Belgians have pocketed their first medals at the Paris Olympics! On Day 1 of the competition the two Belgian time trial giants gave their rivals short shrift. Remco Evenepoel raced to gold in the Olympic time trial. In the same event a rock-solid Wout van Aert made the Belgian party complete securing bronze after Italy’s Filippo Ganna took the silver in what was described as a ‘solid’ finish.
A red-letter day for the Belgians, already on the first day of the Olympics in Paris. Question marks about the possible Belgian performance at the time trial were soon off the table, and how!
Remco Evenepoel clearly hadn’t come from the Tour de France too dog-tired after his handsome third place and saw off rivals who had prepared specifically and exclusively for the Olympic time trial.
Another question preying on Belgian minds: would Wout van Aert's bold approach with his 2 full wheels pay off, after a none too good performance in the dress rehearsal against the Tour clock on his normal time trial bike?
Wout van Aert First was first to impress. He led at point 1 setting a razor-sharp time ahead of Ganna. By point 2 the two Belgians led: Van Aert 5 seconds ahead of Ganna, but ten behind a clearly tireless Evenepoel. Towards the end of the trial the Italian, despite a near-fall, picked up the pace and sandwiched himself between the two Belgians. But he could forget any hope of gold. World and now Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel had a 15 second lead on the Italian. Van Aert finished 2 seconds ahead of the UK's Joshua Tarling securing bronze to add to his silver from the road race in Tokyo.
Belgians are happy and eying this week’s road race!