Evenepoel hits back after video exposed in media, Zonneveld also lashes out: "He’s just not built for this"

First, the video of the young boy emerged after the finish. Evenepoel was seen spotting the child, motioning him to step aside, and rolling on towards the Soudal-Quick Step team bus. This was exposed on social media and it erupted, and Evenepoel saw the backlash later that evening. He fired back strongly: “For everyone talking or writing shit: I gave the boy (and over 20 others) an autograph and selfie after I had cooled down on the rollers and recovered a bit after a shower.”

It clearly hit a nerve for Evenepoel to be portrayed as a grumpy pro ignoring an excited child. “I would never leave young kids hanging. Thanks, media, for only showing the negative stuff,” he wrote in an Instagram story, reacting to the Cyclingnews video. Evenepoel even took the time to comment directly under the same video: “CAN YOU ALSO SHOW A VIDEO OF WHAT HAPPENED ABOUT 20 minutes LATER ?? Thank you.”

That wasn’t the only criticism aimed at Remco Evenepoel. Beyond the questions surrounding his time loss, Thijs Zonneveld highlighted a specific moment (video below at 7:15) on In De Waaier to show that Evenepoel, in his view, rides somewhat fearfully through the Tour de France peloton. “He almost gets squeezed out of the second echelon. You can see he’s not built for this. Mentally, he’s not the best when it comes to riding aggressively in the crosswinds.”

“He just rides into the grass,” Zonneveld observed, describing a moment when Jarrad Drizners from Lotto passed him on the right. “When you’re riding in echelons, you learn to defend your spot, otherwise someone else takes it. If I shove someone, I stay where I am. That’s a mindset: ‘Okay, I’m here, and anyone who bumps me, I’ll bump them right back.’ Shoulder in! But he just lets himself get pushed aside, even though he wasn’t even touched.”

“I read that Evenepoel thinks he’s good at jumping from echelon to echelon, but that’s the wrong mindset,” Zonneveld continued. “You need to be in that first echelon. It costs way too much energy, even if you’re incredibly strong or the best time trialist in the world. It’s impossible to jump from group to group, especially if there are still 20 kilometers left. You’re not going to close a 10-second gap on your own. That’s sloppy, it’s the wrong way to start the Tour.”