‘He proved us all wrong’ – Why Remco Evenepoel will become ‘hero’ in Belgium after La Vuelta win

Remco Evenepoel’s success at La Vuelta will propel him to superstar status in his native Belgium, says Eurosport expert Adam Blythe.

The 22-year-old finished in sixth, 15 seconds behind Stage 20 winner Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), to all but secure his first Grand Tour victory.

Barring a disastrous final stage on Sunday’s procession to Madrid, Evenepoel will become Belgium’s first Grand Tour winner since Johan De Muynck claimed the 1978 Giro d’Italia.

Speaking on The Breakaway, Blythe and Dan Lloyd stressed that the Quick-Step star will become a hero in Belgium when he secures the red jersey on Sunday.

“Quite simply, he is just going to be put on a pedestal – he already is on a pedestal. He deserves to be,” Blythe said.

“We’ve always had question marks about Remco, throughout this whole Grand Tour. Even up until today we were like, ‘Will he crack? Won’t he crack? We’re not sure.’

“He’s proved all of us wrong and he’s done a fantastic ride. We all know what Belgium’s like for cycling and they have that new hero there.

“I don’t think he will quite know what’s hit him when he goes back home. It’ll be like in England if they ever win the World Cup again.

“Imagine in the UK you’ve got your high-end celebrities like David Beckham, who can’t go anywhere without his picture being taken. I can imagine that will be Remco – he won’t be able to go food shopping anymore.”

Belgium produced Eddy Merckx, the winner of five Tour de France’s and a record 11 Grand Tours, but in the 40 years since have been starved of consistent general classification competitors.

Eurosport pundit Lloyd explained: “Great Britain is not as a collective waiting for when the next Bradley Wiggins, or whoever else it is, is going to come along.

“Belgium has been because they had the greatest cyclist of all time. It’s always been, ‘When’s the next Eddy Merckx [going to come along].’

“I don’t think anyone seriously labelled [Evenepoel] as that because we now know you’re not going to get another Eddy Merckx in the modern era of cycling, but they have been waiting for that GC contender – the sort of person that they can cheer on for three weeks who’s got a decent chance of winning by the end of it.

“And they’ve got that now.”

Barring a calamity, Evenepoel will confirm his Vuelta victory on Sunday, when the race ends with a 96.7km flat stage from Las Rozas to Madrid.

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