Eight out of eight: Remco Evenepoel completes his championship collection

Take the four championships available to a Belgian elite rider: the Belgian Championships, European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games. Add the two disciplines contested across them, the road race and individual time trial, and there are eight titles to win.

Evenepoel has now claimed all eight.

On Sunday, the European road race became the final piece of a collection that began seven years ago. After coming within one place of the title twice before, Evenepoel finally took gold in Šenčur, beating Giulio Ciccone in a photo finish to complete a championship set no longer missing a single jersey.

The sequence began in 2019, when Evenepoel was 19 and only a few months into his first professional season.

At the European Championships in Alkmaar on August 8, he won the individual time trial over 22.4 kilometres, beating Kasper Asgreen by 19 seconds and Edoardo Affini by 21.

At the time, it was another extraordinary result in a debut season that was rapidly changing expectations around him. In hindsight, it was also the first senior championship title in a collection that would soon spread across almost every level of the sport.

It took almost three years for the next one to arrive.

By the summer of 2022, Evenepoel had already won major one day races and established himself among the leading riders of his generation, but he had yet to become Belgian champion at elite level. That changed in Gavere in June, when he won the national time trial over 34.8 kilometres, beating Yves Lampaert by 37 seconds.

Three months later came the breakthrough that changed the scale of his career.

Evenepoel travelled to the World Championships in Wollongong having already won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Clásica San Sebastián that season, while his victory at the Vuelta a España had made him Belgium’s first Grand Tour winner in more than four decades.

Evenepoel made the decisive selection in the 266.9 kilometre road race before attacking with Alexey Lutsenko. He then dropped the Kazakh on the penultimate ascent of Mount Pleasant and rode the final 25 kilometres alone.

By the time Christophe Laporte led the chasing group home, Evenepoel had been celebrating for more than two minutes. At 22, he was world road race champion.

It was notable that his first elite world title came in the road race rather than the time trial, the discipline with which he had been associated since his junior years.

The missing Belgian road title followed the next summer.

The 2023 national championships in Izegem produced a very different race from his solo victory in Wollongong. Evenepoel eventually found himself away with Alec Segaert and, rather than trying to ride the younger Belgian off his wheel, backed himself in the sprint.

He beat Segaert at the line to claim his first Belgian road race title.

A few weeks later, he completed the world championship double as well.

Evenepoel had never won an elite World Championship time trial before arriving in Stirling in August 2023. On a course finishing with the steep climb to Stirling Castle, he finally added the rainbow jersey against the clock to the one he had won on the road the previous year.

It proved to be the start of a run rather than a one off success. Evenepoel retained the title in 2024, 2025 and 2026, becoming the first rider to win four consecutive elite men’s world time trial championships.

By then, though, the next major additions to this particular collection had already come in Paris.

Evenepoel reached the 2024 Olympic Games less than a week after finishing third in his first Tour de France. On July 27, he won the Olympic time trial over 32.4 kilometres, finishing almost 15 seconds ahead of Filippo Ganna.

Seven days later he returned for the road race.

The route through Paris, including repeated passages over Montmartre, produced one of the most memorable races of the Games. Evenepoel attacked inside the final 40 kilometres, bridged across to the front and eventually left Valentin Madouas behind.

With around four kilometres remaining, and the biggest win of his career apparently secure, he suffered a puncture.

Evenepoel stopped and urgently called for another bike. With no race radios, he had no way of knowing exactly how much of his advantage remained. He changed bikes and set off again.

There was still enough time.

He crossed the line alone in front of the Eiffel Tower and became the first male rider to win both the road race and individual time trial at the same Olympic Games.

In a little over two years, Evenepoel had now won national, world and Olympic titles in both disciplines.

Evenepoel has twice come within one place of completing the set.

He finished second to Sonny Colbrelli in 2021, then took silver again four years later after Tadej Pogačar’s long range attack carried the Slovenian to the European title.

In 2026, Pogačar was absent as he continued his recovery from the injuries sustained in his Vuelta a España crash. Evenepoel arrived in Slovenia as the favourite, but the final title in his collection did not come easily.

Belgium controlled much of the race once the peloton reached the finishing circuit around Šenčur, before Evenepoel attacked on the penultimate ascent of Možjanca with 36 kilometres remaining.

Giulio Ciccone was the only rider able to follow.

Soon after the summit, Evenepoel overshot the first corner of the descent and crashed. He was quickly back on his bike and rejoined the front of the race before attacking again within four kilometres.

Once more, only Ciccone could stay with him.

The pair started the final 22 kilometre lap with a lead of around 40 seconds over the chasers. Evenepoel was unable to distance Ciccone on the final ascent of Možjanca, while Christian Scaroni was chasing alone behind them.

With his teammate in pursuit, Ciccone stopped contributing regularly to the pace. Evenepoel continued to ride before repeatedly asking the Italian to work.

The race was still together at the front when they reached the final kilometre.

Evenepoel had wanted to lead through the final corner but ran wide, allowing Ciccone to come past. The Italian opened the sprint first and briefly had a clear advantage.

Evenepoel closed the gap in the final metres and the two riders reached the line almost level.

The photo finish gave the victory to Evenepoel. Ciccone finished second on the same time, with Scaroni third at 59 seconds.

Seven years after winning his first elite championship in the European time trial, Evenepoel had returned to the same competition to claim the only title still missing from his record.

The set is complete.