Remco Evenepoel made himself heard again on Friday. The Belgian champion was a guest in the Soudal Quick-Step podcast “The Wolfpack Howls” and shared, among other things, a positive injury update, his pastime in his unexpected mid-season break and also analyzed his heavy fall in the Tour of the Basque Country.
Evenepoel crashed heavily two weeks ago in the Tour of the Basque Country. Our compatriot broke his collarbone and shoulder blade, which immediately forced him to cross himself about his ambitions in the Ardennes classics. So that’s a serious blow, although he says he can’t complain. “My body is gradually recovering and I have less pain every day,” he told Quick-Step press chief Phil Lowe. “I was in a lot of pain, especially during the first week after the fall, but from the beginning of the week I was able to sleep peacefully and pain-free again. I also did some physio exercises so that my muscles don’t stop working. Cycling outside was not possible yet, partly due to the bad weather, but from Monday I can train on the rollers again.”
In the room with Roglic
The day after the serious crash, the Belgian champion analyzed all the images. “If you look closely at the movement of my bike, you can clearly see that I took the wrong line and hit the bumpy part of the corner and lost control. I lost traction and braked for fear of veering out of the bend. Then I went all the way to the left and jumped over that culvert. Everything happened so quickly and the next moment I’m straightening up and trying to support my collarbone. In slow motion images it seems easy to maintain control, but in images from the helicopter this is not the case at all. It was also a dangerous descent, because every now and then I saw the speed on my bike computer: 80 to 81 kilometers per hour.”
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“Primoz Roglic was next to me in the hospital in Vitoria Gasteiz, so I spoke to him briefly,” Evenepoel continues. “I also sent Jonas Vingegaard a message on Wednesday. With the other boys, I just kept an eye on social media to see how they were doing. Considering the circumstances, everyone is doing well, fortunately.”
Champions League
Evenepoel therefore suffered a broken collarbone, a common injury among cyclists, which is often underestimated. Also at Evenepoel itself. “Before the injury I was always a bit too positive about a broken collarbone, but not now. It is definitely not the easiest injury as a rider and I hope that my fellow cyclists and I hope that my colleagues do not have to experience the same thing. It is not my first serious injury (for example, Evenepoel suffered a very serious fall in the Tour of Lombardy in 2020; nvdr.) and that experience has taught me not to go too fast. That actually helped me to recover calmly before I got on the bike. Now I’m a bit more relaxed and I try to enjoy my life mid-season break.
An unexpected one mid-season break so for Evenepoel, who enjoyed his time with his family and friends. “Last Wednesday I celebrated the end of Ramadan with Oumi and I also watched a lot of football. Especially Champions League and Anderlecht’s match on Sunday. I also slept a lot, played mini golf and watched the race. I’m not someone who doesn’t look if I unexpectedly can’t ride along.”
Which Ardennes classic was the most painful to watch? “The Amstel Gold Race,” Evenepoel is clear. “In any case, I started there in good shape and was also very ambitious. Certainly not the Flèche Wallonne, when you see what happened there.”
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– 2024-04-19 16:41:53
