Remco Evenepoel's Tour de France celebrations included a late night in Paris, a luxury hotel and victory in the first post-Tour criterium in Aalst, before the Belgian finally got to sleep in his own bed.
Evenepoel will only take a real break after Saturday's Clásica San Sebastián, which he hopes to win for a record fourth time. He will also ride the Natourcriterium Roeselare on Tuesday night, with Flemish media reporting he is earning a fee of €50,000 per race.
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) won another criterium in Boxmeer in the Netherlands, beating Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech). Other riders will race a series of post-Tour criteriums in Belgium, the Netherlands and France in the next few weeks.
"Aalst is my hometown. The race also fits perfectly into my schedule, because it allows me to stay active until the Clásica San Sebastián on Saturday, I can get my legs spinning at very high speed," Evenepoel told the Flemish media on Monday, before doing a lap of the Aalst circuit in a car to greet the reported 75,000 crowd alongside the last Belgian Tour winner and Aalst native Lucien Van Impe.
Evenepoel 'beat' new Belgian national champion Rune Herregodts (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) in Aast before finally heading home for the first time after a month of intense racing that changed his career, his second place behind Tadej Pogačar confirming that he can fight for victory in the Tour de France.
"I got a lot of congratulations after my performance in the Tour de France," Evenepoel said after the 100km criterium.
"The cobblestones here in Aalst are in almost exactly the same condition as in Paris on the Champs-Élysées. At times, I felt like I was still in Paris. After a few more formalities, I can finally go home. Sleep in my own bed. That will feel good too. That feeling of stepping into your own home, a familiar environment, and this after a few weeks of hard work in Spain and France. Very nice.”
Twenty four hours before racing in Aalst, Evenepoel was on the Tour de France podium alongside Pogačar and Isaac del Toro on the Champs-Élysées. He then celebrated with his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team and sponsors in a Montmartre restaurant.
Evenepoel's wife revealed that they stayed in the luxury Le Meurice hotel near the Louvre museum but faced a 9am wake-up to travel to Belgium for the Aalst criterium.
"We had a party with the team, with some food and drinks. A small celebration. Eventually, I was in bed at 2:30am. But it wasn't too bad," Evenepoel, who does not drink alcohol, explained.
"My energy level isn't too high at the moment but I still have a lot of motivation."
"It hasn't all really sunk in yet," he said of the Tour.
"It was a wonderful month that has flown by. Now I'll stay focused until Saturday; only then will it sink in."
