{"id":2175021,"date":"2026-10-02T07:27:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T04:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2175021"},"modified":"2026-10-02T07:27:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T04:27:00","slug":"no-pogacar-all-the-pressure-evenepoel-riding-for-redemption-after-worlds-washout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2175021","title":{"rendered":"No Poga\u010dar, All the Pressure: Evenepoel Riding For Redemption after Worlds Washout"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2295332618-e1790926936934.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Updated October 2, 2026 01:52AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

No Tadej Poga\u010dar, no Paul Seixas, no Tom Pidcock: The European championship road race should be a walk in the park for Remco Evenepoel on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Anything less than victory would be a catastrophe.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the message churning up the Belgian media as the bike-mad nation picks over the debris of what\u2019s been treated as a sporting disaster.<\/p>\n

After starting last Sunday\u2019s world championship road race as the <\/em>team to beat, the Belgians were bullied by Team USA\u2019s powershow in Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n

Evenepoel in 12th, Wout van Aert in 28th.<\/p>\n

What the heck happened?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a Belgian public inquest ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all failed,\u201d fumed Belgian pro-turned-pundit Jans Bakelants as he dissected his home team\u2019s performance in HLN<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it inexplicable that they were all so bad,\u201d he raged.<\/p>\n

Evenepoel faced an online flagellation after he admitted he \u201cjust wasn\u2019t good enough\u201d in Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n

The Belgian dailies are still debating roster selections and speculating over a team sickness after Sunday\u2019s worlds washout.<\/p>\n

Evenepoel\u2019s historic fourth consecutive world time trial title and standout podium finish at the Tour de France were forgotten about.<\/p>\n

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Evenepoel vs. Rogli\u010d? No Poga\u010dar, Seixas, Pidcock in subdued Euro champs<\/h2>\n
The 36-year-old Rogli\u010d lit up road worlds for Slovenia in the absence of Poga\u010dar.<\/span> (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Evenepoel can rapidly reset the narrative Sunday at Slovenia\u2019s European championship road race.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a tier above the rest of a start list weakened by fatigue, impoverished national federations, and straight-up apathy to a championship few seem to care about.<\/p>\n

In fact, the one rider who does really<\/em> care about this year\u2019s Euros won\u2019t even be racing.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar is a confirmed non-starter for his \u201chome\u201d race Sunday after this week\u2019s \u201cwill-he-won\u2019t-he\u201d confab.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Seixas is saving his legs for Il Lombardia, Pidcock\u2019s British team chose to focus only on the TTs, and Mattias Skjelmose is out sick.<\/p>\n

So who does Remco have to beat to reprise his\u00a0curious new celebration and put the wheels back on his best season yet at the European championships?<\/p>\n

Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d, Juan Ayuso, and Giulio Ciccone are Remco\u2019s main rivals for the 196km race across Poga\u010dar\u2019s home turf.<\/p>\n

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Victory on Sunday would complete Evenepoel\u2019s set of road titles, having already won the Olympic, world, and Belgian races. It would trampoline him toward an end-of-season showdown with Seixas and Isaac del Toro at Il Lombardia.<\/p>\n

But even then, some might see it as a consolation prize.<\/p>\n

Demi vs. Kasia (again) in women\u2019s race<\/h2>\n
\"Vollering
Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney are back for round 3 at the European champs. (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The women\u2019s European road race on Saturday should be a thriller that more than offsets any potential one-man show on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney will lock in for a third round of their battle royale in Saturday\u2019s championships after they went 1-2 at both the Tour de France Femmes and road worlds.<\/p>\n

Hot off a world title victory, Vollering is in prime position to defend her European title in Slovenia and earn a blue-and-white jersey she\u2019ll never wear.<\/p>\n

Niewiadoma proved in Montr\u00e9al she won\u2019t let Vollering have it easy.<\/p>\n

Elisa Longo Borghini, Paula Blasi, Marlen Reusser, and Franziska Koch lead the opposition to the two women who have dominated this summer of cycling.<\/p>\n

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One climb will define the European championships<\/h2>\n

Both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s road races this weekend will be decided by the nasty ramps of the Mozjanca climb.<\/p>\n

The women climb the 2.1km, 10% kicker twice in the back-half of their 130km race. The men take it on five times in their 196km race.<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s and men\u2019s time trials take place on Wednesday, October 7.<\/p>\n

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Saturday, October 3: European championships women\u2019s road race: 130km \/ 1,400m+<\/h3>\n
\"Women's<\/figure>\n

Riders to watch:<\/strong> Vollering (Netherlands), Niewiadoma-Phinney (Poland), Longo-Borghini (Italy), Reusser (Switzerland), Blasi (Spain), Koch (Germany).<\/p>\n

Sunday, October 4: European championships men\u2019s road race: 196km \/ 2,700m+<\/h3>\n
\"Evenepoel<\/figure>\n

Riders to watch:<\/strong> Evenepoel (Belgium), Rogli\u010d (Slovenia), Ciccone, Pellizzari (both Italy), Ayuso (Spain), Pedersen (Denmark).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Updated October 2, 2026 01:52AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/evenepoel-riding-for-redemption-at-european-championships\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2295332618-e1790926936934.jpg”] Updated October 2, 2026 01:52AM No Tadej Poga\u010dar, no Paul Seixas, no Tom Pidcock: The European championship road race should be a walk in the park for Remco Evenepoel on Sunday. Anything less than victory would be a catastrophe. That\u2019s the message churning up the Belgian media as the bike-mad nation picks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2175021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2175021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2175021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2175021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2175021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}