Remco Evenepoel’s hopes of defending his Belgian national time trial title were effectively ended when he crashed on a slippery corner, barely three minutes into his effort. Although the Soudal-QuickStep man remounted and completed the course, he had to settle for fourth place as Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) powered to the victory.
“I turned into the corner just a little bit too fast, but I had confidence and wanted to take risks,” Evenepoel said, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. “It was the corner with the least chance of falling. I maybe went a little over my limit.”
The steady rain in Herzele added a degree of complication to the 42km course, and Evenepoel was never able to recover from his early error, finishing the day 1:22 behind Van Aert. Alec Segaert (Lotto-Dsnty) and Rune Herregodts (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) completed the podium, with Evenepoel finishing 16 seconds off the medals.
"I was already fifty seconds behind at the first intermediate point. From then on I knew that I was definitely not competing for the win," Evenepoel said. "During the second lap they said that the podium was still there, that I was getting closer and closer. That indicates that I had good legs today. I also felt that I was going to be ready for it.”
Although Evenepoel sustained a cut to his right hip, he suggested that the crash would not affect his participation in Sunday’s road race, where Soudal-QuickStep’s ranks will include defending champion Tim Merlier.
“I'm looking forward to Sunday. It will be drier than today,” he said. “We want to keep the jersey in the team. It will be a fair race, but the start is pretty tough. With Lampaert, myself and Merlier, we have several irons in the fire.”
Evenepoel, who was forced out of the Giro d’Italia by COVID-19 while wearing the maglia rosa, has already confirmed that he will not ride the Tour de France. The World Champion returned to action at last week’s Tour de Suisse, winning the penultimate stage en route to second overall. He will train at altitude in Val di Fassa in July in preparation for the Glasgow World Championships, where he will target both the time trial and road race.
