Double. Because that’s what cycling says this year. There are those who put the Giro and the Tour together and there are those who at the Olympics put two golds around their necks: the time trial and the road race. From Tadej Pogacar to Remco Evenepoel the step is short, or rather the same: they are two absolute champions. Today in Paris the Belgian shows the whole world the wonder of cycling. The wonder of Olympic cycling that is run with a bang, where the teams are what they are because with four it is difficult to keep the races under control, where the radios do not crackle, where you do not always know what the others are doing, how much gap there is, how much they are organizing, behind, in front who knows… Remco Evenepoel he doesn’t ask himself many questions. With about forty kilometers to go he takes off like a rocket and, one by one, gets rid of the few who try to resist. The end. Gold in front of two Frenchmen, Valentine Madouas of silver and Christophe Laporte bronze. The Belgian is the first to win two five-ring titles, one on the road and the other in the time trial, no one had ever succeeded and perhaps (without perhaps) it is not a coincidence. With him or against him. Cycling knows no half measures. Remco Evenepoel: victories, defeats, triumphs, some defeats. Never banal though. And today was certainly not the day of a normal victory. Just look at Paris applauding the cyclists. Never seen such a crowd on the “cote” of Montmartre, never seen such a spectacle, a worthy setting for a king who puts himself behind other kings, kings like Mathieu van der Poel, Wout Van Aert, Julian Alaphilippe. Remco goes and the others chase but in vain more or less entangled in groups, small groups that however do not find luck on a Parisian circuit worthy of a classic. Maduas alone tries until the last kilometers to stay attached, he tries to keep alive the French dream, of his fans who would like to push him, who hope to see him resist until the end. But there is no way. It all ends about ten kilometers from the finish line when, on the penultimate climb, Remco changes gear to go and conquer Olympus. Or rather not. Because three and a half kilometers away the Belgian has to deal with the ghost of the Louvre that appears in front of him causing him to puncture a tire. The scare does not last long, just enough time to jump on a spare bike and head towards the Eiffel Tower. Not even Belfagor can do anything…