Remco Evenepoel has won the Vuelta, been TT world champion three times and is the reigning Olympic road race and TT champion, but his former team boss says he is fixated on the Tour de France and he has questioned that goal (Photo: Maximilian Fries)
When Remco Evenepoel was riding for Soudal-QuickStep, the chatter around the Belgian rider - and remarks from his father, Patrick – focussed on whether the team could raise its game enough to help him win the Tour de France.
He has since left the team and joined Red Bull-bora-hansgrohe. And though things began very well this year, with a series of one-day wins, Evenepoel's stage race performances have been well below expectations.
And that has prompted his former boss at Soudal-QuickStep, Patrick Lefevere, to question Evenepoel's true abilities in stage races, especially winning Grand Tours, which tackle the biggest mountains.
He also pointed the standard of the opposition Evenepoel faces in his quest to win Grand Tours, specifically the Tour, namely Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike).
Advertisement
Remco Evenepoel in yellow at Volta Comunitat Valenciana last month, which he went on to win, but winning the Tour against the current best riders looks like a big step (Photo: Maximilian Fries)
Lefevere said coaches now select where the riders should race, based on data. But sometimes riders touted at the next big thing for Grand Tour general classification were found, in time, to be more suited in one day racing.
And he believed that may prove to be the case with Evenepoel, even though he has already won the Vuelta.
“I had a good example in my own team: Sylvain Chavanel, a Frenchman," he said in a discussion with Het Laatste Nieuws. "He was the new man, back then. He was supposed to win the Tour. He turned pro at twenty.
"He tried. He once finished in the top ten—what did he win? Actually, Sylvain was a one-day racer. Just as it might turn out later with Remco, too.”
Related News
And he believes Evenepoel, rather than basing his season around the Tour, should ride more major one-day races.
"I personally think Remco should have been in Milan-San Remo and should also have ridden the Tour of Flanders or the E3," Lefevere said.
“I told him once or twice, but yeah... He is so fixated, and you have to be if you want to perform. He won the Vuelta, yes. But there are two others riding around there. I saw Jonas Vingegaard in action at Paris-Nice. I wish him good luck."
However, he also suggested Evenepoel might continue for the next few years to win the Tour and perhaps then take stock.
“He has time, doesn't he? He is 26 now. If he gives himself another two years to win the Tour. Or maybe... I think if everyone stays healthy, (Pogačar) and Vingegaard are going to be a very tough challenge. And he has competition within his own ranks too. He didn't have that before.
“In the UAE Tour, he did falter in two uphill finishes. And I know why, too. That can happen, a kilo or two too much. If you lose two kilos in professional cycling, that is immense.”
Evenepoel is now part of a German World Tour team, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, that includes rapidly emerging stage race riders Florian Lipowitz (25) and Giulio Pellizzari (22).
Lipowitz was 3rd in last year’s Tour and looks much better suited to Grand Tour general classification rider, especially the big mountains, than Evenepoel.
However, Evenepoel is considerably better at everything else, including one-day racing and the TT discipline – with his Olympic road race and TT crowns, his three TT world titles and everything else on his palmares.
Evenepoel won the Vuelta, riding for Soudal-QuickStep, in 2022. However, defending champion Primož Roglič went into the race still on the comeback from crash injuries, with another crash forcing him out of the race, as he looked like he had Evenepoel in his sights.
Since then, Evenepoel’s best GC performance in a Grand Tour was 3rd at the Tour, two years ago. He withdrew from last year’s race with exhaustion after being dropped on stage 14 to Superbagnères. He had crashed during the winter and suffered another crash at the Belgian championships just before the Tour.
