‘It stroked my ego’ - Wellens reveals Evenepoel messages made him reconsider Worlds decision

Wellens confirmed earlier that he would not make himself available for Belgium at the Worlds, but his impressive form at the Tour of Britain inevitably reopened the debate over his absence.

The 35-year-old won the British stage race in commanding fashion this weekend, underlining that his decision was not related to a lack of form. After attacking from 42 kilometres out on Saturday and finishing second behind Cees Bol, Wellens and UAE took control of the final stage on Sunday with an aggressive team move that blew the race apart.

It was enough to seal overall victory and prompted renewed calls in Belgium for national coach Serge Pauwels to try to change his mind.

Wellens revealed that Pauwels was not the person who came closest to doing so.

“I have to be honest, I did have doubts for a moment,” Wellens told Het Nieuwsblad. “Not because of Serge, but because of messages I received from Remco.

“It was clear from those messages that Remco would really have liked me to be there at the World Championships. That stroked my ego. But I am sticking to my decision.”

After the Tour, Wellens said he could barely produce 150 watts in training. Medical examinations revealed no specific problem, with the Belgian eventually putting his struggles down to exhaustion after completing the final week of the race while feeling sick.

Together with UAE, he decided to skip the Renewi Tour and focus on a training block instead. That decision now appears to have paid off. Wellens improved throughout the Tour of Britain and ultimately left with overall victory, a turnaround that inevitably raised the question of whether he might also reconsider his World Championships decision.

But while his form has returned, Wellens says his plans have not changed. His commitment to UAE remains the decisive factor.

“I realise that it is an honour and a privilege to race for the national team,” he said. “But I have already given my word to UAE.

“I will ride the final races of the season for the team and those races coincide with the World Championships. The team has had a lot of injuries this season and there is a shortage of available riders, so I am stepping in.”

That leaves Belgium without one of its most experienced and versatile support riders in Montréal, where Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert are expected to carry much of the country’s ambitions. 

Wellens is not the only notable absentee either, with Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) also reported among the Belgian riders to have made themselves unavailable.

Wellens’ decision to stand by his absence from Montréal also feeds into a wider debate in Belgium over riders turning down World Championships selection, something former Soudal Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere addressed critically in his weekend column.

“There was a time when riders sat next to their phone with their fingers crossed,” he wrote in his weekend column for Het Nieuwsblad. 

“Being selected for the World Championships meant something.” Lefevere specifically named Tim Wellens, Florian Vermeersch, Victor Campenaerts, Cian Uijtdebroeks and Ilan Van Wilder, adding: “Honestly, I completely fail to understand why.”

Lefevere did make an exception for riders acting out of loyalty to a trade team leader, pointing to Dries Devenyns, who once gave up his Belgian place rather than race against Julian Alaphilippe. More broadly, however, he questioned how much the value of a World Championships selection has changed.

“I don’t understand riders voluntarily missing a World Championships,” Lefevere wrote, although he acknowledged that national teams are now selected more according to tactical roles than simply by picking the strongest riders.

For Wellens, though, the matter is settled, even after Evenepoel made it clear he wanted him alongside him in Montréal.