According to former rider and NOS analyst Stef Clement, the Belgian media need to be careful in how they treat their riders. Clement points out that Remco Evenepoel and company have to perform under enormous pressure, especially from the media.
"Remco doesn't get any rest," Clement said on the NOS talk show De Avondetappe following Evenepoel’s much-discussed withdrawal from the Tour. "The whole country is on his back all year long. When he crashed into that mailman, the entire village came outside."
"It’s a shame that the entire Belgian journalism spotlight is focused on him. They have a history of breaking their own riders down. Arnaud De Lie is cracking under the pressure, Evenepoel wins everything possible but also seems to be buckling under the strain. Nothing changes. Frank Vandenbroucke broke down from it, and so did Tom Boonen."
Clement says he therefore feels sympathy for Evenepoel. "In a way, Mathieu van der Poel is the luckiest Belgian in the world simply because he’s considered Dutch. He can live there and build his entire life, but because he has a Dutch passport, they leave him a little more alone than they do their own riders. That is 'the best of both worlds'."
