Remco Evenepoel's commanding victory in the time trial on stage 16 of the Tour de France was the his second stage win on the bounce, confirming his status as the best rider at the race not called Tadej Pogačar.

Despite taking 28 seconds off the race leader on the 26.1km course between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains, Evenepoel effectively acknowledged that, bar a major mishap, the Slovenian UAE Team Emirates XRG rider had an unassailable lead in the general classification.

While he might not be aiming for yellow any more, Evenepoel has now won two stages back-to-back, after his victory on the Plateau du Solaison on Sunday's stage 15.

"Today was another planet," he said in his winner's press conference. "Now I'm focused on the second place overall, and I will do everything to defend it. That's my goal."

Today, though, showed that catastrophic mishaps are never too far away in elite bike racing, because it was a "bittersweet" day for Evenepoel and the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team. Evenepoel didn't know until he had finished, but behind him on the course, teammate Florian Lipowitz dramatically crashed and was forced to abandon the race with a broken collarbone, having started the day in fifth place in the GC.

The world time trial champion, Evenepoel has now won time trial stages at the Tour in three consecutive editions, and was the favourite on the stage today. He put in a stunning climb, but admitted there were moments of high jeopardy afterwards.

"You arrive a bit on the limit on the top of the climb, and then you need to find some recovery as quick as possible to go into that tricky descent," he recounted. "I just try to stay calm, to focus and trust my descending skills. I really wanted to take the decent as a bit of recovery without going over the limit in terms of taking risks.

"For me personally, the last 5km were more tricky and dangerous than the descent because it was like proper 90-degree corners with white lines on the roads, pretty slippery asphalt. It was a very beautiful TT, but also a very tricky one to manage."

Despite coming second today, however, Pogačar has never looked like slipping since he donned the yellow jersey. But, even while conceding that he would have to settle for second, Evenepoel was adamant that the Slovenian's dominance of the sport is not making the Tour dull.

"I don't see it as boring," he said. "I see it as being super impressive. The performances that he's putting out... I'm looking up to that, you know. I try to learn from that and I try to reach that level as well... I mean, he's a superstar.

"He's the best rider ever. So I don't think people should consider it as boring. For us, it's a challenge. It's a big honour to race against a champion like that. It's exciting to see it from very close by.

"You should not forget, we are witnessing history. Maybe he's going for a fifth Tour de France, which is going to be equal to the record. So, you should not consider that as boring at all."

Remco Evenepoel has moved into second place on the general classification following an emphatic first road stage win at the Tour de France. The Belgian has come into this year's race in impeccable form, and is clearly able to compete with the leading protagonists in the high mountains – something he failed to achieve last year when he abandoned the race in the Pyrenees.

With a 26.1km/500m individual time trial on the cards for stage 16, Remco can potentially claw back some time on Tadej Pogačar and cement his second place on the podium.

Let’s take a closer look at the reigning Olympian’s Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL9.

Having stolen the headlines at the Grand Depart for his unreleased Specialized S-Works Shiv TT bike, the Belgian also has an S-Works Tarmac SL9 at his disposal – both a regular team-liveried option (which he raced to victory on stage 15) and a gold-themed edition that celebrates his Olympic Championship win from 2024 in Paris.

The bike pictured here, however, is the latter, and was customised by Italian master frame painters, Lumarcolors.

Lumarcolors has done an amazing job with the bike, as it complements the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team livery and pays homage to Evenepoel’s Olympic gold medal. Naturally, there’s a lot of gold at play here, but it’s all done tastefully and not over the top.

As a result, it utilises a bespoke glittery white and gold paint scheme that still fits in with the team design – Red Bull and keyline logos are applied as a water transfer and subtly fade from gold to white.

The gold theme continues with his cassette and chain, base of the saddle, the inside crank arms (and SRAM logo on the outside arm), and the K-Edge computer mount and chain catcher. The level of detail is truly inspiring.

Having changed teams for 2026, Remco is now riding a SRAM Red AXS-equipped machine rather than the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2-outfitted bike he raced on at Soudal-QuickStep.

For the Tour de France, Remco has opted for a 54/41T, 10-33T gearing configuration, driven by 165mm cranks. As a Specialized rider, he meets sponsor obligations by using Roval Rapide CLX III wheels shod with 30mm Specialized Cotton TLR tyres. Other details/components include a Specialized S-Works Power Evo with Mirror saddle, a K-Edge computer mount and chain catcher, and Tacx Ciro bottle cages.

As usual, he's using a slammed Roval Rapide integrated cockpit.

All in, Evenepoel's 52cm S-Works Tarmac SL9 tipped our scales at 7.05kg complete with pedals, two bidons/cages and cycling computer.

Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL9 specs

• Frameset: S-Works Tarmac SL9 Fact 12r Carbon
• Fork: S-Works Fact 12r Carbon
• Cockpit: Roval Rapide
• Seatpost: S-Works Tarmac SL9 Carbon
• Groupset: SRAM Red AXS 54/41T, 10-33T
• Wheelset: Roval Rapide CLX III
• Tyres: Specialized Cotton TLR 30mm
• Saddle: Specialzied S-Works Power Evo with Mirror

Remco Evenepoel may not exactly have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on stage 10 of the Tour de France, but his second place behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and the seconds he eked out over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), certainly felt like a win.

The Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe looked headed for disaster on the lumpy road into Le Lioran. Dropped on the penultimate climb, with 6km to go, he slipped 10 seconds off the back of the chase group, in what he later described as a “really hard moment”.

But, as Evenepoel proved, a lot can change in six kilometres. He hurled himself down the descent, caught his GC podium rivals Vingegaard, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), and then distanced them all with a vicious sprint across the line.

The result took the Belgian from fourth to third in the GC, leapfrogging Ayuso. It also brought him 18 seconds closer to Vingegaard’s second place, now just 30 seconds in arrears.

“I fought like I always do,” Evenepoel told reporters outside his team bus in Le Lioran. “There were some guys who were accelerating in their turns [in the chase group]. It was a bit annoying. We wanted to keep the same rhythm, but there were some who were accelerating and that did a bit of damage to me.

“But I fought and I kept my rhythm, because I thought it would be better to keep my rhythm than explode. In my head, I was also thinking about the sprint. I knew the last 500m were really hard, so I kept some strength for the sprint.”

Evenepoel’s demeanour after the stage showed this was a result to savour. Returning to his team bus, he turned his turbo trainer to face the reporters, so he could address them while he warmed down. He then spoke for 10 minutes, first in Dutch, then English, and finally French, making sure everyone had heard a snippet of his success.

“I’m just happy with how it went,” he said. “It’s good to take some time back, especially with what the weekend is bringing. It’s going to be very important to stay calm over the next few days, survive well. From Friday on, but especially Saturday and Sunday, it will be a big fight for the GC. We’ll see how it goes. But yeah, I feel that I’m getting better every day.”

It is, however, hard to ignore that Evenepoel faltered on a climb – a 3.1km category-three kicker. When the race enters the Vosges mountains this weekend, he will face longer, tougher tests, namely the 11.2km to Le Markstein on Saturday’s stage 14, and the hors catégorie summit finish of the Plateau de Solaison on stage 15.

Does Evenepoel’s team have any concerns about his ability to keep pace uphill? “For the moment, I’m not worried,” Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe sports director Patxi Vila told Cycling Weekly. “Today he was the second strongest in the race – that’s what I see.

“If this morning you told me that [Evenepoel] will be second here, and he will just be a couple of seconds behind Tadej and in front of Jonas, who is dropped, [Isaac] del Toro dropped by one minute, I think I will sign it. I take that. You can always look to things that you are worried about, but for the moment, I’ll enjoy this moment. I congratulate him and the team in general.”

Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe now have one rider on the podium, and another bearing down on it in Florian Lipowitz, currently in sixth overall, 38 seconds behind Evenepoel.

“[Pogačar] already has like four minutes, so I think there isn’t much to play [for the yellow jersey],” said Lipowitz. “It’s quite open for second place, and if we work together we can for sure race for second place here.”

Buoyed by the confidence of his stage 10 comeback, Evenepoel left the French press with a clichéd but ominous line: “The Tour isn’t over yet.” Roll on the high mountains.

Remco Evenepoel is riding what appear to be unreleased Specialized lace-up shoes at the Tour de France. Black Specialized branding on the toe and outside of the shoe, and a black heel cup differentiate them from the American brand's existing lace-up racing shoe, the Torch Lace. They could be an update, a lace version of the S-Works Ares 2, which has similar styling, or an entirely new model.

The double Olympic champion, who is currently fourth in the general classification, is wearing these shoes with red laces, potentially to draw attention to the fact that they are new. Remco is known to test unreleased kit in the open, as we saw at the opening team time trial in Barcelona, where we spotted him riding an all-new Specialized S-Works Shiv TT bike.

Some of his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe teammates have gone white-on-white, as have riders from Soudal-Quickstep, which is also sponsored by Specialized, such as 2022 Paris-Roubaix winner Dylan van Baarle.

