Plot twist:
There is a documentary next Sunday on Belgian tv with images from the Belgian car. It seems indeed, from the first footage, that evenepoel was supposed to cover dangerous moves, even from far out, but there were guys from the team next to the road with signs. Remco ignored a “Do not pull” sign and Vanthourenhout wasn’t happy when he saw that during the race.
Vanthourenhout also noticed that remco pulled way too much (“he is almost dropping declercq several times” Vanthourenhout noticed).
They also noticed that evenepoel was driving very hard before the finale, and that he “would have lasted another round” if he took it a bit easier.
This confirms my thoughts that remco obeyed team orders, but with a rebellious twist, just to show the outside world he was this good.
And while I said before it's mostly Vanthourenhout to blame, I feel Remco, especially after his TV appearance, should take a really good look in the mirror before he says all kinds of thinks in a very (played?) naive way, claiming he only did what he was asked to do.
So he pretended to be a teamplayer, and clearly this was against his nature. You could even say merckx was right: Remco is not used to working for others, and with his talent, he will probably never learn this. But should he?
Because you could say that you shouldn’t try to tame a wild horse like remco. Just let him roam free…