Remco Evenepoel sacrificed aerodynamics on Wednesday as he headed out for his latest training camp ride wearing a football shirt.
The Belgian star is a long-time Arsenal fan, and the London club officially landed the Premier League title on Tuesday night after their rivals Manchester City faltered on the penultimate day of the season.
The following morning, Evenepoel posted images of himself on social media from his latest training ride in the Sierra Nevada, where he has been beginning his build-up towards the Tour de France last week.
He was wearing a red Arsenal home jersey, which was personalised with his own surname on the back, above the number 10 – the number associated with the central midfield playmaker role.
Evenepoel wore the number 10 shirt during a very promising footballing career of his own in his youth, when he played for leading Belgian club side Anderlecht as well as representing his country internationally.
"Something not many people know is how I’ve always been a huge fan of Arsenal since being a kid," Evenepoel revealed two years ago after he was spotted watching a match at Arsenal's stadium for the first time.
His decision to wear the Arsenal top came with a very minor sponsorship incorrectness, given the large Emirates logo on the front of the Arsenal jerseys – the same airline that sponsors the UAE Team Emirates-XRG team of Tadej Pogačar, his main rival and race favourite for this year's Tour de France.
Evenepoel logged his first training ride of his Sierra Nevada camp on Strava on May 10, which was followed by a couple more short outings and then a few days off before a 200km day that took in 3,846 metres of elevation gain on May 17.
He has since uploaded rides of just over 50km on Monday and Tuesday, while his Arsenal shirt ride has yet to hit Strava.
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