Remco Evenepoel became Olympic champion today in the cycling time trial. Just six! days after he finished third in his very first Tour de France.
Joshua Tarling and Filippo Ganna were the clear favourites for the title as they did not ride the Tour and had all the time for training on the time trial bike.
But that was not enough to beat Evenepoel, he was clearly completely recovered from an exhausting Tour de France. He beat Ganna with 15 seconds difference and 25 seconds in front of… Wout Van Aert. The other Belgian rider took the bronze medal with 2 seconds difference from fourth placed Joshua Tarling. A huge surprise, because Van Aert had a very unlucky season after the horrific crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen in March of this year.
This shows in what form Van Aert and Evenepoel are, and makes them favourites for the road race next Saturday. Could they do the double, and take home two gold medals from both the time trial and the road race? It would be unseen, but not unthinkable with those two!
The Olympic Games have started with a bang for Belgium!
Sincerely,
Pele23
