'The last jersey I still wanted and needed' – Champion of championships Remco Evenepoel completes the set with eighth elite title out of eight

Remco Evenepoel is undeniably one of the greatest riders of this ongoing generation, but as he added the UEC European Championships road race title to his already illustrious palmarès in Slovenia, the Belgian completed the set of winning all eight championship titles available to him.

Across the two disciplines of the road race and individual time trial, at just 26, Evenepoel has now won both at the Belgian National Championships, European Championships, World Championships, and the Olympic Games, in a run spanning back seven years, with 24 medals won at the elite level.

In an era mostly dominated by one rider, Tadej Pogačar, Evenepoel's talents as a time trial expert and elite one-day racer, long known since he burst onto the scene as a junior, have seen him go on to achieve a level of completion the Slovenian has only managed half of.

And looking back to 2018, just 18 months after he had become a cyclist, is it any real surprise? At the Europeans Championships, he did the double in the junior road race and time trial in Zlín, Czechia, before netting an unprecedented double double as he achieved the same feat at the World Championships in Innsbruck, winning both junior rainbow jerseys by more than 1:20.

Even as an inexperienced teenager, Evenepoel was the master of championships, and this latest feat and completion of the championship bingo only adds to his legacy as a rider for the big occasion.

"This means a lot to me; this was the last jersey I still wanted and needed to win in cycling," said Evenepoel after beating Giulio Ciccone on Sunday in a nail-biting photo finish.

"This jersey is added to my list of achievements, but you played a big part in that. A huge thank you for that," he added that evening, in his speech to the Belgian team and staff. "The same goes for the staff. Everything was well organised again. Thanks to everyone who contributed even a little bit.

"And I think I'm not riding championships anymore now, right?" he joked. "No, that's not true."

His first major elite title came at the Europeans a year after his junior dominance, vindicating his early step up to the professional level as he beat specialists Kasper Asgreen, Edoardo Affini, Stefan Küng, Alex Dowsett and Filippo Ganna to the title in Alkmaar at just 19.

Evenepoel's next gold medal came at the Belgian Championships, but not until 2022, with his major crash at Il Lombardia in 2020 stunting some of his inevitable progress. He beat then-teammate Yves Lampaert convincingly to the time trial title in Gavere.

Fast forward three months and Evenepoel became road race World Champion in Wollongong, claiming the rainbow jersey by more than two minutes after he went solo in the last 25km.

In 2023, he added two more major titles, winning the Belgian national road race title ahead of Alec Segaert in Izegem, before going on to win the first of his four World titles in the elite time trial, scorching to victory in Stirling after finishing on the podium in his first three attempts.

He made history a season later, becoming the first male rider to do the double at the Olympic Games in Paris, dominating the race against the clock, before claiming an iconic solo win in the road race. With the help of Wout van Aert marking Mathieu van der Poel up the Montmartre climb, Evenepoel was able to time his attack to perfection, surviving despite a late bike change, and celebrating in front of the Eiffel Tower.

With this feat achieved, Evenepoel's tally of championship wins was already at seven, with just the European road race remaining on his hit list. Before the race in Ljubljana, Evenepoel had gone close twice to completing the eight, losing out to Sonny Colbrelli in a two-up sprint in Trento in 2021, and only being beaten by Pogačar in France a season ago.

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Lining up at the start with Pogačar still out injured, Evenepoel was the heavy favourite to claim the iconic European jersey, but as is typical of the Belgians' entire career, it was never going to be as simple as him riding off solo into the sunset.

The Italian team mounted a major challenge, upping the pace for their big leaders Giulio Ciccone and Christian Scaroni, and just as the race started to really heat up and Evenepoel began his move on the Možjanca climb, with Ciccone following him, the Belgian crashed.

A week after the disappointment of failing to deliver at the World Championships, Evenepoel's hope of the eighth was looking like it might go up in smoke, but with luck on his side, his bike wasn't badly broken, and his teammates were just coming up to help dig him out of the hole.

Maxim van Gils and Ramses Debruyne brought him back to the front, and the next time up, he was able to put the hammer down again. But still, the race wasn't done, with Ciccone able to follow and then staying – for the vast majority of the run for home – in the stronger rider's wheel.

Not only did it take a two-up sprint to decide the day, but one of the closest photo finishes in recent memory confirmed Evenepoel was the champion, narrowly pipping Ciccone with an expert bike throw by the barest of margins in Šenčur. Not only did he complete the set, but Evenepoel had righted the wrongs of Montreal.

"I might not have really shown it, but I was still very disappointed in myself and my performance. I also felt like I had disappointed the whole country with my performance," he said. "I still hope that everyone is proud now that we are back. And sorry again for last week's World Championship. Now I'm going to celebrate this one big time."

Evenepoel travelled back to Belgium today, but will be on the road once again on Wednesday, "Because there is another important race on Saturday," as he heads for Italy to take on Il Lombardia. Second in the past two seasons behind Pogačar, Evenepoel will be the favourite for the Monument and will look to close out a successful 2026 season with a bang.

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