Courtois said in quotes collected by Sporza<\/a>. \u201cHe is really on a completely different level. Wherever he starts, he is immediately a top favourite to win. Even in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Incredible.\u201dPogacar dominance acknowledged, Evenepoel ambition backed<\/p>\nCourtois did not attempt to downplay his admiration for Pogacar\u2019s range or consistency. Instead, he framed the Slovenian\u2019s current level as something that transcends normal comparison, reserving particular praise for his ability to arrive at vastly different races as an immediate favourite.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the former Chelsea goalkeeper made clear that his praise for Pogacar does not come at the expense of belief in Evenepoel. As a compatriot, Courtois openly acknowledged his loyalty to Belgian riders, but his comments stopped short of sentimentality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stay loyal to the Belgians like Remco,\u201d he said, before adding a note of realism that underlined the scale of the challenge ahead.<\/p>\n
Courtois expressed hope rather than expectation when it came to Evenepoel\u2019s biggest career goal. \u201cI hope that Remco can one day fulfil his big dream by winning the Tour,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just will not be easy as long as Pogacar is riding.\u201d<\/p>\n
That final line cuts to the heart of the current Grand Tour landscape. Evenepoel\u2019s talent and ambition are not questioned, but the era he is riding in is defined by a rival operating at a level that even athletes from outside cycling now describe as historic.<\/p>\n
For Courtois, the balance was clear. Pogacar\u2019s dominance deserves recognition, but belief in Evenepoel\u2019s long-term Tour project remains intact, even if the path to yellow is obstructed by one of the most complete riders the sport has seen.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When elite athletes speak outside their own sport, the words can sometimes feel throwaway. Thibaut Courtois\u2019 comments on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,184289,10103,16151,79,16152,20680,10104,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-675147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-eddy-merckx","10":"tag-paris-roubaix","11":"tag-remco-evenepoel","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tadej-pogacar","14":"tag-tour-de-france","15":"tag-tour-of-flanders","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115841870239151206","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}