Evenepoel Road Race Dream Unravels in Mechanical Meltdown

Mechanicals and a botched bike change threw a wrench into the rainbow dream of Remco Evenepoel on Sunday at the UCI road worlds.

The Belgian was forced to switch bikes twice and suffered a brief but spectacular meltdown in a disastrous phase of his quest to double his time trial world title with the road race gold medal.

“I hit a pothole before Mont Kigali. After that, my saddle completely collapsed,” Evenepoel told Sporza soon after the race.

“This might sound strange, but because of my different position on the bike, my hamstrings really cramped up. I couldn’t even produce 400 watts.”

“I had to change bikes again,” he continued. “I was on my third bike after that, but I felt like my saddle wasn’t quite the same position. It caused quite a lot of pain in my lower back. That’s when I knew my saddle was too high.”

The bike changes could have proven costly for Evenepoel, and not just because the saddle blew out his back.

While bike change No.1 ran smooth, the second did not.

The 25-year-old stood awkwardly in front of local fans for some 45 seconds while he waited for the team car carrying his spare Specialized.

He penalty-kicked a plastic bottle in frustration – he was a star soccer player – as he waited, helpless.

Intriguingly, Belgian team mechanic Dario Kloeck told Het Nieuwsblad shortly after the race he couldn’t fathom the problem with bike No.2.

“We measured it three more times, but the saddle was the same height as on his other bike,” he told HNB. “We’ll find out exactly what was wrong soon, but I think it was mostly frustration.

“He lost a lot of unnecessary time because of that.”

Evenepoel’s hopes at double gold scuppered by his saddle: ‘I was in excellent shape’

It was a setback that surely transformed the race for Evenepoel, who was chasing his second gold medal of the championships.

While the Belgian sensation was gapped by Pogačar’s decisive attack on the Mont Kigali climb at 110km, he later had the legs to blow all his rivals off his wheel when he set out in pursuit of the solo-flying Pogačar.

“I felt better after I changed bikes again and got back into the race,” Evenepoel told Sporza. “But if you sum it all up, there are a lot of moments [that went wrong].

“Chasing twice is a bit much. It’s a shame. l felt like I was in excellent shape,” he said. “I came for the double.”

Evenepoel came to the line in second and slumped to the barriers, disconsolate.

His silver medal will likely taste very bittersweet Sunday night.