Belgium lines up two leaders on Sunday in Montreal, Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert. HLN noted the room numbers at the Hotel Mortagne: 226 for Evenepoel and Maxim Van Gils, 221 for Van Aert and Tiesj Benoot. Myriam opened her folder.
Firstly. Room 226, two occupants, one of them a leader. Room 221, two occupants, one of them a leader. A symmetrical arrangement. Secondly. Each leader has a designated minder: Quinten Hermans for one, Gianni Vermeersch for the other. Thirdly. Van Aert has stated that their abilities are complementary. The rulebook does not provide for complementarity, it provides for a classification. I note the numbers. I do not comment.
The statement is Van Aert’s, to HLN: “I think everyone knows by now what our qualities are, and they are complementary. I have a faster sprint than Remco.” The precedent exists: at Wollongong in 2022 the pair announced they would work together and Evenepoel was crowned champion; at the Paris 2024 Olympics the same collaboration produced the same result for Evenepoel.
Tiesj Benoot, Van Aert’s roommate, gave his pick to HLN: “Then I will say Wout. Remco has a good chance too, but I would like to see Wout win.”
Myriam did not note that sentence. It was not in the column.
It’s true, we checked: HLN.
