Cycling, Evenepoel: “I move to Spain and build myself a hypobaric chamber”

The world champion Remco Evenepoel he changes his life, habits, training methods and chooses a rather innovative housing solution for the future but also, certainly, questionable. In an interview with the newspaper of his country Het Laatste Nieuws, the 22-year-old from Aalst, the first Belgian capable of winning a great stage race (the Vuelta) after 44 years, will move permanently to Spain, in the Alicante area. He will do it to escape the full attention of his country of origin, in love with his “Tom Thumb”, so much so as to give him a welcome as a head of state on his return from Australia in the rainbow jersey: “Everyone wants a piece of me, I have to defend myself “. And then there is another reason: “I will install a hypobaric chamber at home, modeled on the Syncrosfera hotel, where I stayed last year”. The hypobaric chambers “on command”, such as those installed in the hotel run by the former runner Alexander Kolobnev in Muntanya de la Sella, imitate the advantages of the height on the body: that is, they can, with the injection of nitrogen from unions, “force The body to naturally produce red blood cells. A sort of natural Epo, which allows runners to save the long periods of training at high altitudes and to improve resistance to effort while standing. Far from risk-free, so much so that some countries, including Italy, prohibit the practice. During the last Giro d’Italia, the winner of the Genoa stage, Stefano Oldani, spoke of “different possibilities” reserved for foreign riders compared to Italians, even within the same team.

Evenepoel spoke to the Laatste Nieuws more generally than “the region around Alicante is a really nice area to train. The weather is good all year round so it’s ideal for my basics and winter training”. But then: “By installing a hypobaric chamber in the house, I can save accommodation costs in the Syncrosfera hotel. My architect will have to come back, the project is not yet approved, but here we are ”. Evenepoel and his newlywed Oumaima are currently on their honeymoon in the Maldives. The apartment would have been bought by the couple a few months ago.