Evenepoel wins time trial title at European Championships

Remco Evenepoel won the elite men's individual time trial at the UEC European Championships in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, on Thursday. The 19-year-old Belgian sat in the hot seat overcome with emotions after securing the victory in 24:55 to beat Kasper Asgreen (Denmark) by 18 seconds and Edoardo Affini (Italy) by an additional two seconds.

Evenepoel dedicated the victory to his compatriots Bjorg Lambrecht, who died following a crash at the Tour de Pologne on Monday, and Stef Loos, who was killed in a collision with a van during a race in March.

"I talked to everyone in the Belgian cycling team and told them I'm taking the start today for some stars in the sky, I did it so, this is not my victory," Evenepoel said in a post-race interview. "This is a victory for Bjorg and Stef, and my teammates."

Evenepoel raced in the junior ranks last year, winning the individual time trial at the European Championships. He went on to win the junior world titles in the time trial and the road race at the Innsbruck World Championships.
As one of the most promising up-and-coming talents, Evenepoel signed a contract to compete on the WorldTour with Deceuninck-QuickStep this season.

His victory in the elite men's time trial in Alkmaar can be added to a series of achievements this year that includes an overall victory at the Baloise Belgium Tour, a stage win at Adriatica Ionica Race and his most recent victory at the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian.

"This is incredible," Evenepoel said of his time trial victory. "Last week San Sebastian and now this, I can't believe it."

The elite men raced along a 22km course on the same route used for the mixed relay team time trials on Wednesday. The flat out-and-back loop that started and finished in Alkmaar. Evenepoel was up against some of the more seasoned time triallists, including his compatriot Yves Lampaert, along with Great Britain's Alex Dowsett and the Netherland's Jos van Emden.

It was the younger talents on the start list, however, that contested for the medal positions, with Evenepoel being the youngest at just 19, while Asgreen is 24 and Affini is 23 years old.

All three riders started the time trial early, and Affini set the benchmark time of 15:16. He wasn't in the hot seat for long before his minute-man, Asgreen, came through the finish line two seconds faster.

Evenepoel, who was the 13th rider off and started his time trial three minutes after Asgreen, stormed across the line with the fastest time of the day. He was the only rider to finish under 25 minutes, with a winning time of 24:55.

Evenepoel's next major challenge will likely be at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire. He is still eligible to compete as an under-23, but he has not yet confirmed what category he will compete in. He could be selected to race with Belgium's elite men's team.

"I don't know what the future will bring," he said when asked what his immediate future holds in pro cycling. "I'm going to enjoy the moment, and as I said, this one is for some guys in the sky."

Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Remco Evenepoel (Bel)0:24:55
2Kasper Asgreen (Den)0:00:18
3Edoardo Affini (Ita)0:00:21
4Stefan Küng (Swi)Row 3 - Cell 2
5Alex Dowsett (GBr)Row 4 - Cell 2
6Filippo Ganna (Ita)0:00:22
7Yves Lampaert (Bel)0:00:28
8Jos Van Emden (Ned)0:00:31
9Martin Toft Madsen (Den)0:00:39
10Sebastian Langeveld (Ned)0:00:58
11Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol)0:01:02
12Claudio Imhof (Swi)0:01:04
13Yoann Paillot (Fra)Row 12 - Cell 2
14Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe)0:01:07
15Jan Bárta (Cze)0:01:14
16Matthias Brändle (Aut)0:01:15
17Jasha Sütterlin (Ger)0:01:28
18Wojciech Ziolkowski (Pol)0:01:36
19Edward Dunbar (Irl)0:01:40
20Corentin Ermenault (Fra)0:01:41
21Marco Mathis (Ger)0:01:51
22Anton Vorobyev (Rus)0:02:00
23Johannes Hirschbichler (Aut)0:02:05
24Michal Schlegel (Cze)0:02:09
25Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu)0:02:12
26Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu)0:02:14
27Oleksandr Holovash (Ukr)0:02:17
28Tom Wirtgen (Lux)0:02:24
29Vladislav Kulikov (Rus)0:02:25
30Jan Andrej Cully (Svk)0:02:33
31Andriy Vasylyuk (Ukr)0:02:34
32János Zsombor Pelikán (Hun)0:02:36
33Aharon Hitman (Isr)0:03:35
34Oscar Cabanas Quintela (And)0:04:33

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets

After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Join now for unlimited access

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Kirsten Frattini
Women's Editor

Kirsten Frattini is an honours graduate of Kinesiology and Health Science from York University in Toronto, Canada. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's WorldTour. She has worked in both print and digital publishing, and started with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. Moving into a Production Editor's role in 2014, she produces and publishes international race coverage for all men's and women's races including Spring Classics, Grand Tours, World Championships and Olympic Games, and writes and edits news and features. As the Women's Editor at Cyclingnews, Kirsten also coordinates and oversees the global coverage of races, news, features and podcasts about women's professional cycling.

Latest on Cyclingnews