In Remco Evenepoel's victory, there is much more than a simple success: there is the desire to dedicate the win to a special friend. His name was Pascal Vanherberghen and he was the best friend of Patrick Evenepoel, Remco's father, and it is to him that the Belgian wanted to dedicate this first victory of the season.

Pascal Vanherberghen passed away last month and was a man who always frequented the Evenepoel household and never missed Remco's races, so much so that on the day of the Giro di Lombardia accident, Pascal was with Patrick Evenepoel and stayed with him in Italy in the following days, until Remco returned to Belgium. "Today I didn't win, Pascal did." With these words, Remco wanted to greet his departed friend, and when he crossed the finish line, his finger and his gaze were directed towards the sky to remember his friend. More emotion came during the award ceremony when Evenepoel bent down to hand the flowers to Pascal's children who had come to see him.

"He was the best friend of my parents, recently passed away, and I hope that from up there he is proud of me. I know he would have been here to watch me. He came to every race. He was my father's best friend. They've been friends since they were three years old, so it's been quite a while since they met."

Patrick Evenepoel was also moved by his son's gesture: often Remco's victories have come because there was an important dedication behind them, like for Fabio Jakobsen at the Tour of Poland. Evenepoel won the race in 2020 to show his support for his teammate, who had risked his life after falling against the barriers on the first day of the race.

For the first time in more than six months, the Belgian returned to racing, the last time being at the Giro di Lombardia, where he finished second behind Tadej Pogacar. In December, Evenepoel had an accident while training, suffering several fractures, and the Brabant Arrow was his first race of this new season. The victory is an important result for the two-time Olympic champion and finally represents that exit from the tunnel he had been waiting for.

"It's incredible! I already knew in the past few days that I was in excellent shape, but racing after such a long time and reaching victory on a difficult course that doesn't suit me anymore is truly incredible. It was a tough race and, despite the effort, I had confidence in the sprint. Starting the season with a success is fantastic."

The Belgian had gone through a truly difficult period after the accident, and this race was an important test to understand if his physical and psychological recovery had truly been successful.

"I really needed this race to find answers to all the questions that were troubling me, and now I feel great relief. Winning this race, in a sprint against Wout, has given me a lot of confidence for the upcoming events. During the race, I felt my legs were going quite well, so I decided to attack and we dropped the rest of the group. This made us believe in our possibilities, and we continued until only Wout and I were left in the last kilometer. I felt strong at the finish and gave my all. It was a perfect day for us and gave me great satisfaction."

Evenepoel will also race on Sunday at the Amstel Gold Race and then we'll see him again at the Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.