Remco Evenepoel 's showdown on Sunday, at the World Cup in Australia, is giving an appetite . We still have his imposing attack in our eyes and already we would like to see him at work again. We will not see his rainbow jersey at Lombardia (unless there are sensational surprises), the last round of the World Tour season and the final race also for the Fantacycling 2022. However, after such a season, the desire to see him compete for the Tour de France grows immediately Next year. Definition and question are by Philippe Le Gars, in L'Équipe , the newspaper of the group that organizes the race. Because after having equaled Alfredo Binda, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault, the only ones so far to have won a Classic monument, a great Giro and the rainbow jersey in the same year, now comes the great thing: understanding what turn the 22-year-old Belgian's career is taking.

" We know that he is thirsty for records - the French newspaper takes it away - and the desire to mark the history of cycling, to the point that the (almost) obligatory passage becomes the next season's Tour de France, even if his plan does not foresee it " . So, Remco, change the plans, because even in the Fantacycling 2023 teams there are many waiting for you.

A few days ago the Gazzetta launched the hypothesis or the hope of having him in Italy. The world champion jersey has been missing from the Giro d'Italia since the days of Mark Cavendish: the spring of 2012 would also be the time.

"It was a decision taken for a long time and for the moment we don't want to change our project around Remco, even if with him everything is going faster than expected". So says Patrick Lefévère, the manager of Quick-Step, who “ hatches his jewel - writes the French newspaper - as he has never done before, with Johan Museeuw, Tom Boonen or Julian Alaphilippe.

“ But the pressure is destined to grow, ” writes L'Équipe , evidently aware of what they will do on the other floors of the building. Certain pressures cannot be resisted for long, for reasons of relationships, for reasons of money, for ambition. Evenepoel wanted to get back on the road next year, he wanted to enjoy the rainbow jersey by pedaling freely - so he said - and instead his presence is confirmed at the semi-classic valley of October 4th, the Binche-Chimay-Binche . It is confirmed that he will not be in Lombardy, the day before he gets married.

" He will have the opportunity to be celebrated with his jersey on the Grand-Place in Brussels next Sunday, a rare honor to which only Eddy Merckx was entitled in 1969 after his first victory in the Tour de France, Justine Henin after his success at Roland -Garros in 2003 and the national football team in 1986 and 2018 " .

«It is the press that presents him as the new Eddy Merckx, not us - retorts Lefévère - on the contrary, we want to protect him from this pressure. Imagine that he goes to the Tour with that rainbow jersey, that everyone will look at him and that he flops. Everyone will be ready to kill him, as after the retirement at the Giro last year. We are all still under the spell of what happened on Sunday, let's let things settle before thinking about what is best for him ».

On Het Nieuwsblad , Johann Museeuw says: “It is typically Belgian to look straight ahead. We are crazy. My advice to Evenepoel is: first have fun, relax and recover. Then I would orient myself towards the Tour. With the idea of collecting as much as possible. Whatever happens, his career is always a success ». Tom Boonen advises him to leave Belgium. He would be crushed by the pressure and the daily encounters on the street. Remco has already bought a property in Spain, near Calpe, where he trains often. Lefévère says it wouldn't be a move, in case a second home.

Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency

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