Despite Specialized having named the S-Works Torch Remco after him, claimed to be one of the peloton's lightest and best cycling shoes at 287g a pair, Evenepoel has worn these shoes at several races this year. Laces are generally considered to be more aerodynamic than Boa dials and straps and can save weight. They are possibly something Dan Bigham, Red Bull's head of engineering, has pushed the already very aero Evenepoel towards.

The use of these lace-ups could also be a move to improve ventilation and avoid hot foot and other temperature-induced conditions, in what has been described as one of the hottest Tours de France on record - Stage 9 was shortened due to exceptional heat.

In addition to the different branding and heel cup, when seen side by side with the Torch Lace, the unnamed shoe appears narrower, with lace eyelets spaced closer together. This could just be the way Remco has tightened the laces, or it could be an attempt from Specialized to smooth out the front-facing part of the shoe to further cut drag.

In the intense heat of this year's Tour de France, the apparent ventilation of these shoes would seem to be advantageous. Like on the Torch Lace, the upper is dotted with tiny holes for airflow. That said, many of Evenepoel's teammates, including his GC rival Florian Lipowitz, are apparently happy with the ventilation and weight of the S-Works Torch and S-Works Ares 2.

We have contacted Specialized for comment and will update this article when we have more information.

Remco Evenepoel said he felt he was “justifiably angry” at his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team-mate Florian Lipowitz after cooperation between the pair appeared to collapse on stage six of the Tour de France.

According to Evenepoel, speaking to the Belgian press after Tadej Pogačar's win in Gavarnie, Lipowitz refused to give him a lead-out to the line from the chase group. If Evenepoel had won the sprint for third, he would have gained four bonus seconds in the general classification. Instead, Pogačar's team-mate Isaac del Toro dashed ahead to take more time behind second-placed Jonas Vingegaard.

"I had asked for a lead-out, and I didn't get one," Evenepoel told Sporza. "I think I was justifiably angry. At the Volta a Catalunya, I rode at the front for him for 30km. I asked him to ride at the front for one kilometre, and that wasn't possible. That made me angry, and that will need to be discussed thoroughly tonight."

Evenepoel placed fourth on stage six, 2:57 behind the stage winner, Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Lipowitz, who finished third overall at the race last year, crossed the line sixth, at the same time difference.

Lipowitz shared a different view of how the stage unfolded. He told German publication ARD: "We didn't manage to bring Jonas back, but the team performance was top-notch today. Now we have to fight for third place, the battle will be incredibly tough.

"I can be very happy, my legs just weren't quite up to par on the Tourmalet," he continued.

After his 43km solo attack, Pogačar now leads the general classification at the Tour by 2:42 ahead of Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), while Evenepoel is fourth overall, 3:30 behind. Lipowitz is a further 30 seconds in arrears.

Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz will co-lead Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe at the Tour de France, the team confirmed on Friday morning.

The news was expected, but still significant, as Red Bull will line up with the two third-placed riders from the last two editions. They will be joined by Jai Hindley, Maxim Van Gils, Mattia Cattaneo, Jan Tratnik, Nico Denz and Tim van Dijke.

"The Tour is no longer won by an exceptional rider alone, but by an exceptional team," Zak Dempster, chief of sports at Red Bull, said. "We believe we are bringing one of the most complete squads to the start. With Remco and Florian, we have two leaders who have already proven they can stand on the Tour podium. Their different strengths give us tactical options that could prove decisive."

The team have already expressed that the road will decide who is the out-and-out leader at the Tour, but going in with two solid GC options will allow them to challenge other teams in a different way.

In fact, while he is competing as a super domestique, Jai Hindley is another GC options, having finished third at the Giro d'Italia already this season.

"Remco is still the team leader and Florian Lipowitz is a bit of the second man but in terms of sporting performance, they are on equal footing," team boss Ralph Denk told Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad this week.

"Eventually, there will come a day when one or the other feels better. Then they will have to fight it out between themselves on the road. I am convinced that this can work."

Lipowitz has had the better season in general classification terms, finishing on the podium at the Tour de Romandie, Itzulia Basque Country and the Volta a Catalunya, and winning the Tour of Slovenia while Evenepoel won Valenciana and finished fifth at Catalunya.

Evenepoel finished third at the 2024 Tour de France, but faded after winning the individual time trial at last year's race, eventually leaving the race on stage 14. He hasn't raced since Liège-Bastogne-Liège, preferring to train away from competition.

Lipowtiz, meanwhile, impressed on his way to third overall last year. That might have been 11 minutes behind winner Tadej Pogačar, and over six minutes behind Jonas Vingegaard, but it showed promise.

"The strength of this roster goes far beyond Remco and Florian," sports director Patxi Vila said.

"We have experienced climbers, strong all-rounders and riders capable of taking responsibility in every race situation. Every Tour develops its own dynamic, and with this team we have an answer to almost every possible scenario."

As far as closely guarded digits go, the power data of top professional riders ranks up there with the Fort Knox door code or the King's phone number. So Cycling Weekly was as surprised as any when Remco Evenepoel revealed his functional threshold power (FTP) on his YouTube channel this week.

Surprised not only because such things are so often kept hush-hush; in addition to that, the figure was very much in the bracket marked 'jaw-slackening'. How about this: 425 watts.

It's even higher than Tadej Pogačar's reported, but unverified, 415 watts number.

The figures were revealed in a conversation the Olympic champion had with coach Dan Lorang on a windswept Mount Teide in Tenerife. In the middle of a series of efforts and in-between painful looking blood-draws to measure lactate, Lorang tells him: "It's that fine line: 420, we are under threshold; 425 we are somewhere there…"

Extrapolated using Evenepoel's 63kg frame, that works out at a full 6.75 watts per kilo – just a shade under the fabled 6.8kg that, in theory, was guaranteed to the win the Tour de France.

For those unfamiliar with functional threshold power – usually just known as FTP, it's a key power training metric approximately equivalent to the effort a rider can maintain for an hour, and can be used to set lower and higher zones.

In the video, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe coach Dan Lorang, who leaves the team after the Tour de France, explains the protocol: "Today we have a threshold day," he says. "That means several efforts where we do a steady pace. It should be a preparation for longer climbs also in the race. We start here with smaller intervals; further in the camp we do a little bit longer intervals."

Having already done a long warm-up effort at a trifling 350 watts, Evenepoel's ready to grit his teeth, and selects some tunes to match. "Now we're starting with some harder music," he tells the videographer as he scrolls through his phone, "because it will be painful."

If various reports are to be believed, the Belgian's numbers – both outright power and w/kg – are also higher than Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). The Slovenian's FTP has been estimated at 415 watts which, for his 66 kilos of weight, add up to 6.29w/kg. These figures were not disproved when Pogačar revealed his wattages, apparently unwittingly, on a Strava training file earlier this year.

Evenepoel's 22-minute video is an insightful look at a two-day training camp on Tenerife that peeks into not only his power data but his calories too, as well as the day to day of being on training camp at altitude.

Arsenal fan and former road racing World Champion Remco Evenepoel has said he expects a close game in tonight’s Champions League final between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain.

The Belgian is currently on a training camp in Sierra Nevada, Spain, preparing for the Tour de France. It's from there that he’ll be watching the final which kicks-off at 17.00 (BST) in Budapest.

Speaking to Belgian publication DH les Sports from the altitude camp Evenepoel said: “A final is special. I've played in one myself. I think it's always a 50-50 game, even though [Paris Saint-Germain] PSG can clearly use last year's victory as experience. But hey, I'm a Gunner, so I'm saying Arsenal will win. Even 1-0 is enough.”

Evenepoel is a talented footballer himself and captain the Belgian under-16 team before concentrating his athletic pursuits on cycling.

He has been a fan of the club from a young age citing former Gunner Thierry Henry as inspiring his love of the London side. “I still have his jersey. The burgundy and mauve one, with the number 14 in gold,” he said.

As a junior he played for RSC Anderlecht's junior squad and was considered one of its strongest prospects. He even had a brush with playing for Arsenal.

The Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider told DH Sports: “It goes back to my year at PSV Eindhoven. I was named best player at an international U13 tournament. Several Premier League teams invited me for trials. Chelsea, Manchester United, Fulham, and Arsenal were among them. But nothing ever really came of it.

“Of course, it was tempting, but it was still incredibly early. I wasn't really ready to take such a big step at that age.”

Asked why he felt this season’s iteration of the team has been so successful, winning the Premier League and now having a shot at the Champions League title, he said: “First, their defence is very impressive. It's a really well-structured unit.

“Then, Declan Rice and Martin Ödegaard are true leaders in midfield. Arteta's greatest achievement is having managed to build a very compact team, with rocks at the back like [William] Saliba and Gabriel [Magalhães], not forgetting [David] Raya, a truly excellent goalkeeper.

“Finally, when [Bukayo] Saka plays at the level he's been this year, Arsenal can rely on one of the best strikers in the world.”

But the team have been accused of being boring, with a reliance on scoring goals from set pieces and a tendency to slow the pace of the game.

