Triumphs and tears: “Little Cannibal” enchants Belgium

Evenepoel dedicated his victory to this on Monday in a crash on the Tour of Poland at the age of 22 Lambrecht died – and Stef Loos (19), who also had an accident in a race in March. “I said before the start that I would start today for some stars in the sky. This is not my victory. This is a victory for Bjorg and Stef,” said Evenepoel.

It was the end of an eventful week for the young Belgian. On Saturday, the professional from the Belgian Deceuninck-QuickStep team won the prestigious and highly demanding Spanish one-day race Clásica San Sebastián. “I had tears in my eyes for the last three or four kilometers. It was very emotional. Because I realized that this would be a really big step in my career,” Evenepoel later confessed.

The Belgian arrived in San Sebastian as a soloist. © Instagram

Last year, none other than his French teammate Julian Alaphilippe (27), who had recently ridden in the yellow jersey for more than two weeks at the Tour de France and delighted French cycling fans, won in San Sebastian. Evenepoel has been doing the same thing in his homeland since his coup in Spain. The boy wonder from Schepdaal in the province of Flemish Brabant also won this year's Tour of Belgium as the youngest driver in history. On the trail of Eddy Merckx So it's no wonder that the press in cycling-crazy Belgium doesn't skimp on superlatives when it comes to the 2018 junior time trial and road world champion from Innsbruck. Evenepoel is already reverently nicknamed “Little Cannibal” in reference to Belgium’s cycling idol and five-time Tour winner Eddy Merckx. “Whether Evenepoel is my successor? He could be better than me. Remco has all the qualities to do it,” Merckx said on the news program “VTM NIEUWS” after Evenepoel’s victory in the Basque Country.

But cycling is not the only talent that Evenepoel was apparently born with. He played nine junior international football matches (U16 and U15). He played as a left defender for PSV Eindhoven, RSC Anderlecht and KV Mechelen - before devoting himself entirely to cycling in 2017. Apparently a right choice.

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Triumphs and tears: “Little Cannibal” enchants Belgium

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