Once you hear about Remco Evenepoel's journey from World to European Championship, you truly appreciate his achievement

National coach Serge Pauwels admitted that he was a little nervous when Evenepoel finished second in a grueling road race at the World Championships on Sunday. Everything had to go right to get his team leader in top condition for the start of the European Time Trial Championships on Wednesday, so a meticulous plan was drawn up. That plan was executed to perfection, down to the last detail.

“For time trialists, it's imperative that you can stay in your bubble, especially in the last 24 hours before a race. Remco had to come back from Africa, but that went very smoothly. He flew on Monday night and arrived in Marseille on Tuesday morning. There he was picked up by the national team and then spent the whole day in the hotel,” said national coach Serge Pauwels.

“It takes a lot of professionalism and mental strength, because I had to shift my focus after Sunday's disappointment quickly,” Evenepoel said at the press conference. “It helped that I was able to celebrate a little on Sunday evening with my teammates and my wife, who was also in Rwanda. I went to bed early, slept as much as possible, and did the same after a short recovery ride.”

In conversation with Eurosport, Pauwels indicated how bizarre the combination of the World Championships and European Championships was. “Remco really managed to get into the right flow and forget that he had raced on Sunday,” said Pauwels, who perhaps thought the World Championships were excellent preparation. “You would never consciously do it this way in advance: racing for 6.5 hours on Sunday and then traveling to another continent.”

“But Remco may have benefited from it in some way. He went all out on Sunday, and he was certainly no less impressive in the European Championship time trial than he was in the World Championships,” said a satisfied coach. “The new challenge now is to maintain the momentum towards the road race on Sunday. Remco knew he had four goals in these two weeks, and he achieved two, taking silver. That's impressive.”

It all sounds straightforward, but Evenepoel refuted that: “It was important to follow a strict diet throughout the trip. I had to eat enough to recover properly, but I also had to make sure I didn't drink too much. We did everything as planned, with a recon when I was here in France. After that, I stayed in bed as much as possible.”

For Pauwels, after a perfect trip and a well-thought-out plan, it was ultimately a pleasure to ride behind Evenepoel in the support car to European Championship victory. “Remco looks so perfect, so aerodynamic. That makes him very fast; he really comes close to being the perfect time trialist. His cornering technique has improved a lot, and he makes very few mistakes,” he said praisefully to VTM.

The only problem was that Pauwels couldn't discuss it on the radio for a long time. It wasn't working. “We understood that he couldn't hear us properly from the car. He was only able to hear us properly again in the last 3 kilometers, probably because a motorcyclist was blocking the signal. However, Remco had prepared well, so the coaching from the car wasn't really essential.”

With a time trial title at the World and European Championships firmly in the bag, Belgium was already looking ahead to the final test on Wednesday: the road race on Sunday. “Remco will be riding behind the moped for about four hours on Thursday, because a road race is a completely different kind of effort,” Pauwels predicted about his team leader’s training ride. “He's in great shape, so he doesn't need to worry about that.”

“The competition is very strong, though, maybe even stronger than at the World Championships. It won't be easy,” the national coach continued. His legs may have performed well in the time trial, but there's no guarantee that will be the case on Sunday. “Unfortunately, we can't tell the competition that he could have gone another minute faster in the time trial,” Pauwels laughed on IDLProCycling.com.

After the European Championships, Evenepoel now holds the time trial titles at the Olympic Games, the Belgian Championships, the World Championships, and the European Championships. What's next in the time trial that he loves so much? "I love time trials, mainly because of the strict preparation and the championships that motivate me. There are always great time trials in the Grand Tours, which I really want to win. The goal will be to keep winning as many time trials as possible,“ said the star rider.

”This year, the goal was to win all the jerseys. The courses of the Belgian, World, and European Championships suited me well, so in terms of time trials, it was a perfect year. Mission accomplished, now I'm going to see with my new team (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, ed.) what the goals will be in terms of rankings, classics, and time trials. Maybe some things will change, but I will continue to start every time trial to win."

Is there also an attempt at Filippo Ganna's world hour record somewhere in there? The Italian from INEOS Grenadiers looks set to remain the record holder for a while. "Maybe when I'm over thirty, but definitely not in the next five years."

Bram van der Ploeg ( Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])