Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) will have to wait until 2024 before he can take a first victory in the individual time trial World Champion’s jersey, falling short of the win at his final race of the season behind Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) at the Chrono des Nations.
Evenepoel is still only 23, despite his experience at the top level, but is four years Tarling’s senior. The 19-year-old has been incredible in his neo-pro season, just as Evenepoel was in 2019, taking four wins including one at WorldTour level alongside a national and continental title in the individual time trial.
The Belgian was impressed by the young Brit as the pair were the only riders capable of maintaining a 52 kph average speed over the 45.4km course, and admitted he will be alive to the threat of Tarling’s talent come time trials in future.
“That will keep me sharp and awake. If I want to beat Tarling or [Filippo] Ganna in the future, it will be in the details,” said Evenepoel to Het Laatste Nieuws. “These are men with real power. I will have to work hard this winter to make progress.”
Tarling and Ganna were the duo that finished on the podium behind Evenepoel in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Stirling, with the lightest of the three coming out on top and taking another rainbow jersey to add to his road race world title from the year prior.
The Brit was one of the youngest-ever riders to finish on the podium of the elite ITT Worlds and the first since Evenepoel to do in at age 19. The Belgian did go one better than Tarling in 2019, finishing second, not third as a teenager.
At the Chrono des Nations, however, Tarling was fastest at each of the intermediate time checks, holding his powerful tempo all the way to the line in Les Herbiers. He added the senior race to his junior Chrono des Nations victory from 2022.
“If someone is a little bit better, I have to accept that. I tried my best, I couldn't ride faster than this today,” Evenepoel said. “Tarling got off to a faster start and has maintained that lead. I shouldn't make excuses. The season is over now.
“I could have said at the second intermediate point: okay, I'll let it go now, I won't fight anymore. I still rode on character. I still had the faith that I could return despite that headwind.”
Evenepoel was unable to make up the deficit, ending the race 13 seconds down on Tarling, with his win tally for 2023 remaining at 13, and his overall victories at 50 after a hat-trick of stage triumphs at the Vuelta a España.
The three wins in Spain, however, were a silver lining for the Belgian as he missed out on his bigger goal of defending the overall title at the Vuelta which went to Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), and an unfortunate crash ruined his chances of fighting for victory at Il Lombardia.
“Since the Vuelta, I have had difficulty finding real form again. It has not been an easy summer, despite the good results,” Evenepoel said.
The Belgian is ready for a break after 67 days of hard racing in 2023 and all the stresses that came with a planned merger/take-over with Jumbo-Visma, which never came to fruition. Not to mention all the transfer rumours that followed him until his confirmation of staying with Soudal-QuickStep after Lombardia.
He’ll look for further success and a second Grand Tour victory in 2024, with his presence also expected on the start line of the Tour de France alongside GC titans Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and the newly-transferred Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe).