Evenepoel, unsurprisingly, is a defender of his team’s tactics. “Winning is ultimately the most important thing,” he said. “So, the style really becomes secondary. I remember the Gunners with [midfielder Mesut] Özil, [forward Alexis] Sanchez… Everyone praised their style of play, but in the end, they won nothing.”

After analysing his early season, Remco Evenepoel's Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team have decided to alter his run-in to the Tour de France. He will now miss the Tour Auvergne Rhone-Alpes (formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné) in early June – a race that is traditionally seen as a key warm-up for the Tour.

Instead, the Belgian rider will spend the month undertaking recons for July as well as focused training and recovery.

“Contrary to the original plan, he will skip the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes,” the team said in a statement. “Instead, in the month of June, he will focus on a balanced mix of recovery, scouting the Tour course, and specific training. Prior to that, he will complete an altitude training camp in May.”

“The goal is to get him completely fresh at the start in Barcelona,” chief of sports Zak Dempster said. “After an analysis of his 25 race days, we see more benefit in a balanced alternative program than in adding extra race load.”

Evenepoel has enjoyed a solid though not spectacular season so far. A flying start included a flurry of wins at the Trofeo Mallorca and then the Volta Communitat Valenciana, where he won two stages and the overall.

At the Volta Catalunya in March his performance was tempered by a crash, although he held on to finish a creditable fifth overall behind winner Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

He went on to score his biggest win of the year so far at the Amstel Gold Race, but a week later at Liège-Bastogne-Liège he was forced to give up the top two podium spots to Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM).

Following the recent announcement that French teen sensation Seixas is now riding the Tour de France, it is now apparent that these are two riders he will meet in July – as well as Vingegaard. Whatever extra freshness he can squeeze from his altered programme is going to come in handy against such rivals.

The pre-Tour programme for Evenepoel's Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe teammate Florian Lipowitz has also been finalised. Having turned out an impressive performance at last week's Tour de Romandie, where he pushed eventual winner Pogačar all the way, the German will undertake an altitude training camp later this month. From there he'll head to his final race before the Tour, the Tour of Slovenia. That will be followed by a short training block, and then the big race.

Remco Evenepoel has signed a lifetime deal with Specialized, in what the US bike brand calls an "unprecedented commitment", it was announced on Thursday.

The Olympic road race and time trial champion, 26, has ridden on Specialized bikes since his junior days, using them as he surged to world titles, the Vuelta a España, and Monument victories.

This year, Evenepoel moved to Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe from Soudal Quick-Step, but remained on an S-Works Tarmac SL8 in road racing and an S-Works Shiv in time trials; he is the reigning time trial world champion.

This season, he has won eight times, including last Sunday at the Amstel Gold Race. His big goal remains the Tour de France in July, but he will also be targeting a return to the top step at Liège-Bastogne-Liège this weekend, a race he has won twice before.

The Belgian is not the first pro rider to have such a tie to a single brand, but this could be the first "lifetime" agreement. Peter Sagan had a deal with Specialized which saw the brand move with him to Bora-hansgrohe and then TotalEnergies, while when Demi Vollering moved from SD Worx-Protime to FDJ-SUEZ, she also brought Specialized with her.

"I’ve worked with Specialized since the beginning of my career," Evenepoel said in a press release. "They’ve been there through the wins, the setbacks, and everything in between. We have complete trust in each other, which is why this lifetime agreement feels like a natural step, for my racing career and beyond.

"I still have many goals ahead, and knowing I will have support from Specialized throughout gives me confidence. We share the same work ethic, push each other to improve, and I’m excited to see where this journey takes us."

"Remco isn’t just a champion. He embodies the spirit of why I started Specialized in the first place – hard work, integrity, resilience," Mike Sinyard, the founder and chairman of Specialized said. "With every ride, he pushes us, challenges us, and makes every bike we build better for every rider. This isn’t just a lifetime partnership. It’s a belief without an end. Remco forever."

Just over 70 kilometres into Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, 54 riders jumped a red light at a railway crossing. Now the Belgian prosecutors office is investigating the incident, which violates one of the country's most severe traffic offences.

Amongst the riders involved were race-leaders Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel, who jumped the red light before the barriers came down. The peloton was divided on either side of the railway tracks, with Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert among the group caught behind the barriers.

"It was not nice," Pogačar said in the post-race press conference. "We were riding, and suddenly three guys jumped into the middle of the road and started waving to stop. How can you stop in one second?"

Nevertheless, jumping a red light comes under the most serious of Belgian traffic offences, and those found in breach of the rule could be summoned to appear in front of a police court, and could face a fine and driving ban.

“The risks to both riders and third parties are significant," the prosecutor’s office stated. “Such violations will therefore be dealt with strictly. This is unacceptable, even in a sporting context.”

The move also violates UCI rules, which state that ‘it shall be strictly forbidden to cross level crossings when the barrier is down or closing, the warning signal ringing or flashing.’ Riders who break this rule could face sanctions, a suspension of up to one month and a fine of between CHF 200 to 5,000. However, the race organisers chose not to disqualify the riders who crossed, instead slowing the following four kilometres to allow the second group to catch up.

In an interview with Wielerflits, Soudal Quick-Step's sports director, Sep Vanmarcke, emphasised Pogačar's frustration, saying: “Riders approach those crossings at around 55 kilometres per hour in a peloton. The first riders may see what’s happening, but those behind are looking at the wheel in front of them. Not everyone realises immediately that the light has turned red.

“Everyone involved, from the organisers to the authorities, knows exactly when a train is coming," he continued. "You cannot expect riders to know that. There is a shared responsibility to intervene in time and ensure safety.”

While no fines have yet been issued by the prosecutor's office, both Pogačar and Evenepoel were forced to pay up 500 and 200 Swiss Francs respectively, for littering and a 'sticky bottle' incident.

An out of court settlement may also be possible for the riders, as they await confirmation of penalties.

The hype around Remco Evenepoel riding the Tour of Flanders is very real. The Belgian press has gone into overdrive, with sports behemoth Sporza dedicating a whole section of their website to news about the dramatic debut. The biggest male Belgian cyclist at the moment is finally riding the biggest Belgian race of them all. It is a big deal.

The announcement came, quite oddly, before midday on April Fools' Day, leading multiple people to doubt its veracity, even hours after it was fully confirmed by Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe. However, this is no joke, and it does make sense; Evenepoel is a former world champion, the Olympic road race champion and a two-time winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, hardly a novice when it comes to one-day racing.

The plan did not come from nowhere, although it was repeatedly denied by Red Bull that Evenepoel would be taking part in Flanders.

"The connection between Remco and the Tour of Flanders is deep and emotional," team boss Ralph Denk said in a statement. "A plan like this does not come together overnight. We deliberately kept it under the radar to create a special moment for the fans – revealing it as a surprise on April 1. The fact that we were able to keep this internal for more than 100 days speaks to the cohesion and unity of this team."

Under the radar, though, in this sense, was more about denying the plan than keeping it completely secret. And it worked – even this week, different Belgian media outlets had opposing views on whether Evenepoel would be riding or not.

This is why it has been such a surprise for fans, for journalists, and the riders at Flanders too. The script might not be ripped up completely, but it will definitely need to be adjusted in order to account for the Belgian. Like Tadej Pogačar, he is someone who can attack from a long way out and solo to victory, and every move will need to be marked.

It is of course possible that Evenepoel could win on debut, with his skills suiting one-day racing much more than stage racing, and the Flemish bergs provide perfect launchpads for a long-range attack. However, he will be coming up against not just riders with similar skillsets, in Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel, both of whom are theoretically better on short, sharp, climbs, but riders who have raced Flanders before, who have won Flanders before, who know where they need to be positioned before and during each sector.

Before he lined up at Flanders for the first time in 2022, Pogačar sought experience at Dwars door Vlaanderen, and days later went on to finished fourth in the Monument, having somehow messed up a two-up sprint with Van der Poel. Evenepoel has never raced a cobbled Classic at professional level, expectations should be mollified.

Of course, the Belgian does have to race Flanders for the first time at some point, so why not now? It is fantastic that one of the best races of the season will now have another star added to it, one that could shake the race up. It's conceivable that Evenepoel has even been training specifically for this race – perhaps that's why he dropped away in the mountains at the Volta a Catalunya? – which only adds to the hype. Let's hope he delivers.

The Spring Classics continued this week, with drama abound. A climate protestor interrupted the Ronde van Brugge and a pothole took out Remco Evenepoel at the Volta a Catalunya. But the season doesn’t stop for anyone! In this week’s social media round-up we’ve got pros prepping for E3 Saxo Classic and In Flander’s Fields, off-road riders tackling stair sets and everything you need to know to stay upright on your bike after Evenepoel’s OTB.

1. The Classics can be brutal. Just last month, Omloop Nieuwsblad was hailed the most “most dangerous” of Arnaud De Lie’s life. It clearly wasn’t much plainer sailing for Lidl Trek’s Mathias Vacek, who poses here for Sean Hardy in Belgium.

