Remco Evenepoel is to take an unusually long break from racing before the Tour de France, with 69 days between his last race and lining out in Barcelona at the Tour on July 4th (Photo: Twila Federica Muzzi)
Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) will not race again before the Tour de France in July. That will make for a 69-day absence from the peloton between his last race - Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1.UWT) on April 26th - and starting the Tour in Barcelona on July 4th.
The unusual break for the Belgian rider is an acknowledgement he has overdone things in racing or training, probably both, since switching from Soudal-QuickStep to his current team over the winter.
He started the season with five rapid-fire wins, followed by worrying inconsistency, especially on the climbs.
His team has said he will now skip Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and will instead focus on recovery, recons for the Tour and "specific training sessions" after fist completing an altitude camp this month.
"We decided together with Remco to take a break from racing after an intense spring," said Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe chief of sport Zak Dempster, adding the decision had been reached after a period of reflection.
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"The goal is for him to arrive in Barcelona completely fresh. After analysing his 25 race days, we see greater benefit in a balanced alternative program than in adding further race load."
While Evenepoel's form has been fantastic at times so far this season, he has also looked sluggish, and been dropped by lesser riders, at times when least expected.
He took three wins in Mallorca followed by two stage victories and the overall at Volta Comunitat Valenciana (2.Pro), all over a 10-day period from late January. That was followed by a TT win a UAE Tour and an implosion on the climbs in the days that followed.
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That up and down performance in UAE, where he climbed poorly several times, is a concern, especially looking towards the Tour, which is the absolute priority for him and his team.
Evenepoel changed teams in the off-season, after a long saga over several years, specifically so he would be better-placed to compete for victory in the Tour de France.
If he was to falter in that race and lose time, he would end up riding for German team mate, and 3rd place finisher at the Tour last year, Florian Lipowitz.
That would be a major embarrassment and something the Belgian media would pounce on as proof changing teams had badly backfired for the dual Olympic champion.
After his poor performance at UAE Tour, Evenepoel's climbing was also below expectations at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (2.UWT) in March, though he bounced back in the Ardennes, winning Amstel Gold race.
However, while he first took 3rd at Tour of Flanders and, later, 3rd at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he was a long way off matching Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who won both.
More concerning was the fact he was also well below the runners-up in both those races, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team).
Indeed, before Liège Evenepoel told the media nobody should be surprised if Seixas suffered in the sixth hour of the race. But then the French teenager proved much stronger than the Belgian in the final, after Evenepoel went up the road early.
That decision to go clear in the unusually large group very early in the race perhaps reflected some anxiety about his expectations for himself in matching the very best in the final hour of racing.
