"It really happened at the worst possible time." This is how Remco Evenepoel commented on his two-faced World Championship. Despite finishing second behind Tadej Pogacar, the Belgian isn't entirely satisfied.

"I hit a hole on my bike at the bottom of Mount Kigali," he told Sporza. "My saddle completely sagged afterward. It may seem very strange, but because of my different position on the bike, I started to feel cramps. I couldn't pedal at 400 watts anymore."

"So I had to change bikes during the next passage in the feed zone but I had the feeling that my saddle wasn't quite the same. So I changed bikes again, but there was a rider who was climbing slowly and my team car struggled to arrive.   because they wouldn't let her pass. Once she got the right bike (gold color),   I felt it was the right position and everything went back to normal , but by then I had lost a lot of time and spent a lot of energy trying to get back."

"I think," Evenepoel continued, "that once again we had a phenomenal race. It's logical that there was frustration because I knew it could have gone differently without the bike problems, because I felt great from the start, and I think that if I hadn't had the cramps, I would have been able to stay with Tadej and Del Toro, and the race probably would have ended differently."

Evenepoel also commented on Ilan Van Wilder's retirement after a bad crash in the early stages of the World Championships. "That was certainly a loss. With Ilan, we could have had one more rider in the chasing group. Then we could have been leading with two riders, closing the gap to about 35 seconds, and then suddenly it would have been a completely different race."

In other words, Evenepoel is disappointed with his chaotic race, but he's also looking ahead to the upcoming European Cycling Championships. "In the end, we had a good race, and I got a lot out of it. I'll try to relax with my teammates and Oumi (his wife, Oumi Rayane, ed.), and then the focus will be on the European Championships."

Speaking to HLN , however, Belgian national team mechanic Dario Kloeck said he was rather perplexed by the second bike change requested by Remco Evenepoel , which forced the Olympian to a long, nervous stop at the side of the road. " We checked the bike three times ," Kloeck said, " and there was nothing wrong with it . "

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