Evenepoel had a tough World Championships: 'From the very first lap, I could tell I wasn't having a good day'

Evenepoel fell behind relatively early in the final stage of the World Cycling Championships. Time and again, he managed to catch up, but he wasn’t there when Brandon McNulty made his decisive move. In the final lap, the world time trial champion did manage to rejoin the lead group and still had a chance at the title, but he was unable to close the gap to the American. Evenepoel finished 12th, 25 seconds behind the winner.

Belgium had hoped that Evenepoel would be the next Belgian world champion in Montreal after Eddy Merckx, but it wasn’t to be. “It was tough,” he tells Eurosport. “From the very first lap, I could tell I wasn’t having a good day. It’s a bummer that it had to happen today, but there are no excuses. The strongest rider always wins at a World Championship—that’s just how it is.”

Belgium was firmly in control for about 80 kilometers. Wout van Aert was in the lead group along with Mathieu van der Poel, and Evenepoel was able to watch from a safe distance. “The situation was perfect, with Wout up front and me right behind him,” he admits. “Then Del Toro went all out on the climb, but I was able to stay on his wheel and wait. But then Wout dropped off the front.”

And so the plan had to be changed. Van Aert rejoined the group with his compatriot. “He told me he wanted to take the lead. At that point, I already knew I wasn’t at my best, but I’m grateful he was willing to do something. Still, I realized pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to be my day to win.”