'I never get used to winning' - Evenepoel delighted after European time trial masterclass

Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) claimed his second European time trial championship with a dominant performance on Wednesday in France, winning by 0:43 over Filippo Ganna (Italy) and 1:08 ahead of Niklas Larsen (Denmark) while wearing the rainbow jersey he earned at last week's World Championships in Rwanda.

The World Champion, who was the last to start, quickly established his dominance, leading Ganna by 0:13 at the first time check. His advantage continued to grow throughout the course, resulting in his sixth time trial victory of the season. 

Evenepoel was delighted after the finish, speaking to Eurosport/CyclingPro.Net, "I never get used to winning, so it’s the same for this time trial and for this championship."

"It means a lot. This year, when I restarted after my injuries, one of my main goals was to try and win all the time trial championships," said Evenepoel. "But of course, in the beginning, there were a lot of doubts, to be sure that the shoulder was going to be able to be in that same position, but yeah, I think that's in the past now."

The final podium was completed by Ganna in silver, while Denmark's Niklas Larsen claimed bronze, narrowly holding off Great Britain's Ethan Hayter by just one second, though Evenepoel was once more in a league of his own.

The Belgian's performance looked increasingly impressive as the race progressed. By the second checkpoint, he had extended his lead to 25 seconds over Ganna and was already closing in on former two-time champion Stefan Küng (Switzerland), who had started a minute ahead.

Evenepoel did, however, experience one minor issue during his effort, which was made apparent when the Belgian waved his arm in the air early on, with Evenepoel later explaining that his radio communication failed.

"With the radio, yeah, normally my DS Klaas would say some words when I'm on the start ramp, but now there was nothing coming out of the radio, so either he forgot it or the radio wasn't working," Evenepoel explained. 

"The only communication that I got was that I had 30 seconds on the bottom of the climb, so then I was a bit more sure about the victory, but of course I went all out to the finish, because I was not sure enough, so I think that was the only negative thing about today."

Another impressive aspect of Evenepoel’s performance is the quick recovery and turnaround from the brutal World Championships in Rwanda, where he finished 2nd in the road race on Sunday. When asked about his recovery strategy, he credited his disciplined professionalism after Sunday's World Championships road race.

"Already on Monday I felt pretty fresh," he said. "I really tried to keep the focus because I knew today was coming really quickly. I went early to bed, had a small recovery ride and then just relaxed as much as possible in the hotel."

"It's only one big week of racing left, and after that, there's time enough to let things go and have some other stuff to do. I think that was the key to be ready for here and for next Sunday, to try and be as professional as possible, as soon as possible, and it seems it paid off today,” Evenepoel added, illustrating the importance of Sunday’s European road race as a big goal for the Belgian.