Merckx and Belgium dub Evenepoel: “Each generation has its best, let it reign over its own”

There is not always need for a very long ceremony repeated with a chalk line to mark a change of crowned head. In Belgian cycling, a few hours and a powerful acceleration can be enough to ride on the order of succession, steal a scepter and impose yourself in force in front of another contender. The enormous number in Australia of Remco Evenepoel, to offer himself a first rainbow jersey at 22, conceals in him the promise of a hyphen. In a country that has been nourished for decades by its linguistic or cultural divisions, cycling, the king sport across the Quiévrain, was necessarily at the forefront of internal disputes.