Remco Evenepoel rode in a manner at yesterday's World Championships that made pre-race criticism by Eddy Merckx look pretty daft. And when the young Belgian pulled over having done his work for Wout van Aert, the fans gave him a huge reception.
In the footage, below, the crowd could be heard chanting: "Merci Remco, merci Remco, merci."
Before the Worlds, Merckx chipped in with his view, saying he wouldn't have even picked Evenepoel for a team that was going into the race riding for Van Aert.
"If there is only one leader, you really shouldn't take Evenepoel," said Merckx. "He rides mainly for himself; we saw that at the Olympics."
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However, Evenepoel clearly rode himself to a standstill yesterday for Van Aert. Evenepoel was in two early breakaway groups and when a selection of 17 riders was made with almost 50km to go, the 21-year-old made the cut.
Once there, he went on the front for about 25km; riding hard for Van Aert and Jasper Stuyven onto the final laps of the Leuven circuit. And while the Belgians could only manage 4th, with Stuyven, Evenepoel blew the pre-race criticism out of the water.
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