19-year-old Evenepoel takes silver at the World Time Trial Championships - Remco Evenepoel on the hunt for a record

Since his second place in the individual time trial at the Road World Championships, the Belgian "wunderkind" has finally arrived on the big stage. "To perform like that at 19 is incredible. We probably have the new Eddy Merckx," praised record-breaking world champion Tony Martin, who finished more than a minute behind Evenepoel.

At 19 years and 243 days, the "Cannibal of Schepdaal", as he is nicknamed in reference to cycling's greatest rider, is the youngest rider to finish on the podium in a world championship time trial. The comparisons with Merckx seem justified. The Belgian cycling icon became amateur world champion in 1964 at the age of 19 and sees Evenepoel as his possible successor: "Maybe he'll be even better than me. He seems to be able to do everything."

Evenepoel is ahead of his time. He skipped the U23 class after demoralising the competition in the juniors last year. He took 23 victories and only rarely failed to finish in the top three. In 2019, he made his professional debut with top racing team Deceuninck-Quick Step. Team boss Patrick Lefevere had announced that they wanted to build him up carefully. Evenepoel saw things a little differently: "It's never too early to win."

No sooner said than done: he took his first professional victory in May and his development has accelerated rapidly since the summer. Evenepoel won the top-class Clasica San Sebastian and stunned the entire competition with a 100-kilometre attack at the Tour of Germany. He also won the European Championship title in the individual time trial, before going on to make a big impression at the World Championships. "Impressive," said world champion Rohan Dennis: "I hope he can wait a little longer for the world title." The young star answered cheekily: "No, I'll be back next year."

Evenepoel has the cycling genes in his blood. His father Patrick was a professional cyclist himself at Collstrop in the 90s. So it was all the more surprising that they enrolled their son in the football club. "I wasn't actually interested in football at all. We watched cycling on TV every Sunday," reports the young star. Nevertheless, his path in football seemed to be mapped out, including playing for PSV Eindhoven and RSC Anderlecht. He had even signed a professional contract. However, when he often found himself sitting on the bench, he called it a day and turned to cycling. A good decision, otherwise a talent of the century might have been lost.

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