton, he was unable to compete with the rocket Tadej Pogacar.
Last objective, the Tour of Lombardy
Last Saturday, while the insatiable Slovenian was going to collect another victory in the Tour of Emilia, Evenepoel did not even finish the race, giving up after having visibly received dirt in his eyes. And on Monday, when he could have taken advantage of Pogacar’s absence from the Coppa Bernocchi to win, the Belgian finished 53rd.
“We can clearly see that he is at the limit at the moment, admitted his sports director Klaas Lodewyck to HLN after the race. Not when he’s going at a steady speed, but when he’s trying to speed up. » While he had won this Coppa Bernocchi alone a few years ago, Evenepoel this time tried to start in a group of four, notably with Marc Hirschi, before being caught.
While the Tre Valli Varesine was canceled this Tuesday, Evenepoel now only has the Tour of Lombardy on the program this season. It’s a prestigious final, of course, but does the Belgian still have enough reserves to challenge Pogacar for victory this weekend on the banks of the Como? The signals sent are not very good.
