Remco Evenepoel fooled even his father with Tour of Flanders surprise appearance

“I only knew the day you did,” he said to Le Soir. “After Catalunya, he was supposed to come home. Then suddenly he asked me to take the scooter and follow him in training. That wasn’t planned. I was meant to drive him to the airport for Calpe.”

Midway through that ride, the news broke before the official announcement. Notifications started lighting up Remco’s phone.

“He was a bit disappointed it came out early. But then he had to admit it. He was riding the Tour of Flanders.”

The anecdote captures the relationship Patrick insists on maintaining. He is not an agent, not part of the inner decision making circle, but a father who stays deliberately at arm’s length.

“If he comes home often, it usually means something isn’t right. So the less I see him, the better I know he’s doing.”

In the lead-up to Liège-Bastogne-Liège, that distance remains. Choices like skipping La Flèche Wallonne are made within the team, not around the family table.

“He had more to lose than to gain,” Patrick said. “If he wins, it’s normal. If he doesn’t, it becomes a problem.”

It is a clear rationale, even if Remco Evenepoel himself sounded less definitive after the Amstel, admitting to Het Laatste Nieuws: “I need to see how I recover, but I don’t feel completely exhausted. I would definitely like to race.”

Sunday’s race, however, brings a different kind of focus. Liège is personal. It is the race Remco grew up watching, replaying attacks by Frank Vandenbroucke on La Redoute, imagining himself in the same position.

“He wanted to ride like that,” Patrick said.

Now he faces Tadej Pogačar, still the benchmark, and the emerging presence of Paul Seixas.

“At the Amstel, he rode very intelligently. He has to do the same now, without forcing things himself.”

Pogačar remains a step ahead. The aim, as Patrick puts it, is “to get closer to him.”

“A sprint with the three of them… I would really like that,” he said. “Remco has improved a lot in the sprint.”

There is no sense of frustration in the comparison with Pogacar. Patrick sees the current peloton as something to appreciate rather than resist.

“This is a generation people will talk about forever,” he said. “You have to accept what you can’t control.”

His father also weighed in on the debate that has gained traction in Belgium, particularly after the Tour of Flanders, over whether Remco Evenepoel is ultimately more of a one day rider than a Grand Tour contender.

“If you can be on the podium, you have to keep believing.” 

At the same time, he acknowledges the pull of the classics. “He has always loved them,” he said. 

“People are only saying it now because of the results, but that has always been the case,” he said.

Now it is up to Remco Evenepoel to turn those early imitations of Frank Vandenbroucke on La Redoute into reality, this time in a duel with Tadej Pogacar, much like the one Vandenbroucke once fought with Michele Bartoli.