Rewarded in 2019, 2022 and 2023, Evenepoel was preferred this time to racing driver Thierry Neuville, the first Belgian to be crowned world rally champion, and to athlete Bashir Abdi, Olympic silver medalist in the marathon.
Remco topped the rankings with 948 points against 583 in Neuville and 558 in Abdi. Some 219 journalists and former winners, retired, took part in the vote.
With four titles, he is alone third in the rankings of the annual referendum of Sportpress.be, the Belgian professional association of sports journalists, organized since 1967, behind the six crowns of Eddy Merckx (1969-74) and the five of the pilot of motocross Stefan Everts (2001-04 and 2006). They were 27 and 32 respectively when they were elected for the fourth time. The last consecutive hat-trick was achieved by another cyclist Philippe Gilbert (2009-10-11).
Evenepoel won the title of Hope of the Year in 2018 and finished 3rd in the referendum in 2020. He offers cycling a 25th coronation out of 58 possible.
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