Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel recently paid homage to American tennis sensation Ben Shelton by performing Shelton’s ‘dialed-in’ celebration after winning the 2024 Figueira Champions Classic.
Shelton’s ‘dialed-in’ celebration, which involves mimicking speaking on a telephone before emphatically slamming it down, gained prominence after his victory against Frances Tiafoe in the 2023 US Open quarterfinals.
Evenepoel, a member of the Soudal-QuickStep UCI World Team, commenced his 2024 season in the second edition of the Figuira Champions Classic. The Belgian cyclist clinched victory in the single-day cycling race with authority, completing a 53km solo run.
He crossed the finish line in four hours, 42 minutes, and 25 seconds, securing an impressive one-minute-48-second lead over second-placed Vito Braet.
Following his triumph, Evenepoel replicated Ben Shelton’s ‘dialed-in’ celebration to mark his achievement. Shelton had previously explained that the celebration symbolized being “dialed in,” attributing its origin to his close friend Grant Holloway, a track and field athlete who is a three-time World Champion.
“It’s like I’m saying I’m dialed in,” Shelton explained. “I’m really close friends with a lot of track & field athletes who train at the University of Florida.
One in particular, Grant Holloway, who’s won the World Championships like 3 years in a row now… that’s kind of his signature thing. He just won the world championships, so congrats to him,” he elaborated.
