Less than a week remains until the Kristallen Fiets, the renowned journalistic award that Belgium assigns annually to the best cyclist of the year. Among the favorites is Remco Evenepoel, who has already won this prize 4 times and if next Friday he succeeds again, he would equal Johan Museeuw's record of 5 crystal wheels.

While waiting to know who will win the Kristallen Fiets 2025, Johan Museeuw decided to set aside his past as a cycling champion remembered for his Classic victories (3 Paris-Roubaix and 3 Tour of Flanders) and enjoyed wearing a reporter's hat, interviewing Remco Evenepoel, the favorite for the prestigious award to be presented next Friday.

"For me, the Kristallen Fiets continues to be the Golden Shoe of cycling and achieving 5 successes was difficult," Museeuw recounted. "Many champions stopped at two, maximum three awards, and I'm talking about cyclists like Boonen, Gilbert, Van Avermaet. Even Van Aert has only won two. But now there's Remco, who already has four and could reach 5."

Museeuw emphasizes that many important riders are on the Kristallen Fiets list besides Evenepoel, including Tim Merlier, Tim Wellens, Jasper Philipsen, and Wout van Aert. All excellent, but Evenepoel is World and European Time Trial Champion and finished second in road races behind Tadej Pogacar at both World and European Championships, which puts him a step above the others. Remco feels flattered but wants to remember that in 2025, he only won one one-day race, the Brabant Arrow, and would have wanted to achieve much more.

There are memories that burn in Remco Evenepoel's mind, including the missed victory at the Amstel Gold Race and a below-par Tour de France. "I knew I went to the Tour with less good form compared to 2024," Evenepoel said in his interview with Johan Museeuw. "My body was not ready to fight for the general classification for three weeks. This is what I had communicated to the team, and in hindsight, I should have made different plans."

Evenepoel and Museeuw dwelled extensively on Pogacar, and both are certain that the Slovenian is the strongest rider at the moment.

"At the World Championships, when I saw you overtake Pogacar in the time trial, I thought that was the most beautiful moment for Belgian cycling," Museeuw said during his interview with Evenepoel. "I think he didn't digest that overtake at all."

Evenepoel also remembers that moment with a smile and still feels satisfied with how he managed his race. "At that moment, I wasn't thinking about it, and only afterward did I understand what I had really done: I had overtaken the strongest rider in the world with an advantage that no one would have ever imagined. It was the perfect day."

Museeuw greatly admires Pogacar but wants to understand how Remco could potentially match the Slovenian's climbing abilities in the future.

"It's possible to do this through specific, high-intensity training. I rarely, if ever, managed to do this in recent years due to numerous accidents, injuries, rehabilitation, and lack of solid foundations. After spending a decent and quiet winter, I really want to work hard on this aspect. If I can do it as I say, then I could take two or three steps forward compared to last season. It won't be easy, but defeats only give me more motivation to move forward. It's not in my nature to choose the easiest path, and I certainly won't do so in 2026".

Beating Pogacar is not easy, and currently, no one can maintain his climbing pace. Museeuw, like many other experts, has watched and rewatched Pogacar's climbing attacks, noticing something new each time.

"In the Velon footage, you can see Pogacar pushing extremely high power for a certain period when he accelerates. Then he slows down a bit but increases the gap. At the Europeans and at Lombardy, he was impressive. After the acceleration, he would sit down but still maintain a pace well above his VO2max. He can really go crazy for about five minutes, then returns to just above his FTP (functional threshold power, the maximum power he can sustain for an hour). These values are so high that, in the same weight category, there's almost a 20-watt difference, and in climbing, this easily translates to a minute's advantage".

Museeuw is intrigued by the two-time Olympic champion's analysis and asks how cycling is changing. "At the Europeans, weighing 63.5 kilograms, I maintained an average of 306 watts for five hours. In our case, we have these results in certain periods, but things are changing. I discussed this with Gianni Moscon, who told me that eight years ago, when he finished third at Lombardy, he averaged around 200 watts. Today, you need at least 290 watts to finish second".

Evenepoel believes today's young cyclists have a very different approach to cycling, talking about riders 5 or 6 years younger than him. "Some riders copy everything, even high-altitude training. Neo-professionals no longer have 10% growth potential because they've already trained, raced, and followed overly demanding diets at junior and under-23 levels. In the long term, this will lead to a decline in overall performance and shorter careers. You can't continue pushing the body to its limits".

Now it's time for Evenepoel to rest, which he'll do for about 5 weeks. During this period, everything is allowed, and there's no problem if his weight increases by 4 or 5 kg. However, he's also thinking about the future and says his race schedule will be defined by the end of December, as this is how Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe works.

"My impressions are very good, and by January 1st, my calendar will be ready. For 2026, there's a Plan A with Classics and Tour, and a Plan B with Giro-Tour. Both are on the table, but we're waiting to know the Giro route to decide. The Classics would complete my palmares, and I've discussed this with the team. I'd like to explore the spring Classics a bit more. Perhaps not this year, but one day in the near future, I'd like to do Milano-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders, and maybe even Paris-Roubaix. The first two suit me better and are easier to combine with the Ardennes Classics, but we're talking about the future, not now".