2. South African road and gravel champion, Marc Pritzen, shares his go-to jersey cleaning process for muddy rides.

3. There’s just one more month to go until the Spring Classics conclude with Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 26 - that means five more weekends of organised weekend fun.

4. Whether it was a pothole or a lip in the road, Remco Evenepoel’s crash on Stage 3 at the Volta a Catalunya on Wednesday proved a brutal ending to his race-lead. Here’s how you can avoid your own Evenepoel-esque crash, according to Cinch Cycling Coaching.

5. What happens if you attach a stencil to your spokes and a light to your wheel? A cycling puppet show 🥹 (I’m obsessed).

6. How many stairs can you bunny hop up? Watch this mad display of bike-handling skills by Ridley Racing’s Daan Soete.

7. Paris-Roubaix will start on Sunday April 12 - it takes hard work to get the roads hacked into shape.

8. But before Paris-Roubaix kicks off, the Flemish Ardennes must first be tackled. Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) gets training in Belgium.

9. The Soudal Quick-Step riders were also in training for the E3 Saxo Classic, battling through wind and rain in Flanders.

10. It wasn’t only the Soudal Quick-Step team who were tackling the elements this week, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto also braced the weather in their training ride.

11. And then, somehow, Mathieu van der Poel won E3. Silly chase group.

There are days until the 2026 Tour de France, with teams setting off down the start ramp of the team time trial in Barcelona on stage one on the afternoon of Saturday 4 July.

It is just hours until we will be tracking the world's best cyclists around l'Hexagone. You can read the full start list here, and check out the route guide while you're at it.

Therefore, we thought this would be the perfect time to assess the runners and riders that will likely take to the start line of the 113th edition of the race, all of whom will harbour some hope of pulling on the yellow jersey 23 days later in Paris. This is the Cycling Weekly power list.

There are two former winners on this list, and two Tour de France debutants, one of whom is also the next great hope of French cycling.

Of course, what no one can ignore is the fact Tadej Pogačar appears to be unbeatable. He won the last two Tours in such dominant fashion most people probably assume he's nailed on to win. But he isn't. A loss of form, injury or tactical miscalculation are never more than one bad day away.

1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

Age: 27
Nationality: Slovenian
Tour de France appearances: 6
Tour de France overall wins: 4
Tour de France stage wins: 21
Best GC position: 1st

Indisputably the best male bike rider in the world, Tadej Pogačar has dominated the last two Tours de France, and there is little evidence that this is going to end soon. Last year he only won four stages on his way to overall victory by four minutes, despite suffering from a knee injury during the races latter stages.

This season, it has gone pretty well so far: 16 race days, 13 victories. An expected masterclass at Strade Bianche was followed by an epic sprint win at Milan-San Remo, edging the Slovenian closer to completing the set of Monuments.

He went on to win the Tour of Flanders, and finish second at Paris-Roubaix, before winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège again. The Slovenian won four stages and the overall at the Tour de Romandie, and then three stages and the overall at the Tour de Suisse.

It's hard to see where the cracks in Pogačar's armour are, although the route this year does not necessarily allow for him to crush all in his customary manner, although I'm sure he will try.

It's hard to bet against him.

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Age: 29
Nationality: Danish
Tour de France appearances: 5
Tour de France overall wins: 2
Tour de France stage wins: 4
Best GC position: 1st

Jonas Vingegaard's season couldn't have been more different to Tadej Pogačar's. There was no one-day racing, instead a total focus on stage races, and the Giro d'Italia was the priority before even beginning to think about the Tour.

The Dane, the reigning Vuelta a España champion, completed the set of Grand Tours with a Giro title in May, and hopes to then carry that form into the Tour in July. Pogačar completed the Giro-Tour double in 2024, so could Vingegaard do the same? It will be tricky, although he won the second Grand Tour he took part in last year.

Vingegaard did not race before Paris-Nice this year, due to illness, but his performance there certainly would have made many take notice.

He went on to win at the Volta a Catalunya, with two stage wins, before winning four stages en route to victory at the Giro by five minutes, another Pogačar-like ride.

3. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)

Age: 22
Nationality: Mexican
Tour de France appearances: 0
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 0
Best GC position: n/a

As Pogačar's teammate, Isaac del Toro not Plan A for UAE. If anything happens to the Slovenian, though, he would be thought of as a contender alongside Vingegaard.

Denied a maiden Grand Tour victory at the Giro d'Italia last year due to Simon Yates and Visma-Lease a Bike brilliance, and some odd tactics, the 22-year-old is clearly a rider who could win a Grand Tour, the question is just when.

In 2026, Del Toro has won the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, and the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, to boot. He seems to be able to do it all, like his starrier teammate, it just remains to be seen whether he will be allowed to ride his own race or work fully in support of Pogačar. There could easily be a UAE one-two in Paris at the end of July.

4. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM)

Age: 19
Nationality: French
Tour de France appearances: 0
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 0
Best GC position: n/a

The breakout rider of 2026 is Paul Seixas, the 19-year-old French star. There's a lot of pressure from France on the teenager's shoulders, but it doesn't appear to have affected him too much yet, with impressive performances at Algarve, the Faun-Ardèche Classic and Strade Bianche starting his season.

He went on to win Itzulia Basque Country and La Flèche Wallonne to send the hype machine into overdrive, before second-place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. However, he was forced to quit the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes after crashing, which tampered expectations a bit.

We don't know how he will fare in a Grand Tour, considering he's never raced one before, let alone the behemoth which is the Tour. However, Decathlon definitely have a star on their hands.

5. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe)

Age: 26
Nationality: Belgian
Tour de France appearances: 2
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 2
Best GC position: 3rd

After the first few races of 2026, there was a lot of talk around Remco Evenepoel, including from myself. The Belgian won seven of his first 11 races this season, including Valenciana overall, and looked to have truly hit the ground running at his new team.

However, a disappointing end to the UAE Tour saw those expectations cooled, and there remains a bit of mystery around Evenepoel ahead of the Tour. He hasn't raced since Liège-Bastogne-Liége, and his last stage race was the Volta a Catalunya in March, where he finished third.

He still managed to finish third at the Tour of Flanders and Liège, winning the Amstel Gold Race in between, so all is not lost, but his form is unknown.

He will have a solid team, including last year's third-place, Florian Lipowitz, so will have more backing than he ever did at Soudal Quick-Step. That said, though, it is still a bit up-in-the-air if he can deliver on the same level as Vingegaard over three weeks and over the high mountains, let alone Pogačar.

6. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek)

Age: 23
Nationality: Spanish
Tour de France appearances: 1
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 0
Best GC position: n/a

Juan Ayuso hit the ground running at Lidl-Trek, winning the Volta ao Algarve in his first race at his new team, before an untimely crash took him out of Paris-Nice while he was in the race lead.

He failed to finish Itzulia Basque Country, too, but returned to form at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where he finished third behind his former teammate Isaac del Toro.

The Spaniard, free of super-domestique duties at UAE Team Emirates, can now show his old team what they're missing, although he is yet to thread together a complete performance at a Grand Tour. That said, he has finished third and fourth overall at the Vuelta.

Lidl have been building a solid GC team, and with Ayuso at the point of the spear, are serious contenders.

7. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5)

Age: 26
Nationality: British
Tour de France appearances: 3
Tour de France overall wins: 0
Tour de France stage wins: 1
Best GC position: 13th

Third at the Vuelta a España last year, second at Milan-San Remo, a winner four times this year, Tom Pidcock is clearly a star of the peloton. However, he's on the record as not going for GC at the Tour, instead aiming for a stage win.

This will be Pinarello Q36.5's aim at their debut at the biggest race of them all, but there's also no reason why Pidcock couldn't aim at the top 10, if not higher, at the Tour. He proved last summer that he can ride Grand Tours, after years of promise, and this Tour could suit him.

Best of the rest

Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) was sixth at the Tour last year, and could easily repeat that again in July. He was fifth at the recent Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Fellow top-10 finisher Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) will surely be aiming for stage wins over GC, but he could defy expectations again.

Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was third last year, but has moved out of the limelight with the arrival of Evenepoel to his team, but is a fantastic option for his squad, and it would not be a surprise were he to shine brighter than his starrier teammate. Other teammates of riders of the list to watch out for include Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), although one would think these are secondary or tertiary choices for the overall.

Netcompany-Ineos' Kévin Vaquelin finished in the top 10 last season, but for different teams. He finished in the top 10 of the Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice and Itzulia Basque Country this year. Alongside double-stage winner from last year Thymen Arensman, they are the British team's best hopes for the top 10.

Also with the chance of finishing high are Antonio Tiberi and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla).

Remco Evenepoel has said he is "good" to continue at the Volta a Catalunya despite his pothole crash on Wednesday.

The Belgian crashed at the end of stage three of the Volta a Catalunya due to an unmarked hole, he claimed.

However, despite saying he had "pain everywhere", on Thursday morning he said: "Good news all is good. It stopped me yesterday, but not for the week."

The Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider was ahead of the peloton with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) on stage three, when he fell on the approach to a roundabout.

The incident was initially inexplicable, with Vingegaard telling reporters that he didn't know what happened: "He just went over the handlebars."

Vingegaard sat up, allowing the peloton to catch him, which meant the stage finished in a sprint, won by Dorian Godon of Ineos Grenadiers. Evenepoel lost no time overall due to the incident being within the final 5km of the race.

"I wanted to move to the drops and at that moment there was a hole in the road that I didn’t see, and it wasn’t marked. Then I lost my handlebars," Evenepoel told Sporza later on Wednesday.

Potholes, then, are an issue beyond the UK. The Olympic champion crashed hard, which could have an impact beyond taking him out of the race on Wednesday.

"I have pain everywhere," Evenepoel explained of his injuries. "My elbow is open [cut or grazed], my back is open and my hips are open," he said. "My elbow is quite badly hit, so we have to see what is possible and what is not."

The Belgian received immediate attention following the fall, and managed to remount his bike and finish the stage, and is still second on general classification.

"Now I need to let my body recover a bit and then we will see this evening and especially tomorrow morning what it says," Evenepoel added. Stage four finishes up an hors categorie climb to Vallter, 11.4km at 7.5%.

Evenepoel and Vingegaard escaped in crosswinds with just under 30km to go on stage three, with the former escaping first, and the latter following. However, cooperation did not always seem smooth between the pair, with Evenepoel visibly remonstrating with his break companion.

"What others do tactically is not my concern," Evenepoel said. "That’s their problem. It was clear who wanted to ride for the win and who didn’t."

For his part, Vingegaard explained: "At some points he wasn't really happy with me, but that's how it is, it's cycling, we have our tactics."

Remco Evenepoel clutched defeat from the jaws of victory on stage three of the Volta a Catalunya as he crashed in a chaotic finale.

The Belgian Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider came down around 500m from the finish line while out front with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), ahead of the on-rushing peloton, as the pair approached a roundabout.

It was not immediately apparent what caused the crash, which might have been a touch of wheels, but it took all the impetus from the attack, with Vingegaard sitting up as a result.

Evenepoel was checked by his team and the race doctor before remounting to ride on and cross the finish line, seemingly escaping serious injury.

Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) took his second stage win of the race, sprinting to victory ahead of Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling) and Noah Hobbs (EF Education-EasyPost).

"To be honest I don't know, he just went over the handlebars and I just hope he's ok," Vingegaard said when asked what happened post-race on TNT Sports. "It looked really crazy, and I hope he's ok.

"I didn't want to take advantage of a situation like that so I decided at that moment to just wait for the bunch. I hope he's ok, and he can continue tomorrow."

Evenepoel and Vingegaard had escaped in crosswinds with just under 30km to go on stage three, with the former escaping first, and the latter following. Their advantage went over 25 seconds at times, before coming down below 10 inside the final 5km. However, inside the final kilometre, the pair still had a few seconds advantage, and victory looked to be on the cards. The roundabout crash put paid to that.

"I didn't expect it like this, I expected it more to be a bigger group," Vingegaard continued. "He went, I jumped across to him, and he was very strong on the flat, he's very aero obviously. Very strong at the moment. I'm happy I could jump across and work a bit with him.

Asked about the cooperation between the pair the Dane added: "At some points he wasn't really happy with me, but that's how it is, it's cycling, we have our tactics."

It was Godon's second stage win of the race, and third WorldTour victory of the year for Ineos Grenadiers, who he signed for this season.

"Today I wanted to win again, it was not so hard at the beginning..." the French champion said. "Then it was a lot of stress and tension, then I saw Remco full alone with Vingegaard. All the riders on the team did an amazing job to catch them, Oscar and Bob did a leadout for me, so it was amazing.

"I was fully concentrating on the sprint, that's it," he said of Evenepoel's crash. "For me, we caught them and I went for the win."

Godon remains in the race lead, 11 seconds ahead of Evenepoel, with Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) in third. Vingegaard moved up to fourth overall due to bonus seconds gained.

This weekend signified the end of the first round of early-season stage races, with Opening Weekend and the Classics arriving in just a few day's time. Last week we saw the UAE Tour, the Volta ao Algarve and the Vuelta a Andalucía/Ruta del Sol, featuring a variety of the protagonists we're expecting to see in this summer's men's Grand Tours.

It's too early to use these February races as a barometer for July or even May, but they're a handy indicator as to who's wintered well and who has a little further to go, and more. We take a look.

Isaac Del Toro 2-1 Remco Evenpoel

Perhaps the most impressive overall performance of the past week has come from young Mexican Isaac del Toro. The UAE Tour was the first race of the season for the 20-year-old UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and one which he began in the shadow of Belgian star Remco Evenepoel.

All eyes were on the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider, as one of the few big stars to openly declare Tadej Pogačar-beating intentions.

The first two stages saw the pair take one apiece, but on the stage three summit finish to Jebel Mobrah, Evenepoel began to fade, losing two minutes and his GC lead to winner Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and declaring afterwards: "I don't know what happened." Del Toro, however stayed strong and close to the race lead.

After two days of GC stalemate the Mexican added another stage and took the GC lead at Jebel Hafeet summit finish, while Evenepoel continued to languish among the also-rans, ultimately finishing 10th on GC.

The final report: a 'could do better' for Evenepoel; a gold star for Del Toro.

Tom Pidcock opens his account

With a win in the final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía, Tom Pidcock's tally for the year is off and running.

After a particularly successful round of results in last season's early stage races, the 26-year-old will be relieved to have been able to notch up a result here again.

“I think it’s great to get the pressure off and get the hands in the air early in the season in the first block of races," he said afterwards. "That’s definitely what we were working towards.”

It doesn't quite live up to last year's four wins in early stage races, but that's not the point. While he was second in Strade Bianche last year, Pidcock went the whole season without a WorldTour win while he settled into his new Q36.5 team, and he will be looking to correct that this year.

Juan Ayuso breaks the ice

Over at the Volta ao Algarve, Juan Ayuso was opening his account too, which will have gone down well with his new Lidl-Trek, who prised him from UAE Team Emirates-XRG last year mid-contract. Like Pidcock, Ayuso won the final stage, but the Spaniard enjoyed the added bonus of that victory also netting him the overall.

Like most of his rivals at the Volta al Algarve, who included old team-mate Joāo Almeida, Oscar Onley (Ineos Grenadiers) and Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM), Ayuso is focused on the summer Grand Tours (the Tour de France in the Spaniard's case). But this first ever win at Lidl-Trek is a great icebreaker and will alleviate some of the pressure going forward to the bigger race.

Away from the politics, Ineos Grenadiers looking positive

Politics and rash outbursts by their owner Jim Ratcliffe aside, Ineos Grenadiers are enjoying a start to the season that belongs right up there with some of their best years.

A time trial victory by an impressive-looking Filippo Ganna at the Volta ao Algarve brought the team's win tally to seven so far this year, all taken by a healthy variety of riders, including 20-year-old AJ August at the Vuelta Valenciana and new Aussie signing Sam Welsford in the Tour Down Under.

Add to that new signing Oscar Onley's second-place right behind Ayuso on the final stage at Algarve, and you have a team that is looking in great shape for the months to come – and potentially able once again to challenge for the podium at the Tour de France.

Paul Seixas seizes the day

The name Paul Seixas will be familiar to many already, despite his mere 19 years and the fact that until last week he was yet to win a professional race. As the winner of last year's Tour de l'Avenir though, the Decathlon CMA CGM rider already had plenty to show off.

His win on the cat-one climb to Foia at the Volta ao Algarve though, where he outsprinted Ayuso no less, was a watershed career moment for the Frenchman though, and he went on to finish an impressive second on the GC and take the youth classification. It was, said Seixas, "an almost perfect start to the season". These are results that bode well for Seixas's upcoming assault on hilly Classics, including Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Antonio Tiberi flew to his first ever WorldTour win on stage three of the UAE Tour on Wednesday, as race leader Remco Evenepoel lost over two minutes on the steep climb of Jebel Mobrah.

As a result, Bahrain Victorious's Tiberi climbed into the red leader's jersey. Stage one winner Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished second, but couldn't challenge Tiberi after he attacked with just over four kilometres to go.

After being out of position when the attack happened, Del Toro finished 15 seconds behind the victor, with former UAE Tour winner Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché) finishing third, a further 14 seconds back.

As well as Tiberi's first ever WorldTour win, it was also the first glory for Bahrain Victorious in 2026. Evenepoel, meanwhile, showed weakness for the first time this season.

"This is amazing," Tiberi said post-stage. "It's a dream come true. I've been dreaming to this kind of victory since I turned pro. It finally arrived after the beginning of the season was already good from the first race. I was waiting for this day. Only in the last 300 metres I felt the victory coming. But from the bottom of the climb, I was feeling very good.

