Patrick Lefevere expressed his admiration for Remco Evenepoel in his weekly column in the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. As highlighted by the Soudal Quick-Step team boss, Remco demonstrates a remarkable fighting spirit in the Vuelta a España and serves as an example to his teammates.
Lefevere emphasizes that Remco is no stranger to adversity and mentions his dramatic crash after the stage victory in Andorra. “Even with a headache and discomfort in his hip after the accident, Remco doesn’t complain,” Lefevere reports.
“As I’ve said three hundred thousand times: l’équipe est toujours à l’hauteur du leader (the team is always as good as the leader),” he continues. Lefevere is referring to Thursday’s stage at Pico del Buitre, where Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard took more than half a minute from Evenepoel in the final climb, and Sepp Kuss won the stage on behalf of Jumbo-Visma.
“Three of our riders fell ill overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. Louis Vervaeke, James Knox, and Andrea Bagioli had severe abdominal pains at night and spent more time in the bathroom than in bed. Immediately, everyone was there within the team,” says Lefevere. “Knox recovered relatively quickly, but Vervaeke and certainly Bagioli had a tough day on Wednesday.”
“The peloton, of course, did their job: everyone saw our athletes struggling along the route. On Thursday, Jumbo Visma and other teams put pressure on us right from the first kilometer. I also understand why. To be honest, in their place, I would have done exactly the same given the circumstances,” admits the Belgian.