Victorious Remco Evenepoel sets sights on making cycling time trial history
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Belgium's Remco Evenepoel celebrates on the podium after winning the individual time trial at the World Championships on Sept 21.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KIGALI – Remco Evenepoel had barely crossed the finish line on Sept 21 before declaring he would try to retain his world time trial title in 2026 and in the process make history.
The 25-year-old Belgian rider secured a hat-trick of world championship titles with a dominant win in the individual time trial, blitzing the field to win by more than a minute through the streets of the Rwandan capital Kigali.
He joins Australia’s Michael Rogers (2003-05) and Germany’s Tony Martin (2011-13) as those who have previously won three in a row.
“The list I have joined are two pretty impressive guys in Tony and Michael so it’s a big step for me to step up there and, yeah, I guess next year I have to go for another one, because I want to be the first to get four in a row,” Evenepoel said.
He had been expected to be in a tight tussle with Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar, who had set his sights on winning both the Sept 21 time trial and the Sept 28 men’s road race.
But Pogacar was no match for Evenepoel, who caught him 2km from the end on the cobbles of Cote de Kimihurura. He already had a 45-second advantage over the Slovenian at the first time check after 10.6km and by the third time check, after 31.6km, had stretched his advantage to almost 90sec as Pogacar’s ambitions faded.
Asked what went through his mind as he had Pogacar in his sights, Evenepoel added: “I think on a day like today, it doesn’t matter who it is, but I just wanted to push as hard as possible from the first climb on.
“Then I just tried to recover as much as possible in the descent and of course on the cobbles, when I saw that I was coming closer quite quickly, I knew I had to push through.”
Australia’s Jay Vine took silver with Belgian Ilan van Wilder snatching third, just 1.6sec faster than Pogacar, who admitted he had given everything.
“It’s hard to swallow,” he said of being overtaken.
“It’s incredible how fast he (Evenepoel) was, how good he is at this discipline. Really what a ride from him. I feel bitter about missing a medal by one second. But tomorrow is a new day.”
Victory also offered some redemption after a tough year for Evenepoel, who went into the Tour de France with crash injuries and withdrew on Stage 14 in the mountains, describing it as one of “the rawest and most vulnerable” moments of his career.
The 2026 world championships are set to be held in Montreal.
REUTERS, AFP