"When I realised Remco [Evenepoel] was in trouble and Isaac Del Toro wasn't up there either. I wasn't sure if it was a good day for me or if they were waiting for the final. But I tried to do my race. I attacked and I managed to push as hard as possible till the finish. I was hearing that Del Toro was coming back really fast. In the last kilometre, I used all the energy that was remaining in my body and I went full gas till the finish."

"At the foot of the climb, I already had cramps coming on. Something I haven't experienced often. Maybe from yesterday's effort, which I hadn't fully digested," Evenepoel told Het Nieuwsblad after the race.

"When I had to drop, I had a really bad kilometre, but after that, I managed to get through it somewhat. I often have that at the start of the season on climbs like this, where I have a bit of a rough patch. But I didn't feel good in my legs today anyway."

"I definitely kept drinking, so [the heat] can't be the cause. I don't think I digested yesterday's exertion at all. I didn't have the best night either; I woke up from the heat. But ultimately, I can't make excuses."

With season's first tranche of competition already a memory, stage racing moved from Down Under to Europe and the Middle-East, with the Volta a la Communitat Valenciana and the UAE Tour Women – both featuring some of the peloton's biggest names. As we draw ever closer to the start of the European season's biggest races, with Opening Weekend taking place at the end of this month, we take a look at what these latest events have revealed.

1. Lorena Wiebes is still the rider to beat

If the Dutch sprint star had done anything other than win repeatedly at last week's UAE Tour Women, eyebrows would have been raised. In the event, the SD Worx-Pro Time rider did not disappoint, winning three out of four stages and only faltering (as expected) when the race tackled the storied Jebel Hafeet mountain-top finish on the final day – a stage won by Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ). As well as three stage wins, Wiebes made the points classification her own.

If any of the 26-year-old's rivals were hoping that she'd lost her touch over the winter, this sends the message that she certainly has not, and sets the tone for the forthcoming Classics season.

2. Zoe Bäckstedt is the rider to watch

The last race that Zoe Bäckstedt rode was the World Championships Under-23 time trial, which saw her finish her second full year as a top-tier pro with six victories – including the GC at the Baloise Tour in Belgium. At the UAE Tour – her first race of the season and Bäckstedt's debut in the event – suggests the Brit is ready to carry on where she left off, with a string of solid performances.

Still only 21, the Brit was second in the young rider classification, as well as taking third place on stage one behind Lorena Wiebes and Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ). She also took two further top-20 placings on stages.

3. Remco Evenepoel shows no sign of slowing down

A little way around the globe from where Lorena Wiebes was dominating one race, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was dominating another. With two stage wins from a possible five at the Volta a la Communitat Valenciana, and a 31-second GC victory over Grand Tour hitter João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), the Belgian took his victory tally for the year to six in just eight days' racing (the GC win does of course sit outside of those individual days).

"Day by day we get better," said Evenepoel after the race and, if that holds, we can expect to see more wins coming up at next week's UAE Tour, which is made up of at least 50% hilly days.

4. Most teams have a win – but a couple still have neither

It's only the beginning of February, and it has already been a fruitful year for the majority of WorldTour teams with 13 out of 18 men's teams and nine out of 14 women's teams registering victories so far.

However, that leaves five on each side still to record a win. They probably don't need to panic just yet – after all, it took Intermarché-Wanty until April to win last season. That said, Remco Evenepoel's lavish win tally is unlikely to ease the ire with which Soudal Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere regards his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe counterpart Ralf Denk for poaching his best rider.

In addition, both Uno-X Mobility and Picnic PostNL's men's or women's teams have yet to score, so they will be looking to change that as soon as possible.

5. British pair bare their teeth behind Grand Tour star

The Vuelta CV Feminas showed multiple Grand Tour stage winner Liane Lippert (Movistar) heading in the right direction to claim more big wins this year, after time trialling away from the front group in the final three kilometres of the Spanish one-day race. Sprinting home seconds behind in the large group that followed Lippert in were her team-mate Cat Ferguson in third (another great result after her win in the Trofeo Llucmajor) and Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) in fifth, for what is her best result so far this short season.

The King of the Belgians stands ready. They have booked out the Grand Place in Brussels for 1 August, the week after the Tour de France. Whoever are the most famous Belgian musicians of the moment, let's say it's still Gotye, have been scheduled.

This will all be needed, of course, for Remco Evenepoel's victory celebration after the 26-year-old returns home with his maillot jaune, fresh from winning the Tour, the first Belgian champion since Lucien Van Impe in 1976. Three wins from three for his new team, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, and the hype train is very much on the rails.

If this is a touch hyperbolic, remember how much weight and expectation there is on his slender, aerodynamic shoulders, as the first Belgian Grand Tour winner for generations, and one of a select bunch of feasible winners of the Tour this summer.

At a new team, backed by the might of Red Bull, a new level has been unlocked for Evenepoel, which was never quite there at Soudal Quick-Step. The super-domestiques, the sport science, the organisation, and the co-leader in Florian Lipowitz. This, combined with his natural talent, will likely mean more is to come, perhaps more consistency.

The new edge already seems to be there. Three races, three wins is Evenepoel's record for 2026 to date. Of course, this is qualified by the fact they came at Challenge Mallorca, which could be seen as a cross between a warm-up and serious racing, but they are still elite events. He has won everything put in front of him so far, what more could he do?

Bigger challenges will come this week, at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana stage race, and then the UAE Tour later in February. If the momentum continues there, then the hype will too. It's easy to think that life would be easier for him if he was another nationality, rather than the superstar he automatically is in Belgium.

Of course, none of this means he will win the Tour de France this summer. There is the TTT and an individual time trial, but an obstacle called Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) stands in the way, as well as Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who will be coming off the Giro d'Italia. Even if he rides a perfect race, the pair have in the past seemed like a step above. It isn't too much of a stretch, though, to picture the Red Bull rider on the second step.

The Tour is still the "dream", he told Eurosport this week.

"When I was little, the only races I watched were [Tour of] Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and the Tour de France," he said. "It was one of the only races I knew.

"I won the Vuelta a España, and I was in a good position to win the Giro d'Italia. There are signs that it's possible to win the Tour one day.

"It's my dream, I will do everything to achieve it, to win it. I'll make many sacrifices."

Evenepoel is still just 26, and appears to be growing, discovering more about himself as a rider. Now finally at a super-team, things could click for him, and allow him to find a new level. Two years younger than Pogačar, three than Vingegaard, there is still time for him to reach the very top.

I do think, perhaps not controversially, that if someone not called Tadej Pogačar is to win the Tour de France this summer, it will be Evenepoel, not Vingegaard. The latter has a distraction in the Giro, something the former does not.

2025's race might not have gone the way he dreamed, however, on the small moments that bike races spin, it's plausible that Evenepoel could benefit; it can't always be Pogačar. Obviously, the Slovenian remains the favourite, but there's an understudy ready to shine in the wings.

"I hope one day to be able to compete alongside him, and maybe even one day be at the front," Evenepoel said modestly this week.

Three wins in January do not make a season, you only have to look at those who have struggled to convert Tour Down Under success to European glory in recent years, but it is a statement of intent.

Perhaps it's worth putting down a deposit on the Grand Place, just in case. Even if it isn't the yellow jersey, big things are on the horizon for Red Bull's Belgian star. We should believe the hype.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

January is finished with and the scores on the doors are in. We've had a good look at the runners and riders in races across the globe from the Tour Down Under to the Trofeo Mallorca and all points in-between, and they have turned up some interesting – and enticing results.

They won't necessarily enable us to predict the winner of this year's biggest races, but they do at least hint at who has come out of the blocks with momentum, who might be biding their time, and more.

1. Remco Evenepoel means business

Having moved teams from his long-time home at Soudal Quick-Step to Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, the Belgian has wasted no time in getting some first places on the board. He is currently sitting on a 100% record, having won two of the Mallorcan races – the Trofeos Andratx-Pollenca and Serra Tramuntana, as well as the Ses Salines team time trial.

In both individual wins, crossed the line solo, and in the case of Serra Tramuntana after a 50km solo effort. When 2026 is done and dusted, it's unlikely these races will be the ones Evenepoel will be celebrating the most, but they will have given the Belgian and his team a confidence-boosting running start to the year.

2. Matthew Brennan brimming with confidence – and defiance

Having already taken a first and a second at the Tour Down Under – as well as second in the young rider classification, up and coming Britain Matthew Brennan is clearly determined to build on the successes of last season, when he launched himself at the WorldTour with a string of victories.

He also appears to have carried plenty of confidence across the off-season too and, when he finished second again, this time at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Sunday behind Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM), he laid the blame at the feet of a confusing 300m to go sign:

"300m sign looks the same as 200," he protested on X, explaining on the team website: "Unfortunately I launched my sprint about a hundred metres too early. That was a misjudgment."

3. Human Powered Health have already beaten their 2025 pro win record

At the beginning of the new season, anything is possible. Every team wants to go one better than the year before, achieve new aims and goals. Leading the way on that front is surely the Human Powered Health team. Thanks to Maggie Coles-Lyster's victory at the Santos Tour Down Under one-dayer have already surpassed last year's achievements, at least in terms of pro wins.

