QuickStep-AlphaVinyl directeur sportif Klaas Lodewyck has suggested that Remco Evenepoel has the same hunger and ‘killer mentality’ as Lance Armstrong, with the young Belgian and new world champion’s drive and ambition matching his physical ability.
In a long feature about Evenepoel in the Dutch magazine Ride published by Wielerflits, Lodewyck acknowledged his comparison may be flawed in some ways but suggested that Evenepoel and Armstrong have the same character.
Like Evenepoel, Armstrong became World Champion at just 22. He went on to win the Tour de France seven times but was then banned for life and lost his Tour victories in 2012 after a USADA investigation exposed his extensive use of doping. The disgraced Texan finally admitted to using banned drugs in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in January 2013.
Evenepoel won the Vuelta a España and the World Championships title in Australia after also taking Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He is often compared to Eddy Merckx but Lodewyck highlights the similarities with Armstrong.
Lodewyck grew up during the Armstrong years and was a professional between 2009 and 2015, mostly with BMC. He rode four Grand Tours and the Classics until a heart problem forced him to retire at 30. He joined QuickStep as a directeur sportif in 2018 and his young age has helped him better understand Evenepoel.
“It may be a wrong comparison, but in terms of character I do see similarities between Remco and Lance,” Lodewyck said in the Ride feature, seen in full by Cyclingnews.
“Aside from everything that went wrong with Armstrong in the past, Lance was also someone who could never win enough. When he (Armstrong) started somewhere, he wanted to be the best. Remco always wants to win too.”
“On the last Sunday morning of the Vuelta a España in Madrid, he already started talking to us about the World Championships in Wollongong. It’s never enough. That also shows that he is always driven to be the best and to win races.”
Lodewyck suggested that Evenepoel uses external criticism to raise his game. Doubts arose about whether Evenepoel could sustain his meteoric rise in the sport after his 2020 crash at Il Lombardia, in which he suffered a complex hip fracture. He and QuickStep rushed his return to racing but he lacked the form to be competitive at the 2021 Giro d’Italia. He also had a public spat with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) after the two fell out about leadership of the Belgian World Championship team.
Evenepoel…
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