Remco Evenepoel’s season it is being of lights and shadows. The good thing, his successes in the UAE Tour, Volta a Catalunya (although he couldn’t beat Roglic in the general) and Liège-Bastoña-Liège. The negative, he passed without pain or glory for the Tour of San Juan and the abandonment of the Giro d’Italia. Of course, the latter for reasons beyond his control or strictly sporting, given his positive for COVID-19 which forced him to give up an Italian round in which he was leading at the end of the ninth stage.
At that time, the head honcho of Soudal Quick-Step, Patrick Lefevere, greatly worried the world of cycling by ensuring that the Belgian would not change his mind to sign up for the Tour de France or La Vuelta. “At the beginning of next week we will do cardiac tests,” Lefevere advanced days ago about the usual procedure carried out by his medical team to rule out any health risk that the runner may suffer with high-intensity physical activity.
Fortunately, the results of the medical check-ups have been positive, as the team revealed last Tuesday on their social networks: “After a check-up and tests, our medical team leaves the World Champion all clear to get back on his bike. We can’t wait to see you race again soon, Remco.” It is still unknown how the Quick-Step will reconfigure Evenepoel’s calendar, although team staff assured after the abandonment that it would be revealed in the coming weeks.
As an accompaniment to the brief official statement issued by your team, Evenepoel wanted to share his thoughts with his Instagram followers through a letter:
“It is difficult to decide where to start. But let’s start with the positive news. After today’s checkups and medical exams, I have the green light to start training again and think about new goals. First of all, I must thank my wife and my parents for the support they have given me in recent days. Also my closest family and friends really supported me a lot and well! Also people to thank: my teammates and members of the Soudal Quick-Step team!
Then, my feelings after having to abandon the Giro. Definitely one of the hardest setbacks in my still very short career. Leaving the race with a COVID-19 infection was a very brutal end to what could have been a beautiful story. 6 months of complete preparation just for this race. Sacrifices, long days in the rain, long periods away from home. Everything was going according to plan, but that’s the sport. The ups and downs are part of our job and I can accept it without any problem. What is hard to accept are all the false and negative comments I received after having to drop out of the race. I’m not the type of person to hide or be afraid of losing. So this is for those who think so. The last few days were emotionally very hard because of these comments. But I will take those moments with me on the bike, preparing for my next goals and races.
So, I just want to ask everyone to remember that I am not a robot, but also a normal human being, husband, son, teammate, etc., with normal feelings. I am looking forward to setting new goals and I feel ready for it to be a beautiful second part of this beautiful season so far. See you soon”. Hopefully it will be like that.