Last year Thalita De Jongh's win in the Trofeo Binissalem-Andratx in Mallorca was the team's only pro victory, and it was rated UCI 1.1 – lower than the Santos TDU's 1.Pro rating. It seems a little soon after the off-season to be opening the Champagne, but we wouldn't be surprised if corks were popping that evening.

4. UAE sitting pretty on top

With seven victories and a couple of handfuls of top-fives under their belts already, both the men's and women's teams at the UAE stable are already sitting pretty at the top of the UCI's team rankings for 2026. It's a defiant counter-response, perhaps, to the success of Remco Evenepoel and a reminder that UAE's Slovenian talisman is waiting menacingly in the wings.

The men's team, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has seen wins at the Tour Down Under, thanks to new Aussie road champion Jay Vine, and at the AlUla Tour, where Jan Christen scored a final-day triumph after grabbing a sticky bottle only the day before.

On the women's side, UAE Team ADQ netted a double victory at the Challenge Mallorca thanks to Karlijn Swinkels and double Tour de France Femmes stage winner Maeva Squiban.

5. Wollaston's best ever start

Rivalling Remco Evenepoel in the 'flying start' stakes is Ally Wollaston of FDJ United-Suez. You could even argue that the 25-year-old Kiwi has outdone Evenepoel, for the three races she has won already are all WorldTour ranked. In fact the stats currently show she has won 75% of all the WWT events so far this season, thanks to a double stage win in the Tour Down Under and victory in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. That only leaves one stage and the overall of the TDU – and she even took the points classification there for good measure. It's the best start to a season she's had yet.

Wollaston looks to be building on the "bit of belief" that last season's achievements gave her, but said: "I'm still feeling my way through the races and working out what works for me and what doesn't."

Remco Evenepoel stormed to victory for the second consecutive day on Friday, winning the Trofeo Selva – Santuari de Lluc at Challenge Mallorca.

The Belgian won on Thursday at the Trofeo Ses Salines team time trial with his new Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team, and won again in his first road race for the squad.

Evenepoel attacked on the Coll de Sóller with around 56km to go, and ended up leaving everyone else behind. He took Adrìa Pericas (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) with him initially, but then dropped the pair on the descent, having sped past the day's break.

In the sprint for second, António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won, almost two minutes behind the victor, ahead of Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team) in third.

"I'm very happy with this second victory," Evenepoel said on TV post-race. "It's great to start like this with a new team."

"It was a beautiful day and I'm glad I was able to execute the plan we discussed this morning."

"[It's] good for morale," he continued. "This gives a lot of motivation to the whole team and to myself too. Things look good for the future. Hopefully we can continue this momentum.

"It was a difficult course. There was a lot of up and down, which left little time to recover. That last climb was also very tough.

"It is a beautiful race and also one that is tough enough to make a difference."

Evenepoel returns to action on Sunday in the Trofeo Andratx-Pollença, after three races in Mallorca: "We'll see how my legs feel then. Three out of three would be nice. It's definitely a team goal to win again. We'll do our best."

"It's the new cycling," Scaroni said post-race. "When Tadej [Pogačar] or Remco are in the race, you never expect where they can attack. When he attacked, I was a bit behind, I tried to reply, I was really close to close the gap, but he was too strong for me."

Remco Evenepoel won on his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe debut on Thursday, as the team were victorious in the team time trial at the Trofeo Ses Salines.

The seven-man squad, which included Florian Lipowitz as well, were the penultimate team off, and despite being behind Jayco AlUla and Movistar at the intermediate checkpoint, beat both at the finish. Movistar were second, 3.7 seconds behind, with Jayco a further 13 seconds back.

Red Bull completed the 23.8km at an average speed of 59.7km/h. The one-day race, part of the Challenge Mallorca, was made a TTT in preparation for stage one of this year's Tour de France in Barcelona, which will also be a TTT. Alongside Evenepoel and Lipowitz, the team was made up of Nico Denz, Maxim Van Gils, Gianni Moscon, Lorenzo Finn and Mattia Cattaneo.

The result was a good sign for that first opportunity for the yellow jersey at the Tour. One of the other big contenders for that opening day TTT, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, finished fourth, 19 seconds behind Red Bull.

"It was pretty good," Evenepoel, who joined Red Bull from Soudal Quick-Step over the winter, said. "It was not a hard course in terms of elevation, but a TTT is always pretty tough, pretty hard. We had a pretty structured plan and it turned out well, so I think we have to be happy. We knew the way back was going to be most important with the headwind and the small kicker, at 3km to go, so we knew we wanted to make a big difference there, and I think we did. We're very happy with it, and it's nice to start the new season with a win, and also with a new team, it's good for morale.

"Everybody knew that we were going to go really paced until that u-turn, and then we had about 13km to go so we knew we had to go flat out until the climb and then on the climb. Well, false flat. We just went as fast as possible and winning is winning. It was a really fast TTT and I think we did it perfect.

"Every parcours is different so it's always difficult to say what we could improve on. I think what we did today was close to perfection for this TTT, I think we handled the critical situation well. Nico Denz was on a strong day, he did some strong pulls, and I think everyone did what they did. For today it was close to perfect."

Last year, Red Bull's head of engineering, Dan Bigham, told CW: "We haven’t mastered it yet, but there’s plenty of work to be done, and I think we will improve him. I hope we’ll improve him."

Remco Evenepoel’s transfer from Soudal-QuickStep to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe was one of the biggest talking points of late last season, but it wasn’t surprising given the ongoing tension and public disagreements with team owner Patrick Lefevere. Evenepoel left his former team one year ahead of schedule at the end of 2025 but was only recently able to show off his new team colours and bike due to contract obligations that terminated at the end of December.

For Evenepoel, 2025 was a season to forget, marked by a series of injury setbacks that culminated in a premature exit from the Tour de France. While there were some glimmers of form, including his time-trial win on stage 5 around Caen, he struggled in the high mountains and subsequently abandoned the race.

Of all the riders in the peloton, Evenpoel's bike has always stood out as a veritable head-turner, a celebration of winning both the road race and time trial at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. As tradition dictates, and as Richard Carapaz and Greg van Avermaet before him, the Olympic champion’s bike will always feature a golden theme running throughout the design. While Evenpoel’s Soudal-QuickStep bike was a pure gold number, his new whip is a far more refined one and represents more of a subtle homage to his achievements.

As has become the theme for Specialized-sponsored teams, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe turned to Lumarcolors to customise Remco’s bike, and they’ve done an exquisite job. It still adheres to the team’s design DNA but uses gold more subtly than before. As a result, there’s some beautiful gold leaf applied to the main Red Bull logo on the headtube with smaller accents around the seatpost, saddle shell, and lower fork, not to mention the SRAM decals, chain, and cassette.

Closer inspection also reveals some golden keyline wordmarks on the frame, applied as a water transfer. It looks superb, very classy. The tyre tanwalls also align with the gold theme and complement the overall aesthetics.

The big change for Remco this season comes from the groupset, which is supplied by SRAM, rather than Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, as with Soudal-QuickStep. As a result, his S-Works Tarmac SL8 is built around a SRAM Red AXS groupset, complete with 165mm cranks and 52/39T, 10-33T gearset. The balance of the build features the usual Specialized and Roval bits, including a set of Roval Rapide CLX III wheels wrapped in 28mm Specialized Turbo Cotton TLR, a Specialized S-Works Power Evo with Mirror saddle, and a K-Edge computer mount.

• Frameset: S-Works Tarmac SL8 Fact 12r Carbon
• Fork: S-Works Fact 12r Carbon
• Cockpit: Roval Rapide
• Seatpost: S-Works Tarmac SL8 Carbon
• Groupset: SRAM Red AXS 52/39T, 10-33T
• Wheelset: Roval Rapide CLX III
• Tyres: Specialized Turbo Cotton TLR 28mm
• Saddle: Specialzied S-Works Power Evo with Mirror

Specialized has today launched a new race kit in partnership with Red Bull–Bora–hansgrohe, and both claim to have gone further than most brands in the pursuit of performance gains.

Rather than simply tweaking colours and logos, it says it's completely reengineered the kit from the ground up. The headline result? According to Specialized, it’s some 25 watts faster.

Taken at face value, that’s astonishing. It’s also a hell of a press release number – the kind that makes you sit up, spit out your coffee, and read on. Which, of course, is exactly what it’s designed to do. Big wattage claims are marketing gold in cycling, but they’re also worth a little gentle interrogation.

To put that 25-watt figure into context, last year Cyclingnews put the Cervélo S5 in the wind tunnel. It was the fastest aero bike the site has ever tested with a rider onboard, and it was found to be some 27.6 watts faster than the baseline bike. That baseline, it should be noted, was a ten-year-old rim-brake road bike they happened to have lying around. In other words: about as aerodynamic as my Christmas belly is today, after ten days of mince pies and round-the-clock snacking.

