Evenepoel rules out the European Championships time trial and turns his focus to Il Lombardia

Remco Evenepoel will not defend his time trial European champion title this Wednesday. Although his absence was already expected, the Belgian confirmed it right after being crowned European road champion, after winning by centimeters against Giulio Ciccone.

Evenepoel will not defend his European time trial title to prepare for Lombardia

When he was told in the post-race interview that they would see him again on Wednesday for the time trial, Evenepoel immediately corrected the interviewer: "Is it Wednesday? No, no. Now I'm going to focus on Il Lombardia.

The Belgian thus gives up one of the major events still remaining in the 2026 European Cycling program to prepare for the last Monument of the season, which will take place on Saturday, October 10.

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Before that, there will be time to celebrate a particularly significant title. With his victory in the road race, Evenepoel considers his collection of championships as a professional complete.

"I'm going to celebrate it tonight because it's special. As I said, now I have won all the championships in professional cycling, so I think we can celebrate this one big time", he explained after the race.

The time trial rainbow will have to wait until the Chrono des Nations, where he will continue refining the new Specialized prototype

His absence from the European time trial also means that we will have to wait a bit longer to see him compete against the clock again. His next appointment with the specialty will be the Chrono des Nations on October 18.

It will also be the first opportunity to showcase the rainbow jersey he just reclaimed after winning the Montreal World Time Trial Championship.

And his presence in the French event has an added objective. Evenepoel wants to take advantage of it to continue working with Specialized on the development of his new time trial bike.

"Together with Specialized, we have developed a new bike and we want to keep testing it", the Belgian recently explained. He added, "there are some aspects where the bike can be improved, and that's why I will compete in the Chrono des Nations".

This is the Specialized prototype that Evenepoel has been using in competition since the Tour de France, and whose development is still ongoing.

Evenepoel thus swaps the defense of his European time trial title for a few days of preparation for Il Lombardia. And after the Italian Monument, he will still have one last time trial appointment in France.