photo credits @ De Brabantse Pijl
Evenepoel outsprinted fellow Belgian Wout Van Aert after the pair broke clear to claim today’s De Brabantse Pijl.
“I surprised myself. I was very fresh,” said Evenepoel. “I’m especially pleased with my sprint. I’ve been working a lot on my explosiveness recently and it’s paid off.”
Evenepoel was greeted by a huge crowd on the final circuit in the Brussels suburbs.
He fired up his fans when he attacked 49 kilometers from the line with Van Aert and Briton Joseph Blackmore.
The two Belgians dropped Blackmore on Hertstraat, one of the race’s most challenging cobbled climbs, with 15km to go.
Evenepoel, the double gold medallist in last year’s Paris Olympics, tore shoulder ligaments when he crashed into the open door of a Belgian postal van in December. The injury, he said ahead of Friday’s race, “would have ended my career if I had been a tennis or basketball player”.
He rode on Friday with a bandage on his right shoulder that is still causing him pain.
He plans to race in the Amstel Gold Classic on Sunday when Tadej Pogacar will join the field.
Evenepoel said in the pre-race press conference that his competitive spirit was reignited by watching races from his sickbed and sofa and seeing Mathieu Van der Poel win Paris-Roubaix last Sunday and Pogacar take the Tour of Flanders the week before.
“Pogacar is an inspiration,” Evenepoel said. “But I have to be able to beat him. That’s what my team pays me for.”
“It was amazing to see Van der Poel and Pogacar battling it out. It motivated me to push myself in training. I too want to compete at San Remo, the Ronde, and Roubaix one day,” he said.
Earlier, the iconic climb of Moskesstraat played a critical role, where Van Aert decided to animate things, with only Evenepoel and later Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) able to respond.
However, Tom Pidcock wasn’t able to get on terms, who was forced to remain in the chase.
From there, the lead trio worked well together as they hit the penultimate passage over the Moskesstraat to hold the gap to 42 seconds with 30km to go
A strong acceleration from Evenepoel at 16km to go saw Blackmore get dropped towards the last climb up the Moskesstraat, while Van Aert came over the top to drive the gap.
Meanwhile, Alpecin and Cofidis led the chase but the duo could not be reined in.
