Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) described Wout van Aert’s season-ending injury at the Vuelta a España as “a big loss” for Belgium ahead of the UCI Road World Championships in Zurich later this month.
Van Aert crashed heavily on a descent during stage 16 of the Spanish Grand Tour and was forced to abandon the race. Visma-Lease a Bike later confirmed that the 29-year-old would not race again in 2024.
Although no squad announcement had been made, Van Aert and Evenepoel were expected to compete in their national team kit in both the individual time trial and the road race in Switzerland.
Speaking to Cyclingnews at the Tour of Britain, Evenepoel said: “It’s a big loss for us but that’s how cycling goes. We’ll have to find a good one to replace him, but I think the national team coach knows what to do.
“We could have expected [him ending his season] with the kind of injury he had. An injury on the knee is always pretty tricky to deal with, especially when you have an injury like he has now. So I think he’s professional and old enough to decide for himself what is best and I think it’s the right decision that he has made now,” the double Olympic Champion added.
It means Evenepoel, who podiumed the Tour de France on his debut this summer, will head to Zurich for battle against the likes of Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel without his usual foil in the bunch for company.
However, the Soudal Quick-Step talisman believes his national team have the strength in depth to negate Van Aert’s loss, explaining: “It’s a pretty demanding course but I think we [Belgium] have some riders that have stepped up this year so I think we’ll have some options to replace Wout. Of course, it’s difficult to replace him but we have no other option.”
Despite the attention being on his World Championships ambitions, Evenepoel has been missing from the pointy end of the race during the Tour of Britain, describing his week so far as “suffering through.”
Accepting that his exploits over the summer have taken their toll, he added: “For me, it’s a rebuild after the Olympics and the Tour so I’m just suffering through, I think two days ago was a good day for me but yesterday with the rain and the bad weather, I felt a bit empty.”
“I’ve done a month in 40 degrees so then coming here in 10 degrees and rain wasn’t really a pleasure for me so I’m just suffering through and doing my best to help the team as well.”
The 24-year-old will also aim to add another Monument to his palmarès before the year is out, confirming that he’ll end his season at Il Lombardia on October 12.
“I will finish my season with the Italian Classics and the Worlds, Il Lombardia will be my last one.”
