Remco, when Pastena changes your life

For those who love sports from the bottom of their hearts, today is a sad day. The curtain falls on Paris Olympics and morale down after spending exciting days, following the exploits of athletes capable of transforming themselves into heroes. The 2024 edition of the magnificent event invented by the baron Pierre de Coubertin will leave us with the memory of repeated triumphs in the pool of Leon Marchand and the thrilling final for the gold with the hosts French women’s épée team; the pole vault and the world record vault of Armand Duplantis and Turkish Gunslinger memes Yusuf Dikec .

Among the many postcards of Paris 2024 there is also this one Remco Evenepoel, the phenomenal Belgian cyclist capable of winning both the time trial and the road race for the first time in the history of the Five Rings Games. The image of him lifting his bike over the finish line with the Eiffel Tower in the background is one of the most significant of these Olympics, the shot that definitively puts one of the leading figures of cycling’s new wave into Olympus. Paris has consecrated Evenepoel who, at just 24 years old, has already lived many lives. There are many before and afters in Remco’s existence. And an after began to… Pastena.

Yes, you read that right. There is no typo. The very neighborhood in the eastern part of Salernothe place that – legend has it – gave birth to the revolutionary Ippolito, who – at the same time as the Neapolitan Masaniello – incited the people against the Habsburg rulers in 1647. Almost 400 years later, on 10 May 2023, Pastena marked the beginning of one of Evenepoel’s new lives. Before telling this episode, however, a premise must be made on the other “before and after” of the Belgian: born in Schepdaal, in the heart of Flemish Brabant, 25 days after the start of the new millennium, Remco was destined for a completely different career as a youngster: he was, in fact, one of the most brilliant talents of the ever-prolific youth sector of Anderlecht. A powerful and lively left back, who also played for the Dutch youth team of PSV, capable of immediately conquering the youth national teams of the “red devils”: on the web, just to give you an idea, there is a photograph circulating of a match played in Catanzaro with the Belgian Under 15s while he was tackling Raoul

Bellanova, the Torino and National team player Luciano Spalletti. At 17, however, his first new life began: a serious injury and a stop to football. “I wasn’t having fun anymore,” he said on several occasions. Who, however, didn’t stop playing sports. On the contrary. In the wake of the family legacy, he began to ride a bike, following in the footsteps of his father Patrick, who also passed through the pro ranks in the early nineties. From the very beginning, Evenepoel showed that he knew how to push hard on the pedals: in 2018, in his first real season as a cyclist, he won the Junior World Championship in both the time trial and the road race, snatching a contract among the pros while completely avoiding the “apprenticeship” of the amateurs. «We found the new one Merckx», the joy of the Belgian fans who, too often, have pinned the (probably unattainable) legacy of the “cannibal” on many talents. But even the adventure in cycling has experienced various before and afters. The sparkle of his debut among the big names was dashed into darkness on August 15, 2020: the races had just started again after the forced break due to Covid and Remco tried his best in the Giro di Lombardia. He was the big favorite for the victory but his race ended in a ditch. The medical bulletin was very serious: a fractured pelvis and a serious contusion to a lung. For nine months Evenepoel remained away from competitive practice, giving way to another life: since then, in fact, this phenomenal Belgian has found his weak point, the Achilles heel, precisely when the road is nose-diving.

And here we come to Pastena. In fact, when activities resumed, the Belgian immediately found the verve needed to establish himself among the greats of this sport. Repeated successes that made him rise to the honors of the chronicles also for being not only an athlete but also a “character”: Remco, in fact, in those years – on several occasions – showed a sort of arrogance that often characterizes great athletes. A sort of Masaniello of two wheels, a modern Ippolito da Pastena. Until May 10, 2023 when, right in the eastern area district, he suddenly lost his (healthy) presumption. The Belgian had shown up at the starting line of the Giro d’Italia as the favorite: already in the first stages he had managed to take the pink jersey, demonstrating that he wanted to be serious. That day, the route included the start from Atripalda and the arrival right in the shadow of the Castello d’Arechi 28 years after the last time. A fraction that ideally united the poems of Frank Arminius e Alfonso Cat, the notes of Vinicio Capossela to those of Rocco Hunt: for him it was a real disaster. He had probably received a sign from heaven: for the whole day, in fact, it rained so much that it seemed like it was the middle of winter and not the beginning of summer. Just a few kilometers after the start, while crossing Venticano, the first trouble: a dog suddenly jumped into the road and for Davide Dancers it was impossible to avoid it. Evenepoel’s gregarious man accidentally caused a pile-up that knocked down many athletes, including his captain who remained sitting on the pavement for a few minutes, with pain in his side. Bent but not broken, Evenepoel got back in the saddle, recovered the disadvantage from the group and set off towards the finish line, hoping to have overcome all the misadventures.

A hope that became vain when the “pink bandwagon” reached the capital, entering it from the industrial area: the last kilometres of the stage, in fact, included crossing the coast from the borders with Bridgecagnano up to the finish line in Piazza della Concordia. Our roads – the magnificent scientific explanation, almost as if he were a university professor, was given Francesco Moser – have a peculiarity: the saltiness, mixed with the rain and the asphalt dust that is created by the passage of vehicles, causes a sort of chemical reaction that makes the roads extremely slippery. That soapy slush, already at the roundabout on Via Allende, claimed its first victims: 15 of them fell. And the situation did not change for the entire following stretch. Up to Pastena where Evenepoel unfortunately entered the scene: Remco, in fact, tasted the asphalt again. The TV images from the helicopter showed him on the ground immediately after the Polo Nautico, right near the main entrance to the marina. He crawled on the gravel for several meters, finding himself crowded into the bicycles of the other athletes who were arriving. The subsequent footage showed that there was no bad luck in his fall. It was his mistake: the Belgian, perhaps distracted, involuntarily crashed into the Luxembourger Alex Kirsch, losing control of the vehicle. He got back in the saddle and went crazy: in the last two kilometers before the finish line, while he was crossing Torrione and the easternmost part of the center of Salerno, he complained to everyone. After crossing the finish line, before reaching the awards podium set up in Piazza Mazzini, he grabbed a water bottle and threw it forcefully – enraged – against the iron booth that housed the press.

A fury marked by that “arrogance” that had characterized him: Evenepoel, in those moments, became (again) Ippolito da Pastena. But it was precisely this episode that changed Remco. That marked another “before and after” of his existence. From that moment, in fact, Evenepoel was transformed: he lost his revolutionary spirit, stripping himself of that presumption that had become his trademark. Pastena and the fall near the marina made him start yet another new life: the following day, after complaining to his opponents, he apologized to everyone. He admitted that the fall was caused only by his distraction. Since then – with rare exceptions – that “arrogance” has not been seen again, managing to win the sympathy of many fans who, precisely because of this attitude, had repeatedly blacklisted him, asking him to “lower his crest”. To stop being a Masaniello. That incessant rain put an end to his angry outbursts: we have only witnessed so many victories. Like the double (and unprecedented) one at the Paris Olympics that are archived by including his joy under the Eiffel Tower among the most beautiful postcards. An undertaking also marked by that new life that began with a fall in Pastena.