The idea that a jersey alone could deliver 25 watts of savings is, by any reasonable measure, impressive.

Now, before you sprint to the nearest Specialized concept store, it’s worth clarifying what’s actually being claimed. The 25-watt figure applies when comparing the new team race jersey to Specialized’s SL jersey, not to last year’s team kit. If you currently ride in a 2025 pro issue team jersey, you’re likely saving around five watts on the ride home wearing the new version.

Still, in a sea of recent pro team kit launches where many have opted for just new colours or a new supplier altogether, five watts is not to be sniffed at. In fact, taken on its own, it’s a genuinely impressive and far more relevant claim.

The claimed performance gains come courtesy of Specialized’s proprietary SlipLayer aero fabric, which they say is custom-woven for maximum aerodynamic performance and arranged in a “kinetic pattern that moves like a second skin”. We’ve also spotted some clever trips on the sleeves, seemingly designed to work with the rider in position rather than simply running parallel to the arms.

A reduction in panels and seams suggests the fabric’s ability to conform closely to the rider’s shape has been improved and, therefore, further exploited than in the outgoing version.

Taken together, these details add up. This is the modern approach to aerodynamics: marginal gains delivered through incremental changes to cut, fabric, seam placement, and surface texture that combine into something far more meaningful overall. We’ve seen the same philosophy play out in frame design over the last season or two – notwithstanding Factor’s more revolutionary design in their One platform – and it’s encouraging to see that level of detail and incremental work applied to clothing.

Coming full circle to that original headline claim, what’s genuinely interesting here is the broader implication. Fit, cut, seams, fabric choice, and sleeve treatment clearly have a huge impact on aero performance.

The SL jersey – the one against which the big numbers in the headline are measured – is a decent balance of forgiving-ish fit, practicality and high performance for most of us, and is actually similar to the “standard fit” jerseys many riders will already own. If you’re interested in big aero gains, maybe you’ve even shelled out on an aero bike or deep-section wheels, but you’re still riding a versatile jersey like the SL, this may well be the nudge you need to grab something specialist and dump some serious watts.

There is another caveat, however. Specialized also understands that not all of us are honed, 60kg racing snakes. That’s very important in this slippery context.

That doesn’t mean there’s no fun to be had. Some riders simply want the look, especially when the race version may not fit – or function – particularly well in the real world.

With that in mind, Specialized has also launched a replica version for the full-kit fan. It’s nearly as technical and shares the same performance aims, so you can expect a close fit, though it makes no aero-performance claims of its own. It features a knowingly stretch-fitted front panel, a breathable back, and an extra pocket for your phone or spare tube, bringing the total to three. It also offers SPF30 sun protection, which the pro-race version notably does not.

So yes: the race version - that the team wore when it launched a glider in a publicity stunt last year - is definitely faster than your old baked-bean-era jerseys, and Specialized says it’s 25 watts faster than the already excellent SL jersey, so there’s big gains to be made there. If you’re lucky enough to fit it.

If you are already running the outgoing team kit and want to upgrade to the latest design to match Remco Evenepoel's exact kit, we expect the new one to be around 5 watts faster.

The main takeaway? Team kits are loads of fun, and if you’re chasing aerodynamic gains, a closely fitting, aero optimised race jersey may well be a bigger upgrade than an aero bike, and at a fraction of the cost.

If it was silly season last week, we're most certainly in the pre-Christmas party season this week. Remco Evenepoel reprises his role as the unlikely face of Pizza Hut in Belgium as they celebrate their 30th anniversary, and Alison Jackson turns 37 with a new team behind her.

The story of the week might have been Ineos Grenadier's new kit. Dismayed at the risky white shorts ("let's hope it doesn't rain"), upset at the slight differentiation in shades of white between the shorts and the jersey, or simply irked by the bright-orange tone of the jersey (a far cry from the stylish red gradience of seasons past) - whatever you think of the kit (maybe you like it, even) it has divided the internet.

But aside from this latest hot-topic, here are the other internet fragments that have made their way into our weekly round up, in the run-up to Christmas.

1. How prompt are the Visma-Lease a Bike riders for their 10:15 training ride? Victor Campenaerts arrives running just before the clocks ticks over into ‘late’ and Wout van Aert rolls in with three minutes to go, but who’s the tardiest of them all? For habitual late-runners like me, one Insta comment asks the real question we measure our timings by: ‘what time does the group ride leave?’

2. How to get through a soggy ride: The Visma-Lease a Bike social media elves are really delivering the festive goods this week.

3. Lest we forget we are in the midst of cyclo-cross season. It’s a discipline not for the weak willed, but sometimes, you’ve just got to take a break. ‘Cyclocross is fun. We promise,’ Scottish Cycling captions the video - entries are still open for the last round of the National Trophy Series in Irvine.

4. Mathieu van der Poel power washes his gold car after winning the fourth round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Namur, Belgium: ‘job done’

5. Remco Evenepoel is also celebrating this week - just not a race this time (though he is dressed in his cycling garb). He’s celebrating something arguably even more delicious than the glory of victory - a big margherita pizza.

6. It truly is party season in the cycling world, with candle-mounted pizzas and now Alison Jackson’s birthday celebration with new team, St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 (prev. EF Education-Oatly). Happy 37th Ali!

7. Sarah Ruggins received the Guiness World Record certificate for the fastest return from Land’s End to John-O-Groats by bicycle by a woman this week. ‘Alongside my PhD, this is the most I’ve ever paid - emotionally, financially, physically - for a piece of paper,’ she says, while thanking the Lejogle team, sponsors and dot-watchers for the love that propelled her forwards.

8. Bicycle ear; bicycle back; bicycle arm; foot; hand; ‘deadly bicycle heart’; kidney and - of course - ‘all have heard about the bicycle face, and now it is said there is a new ailment resulting from devotion to the silent steed [...] the bicycle eye.’ These newspaper clippings shows our penchant for hypochondria - and our wariness of the bicycle.

9. If this drizzle continues, the fair weather cyclists among us will be getting in some indoor training sessions over the Christmas period, though squeezing the trainer into a house full of in-laws may be the least of your problems.

10. As investment for sustainable infrastructure dwindles both at home and abroad, this Toronto based creator muses on urban planning, nature and in this short video, the impact of prioritising road building.

The Olympic motto is pretty straightforward: “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. Well, technically, it’s had “Together” added to the end of it, but it doesn’t really change the meaning of the phrase, inaugurated at the first modern event, in 1894. It sounds a bit like an early version of Radiohead’s Fitter Happier, but it was supposed to encapsulate the Olympic ideal.

Often, it feels like the route designers of the men’s Grand Tours are trying to live up to Pierre de Coubertin’s motto, and somehow make their race harder every year. There’s something almost masochistic about how routes are designed, announced and marketed, as if what fans want is for riders to break themselves over three weeks.

Next year’s Tour de France, for example, might build slowly, but has the brutal final week culminating in two Alpe d’Huez finishes; its over 54,000m of elevation is there as a badge of honour. We don’t know the route of the 2026 Vuelta a España yet, but this year’s race counted 12 stages out of 21 with over 3,000 metres of climbing, and nine summit finishes.

It would not be strange to expect, then, that the 2026 Giro d’Italia would follow this format. The Italian race is often the most predictable of the three Grand Tours, with its back-loaded trip around the Alps and Dolomites setting up a grandstand finish. The 2025 edition had four mountain stages in five days in the final week, all part of 53,250 metres of climbing.

It turns out that this is not the menu that RCS and Giro director Mauro Vegni has for everyone in May. To call the route easy would be laughable, obtuse, but it certainly has been designed to look easier. There is 8% less elevation gain, from 53,250 metres to 49,150, and while there are seven summit finishes, only two of them are ranked as five-out-of-five difficulty by the organisers. Stage 19 in the Dolomites is a sop to those who demand masochism, with 5,000m of elevation in 152km, and six classified climbs including the Passo Giau, but it’s surrounded by relatively kinder days. 2026 will be just the third edition in the last 10 with less than 50,000m of elevation.

This is obviously not how the Giro has been sold, or will be marketed. The elevation has been rounded up and trumpeted, and the soundbites are all about how exciting and emotional the race will be. However, a slightly easier course is no bad thing.

The truth is, the Giro knows that it is secondary to the Tour in terms of stage race objectives, and it has to play into that. To attract the biggest names, those that will likely be in France in July, they have to make a race that doesn’t break riders, that makes it more plausible for a tilt at both. That’s why it’s a route which doesn’t have a traditional final week of just going up mountains, and things are more spaced out. It’s not something the organisers have been quiet about, either, with Mauro Vegni telling Cyclingnews that he hoped Jonas Vingegaard would come.

There is the trio of difficult GC stages in the opening week, and a 40km-long time trial, but there are also potentially eight sprint stages. Sometimes, moderation is needed. This is not a route which Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) would balk at, and neither is it a turn-off for Remco Evenepoel (soon to be Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

What RCS and the Giro really needs, is a clash of the big names, not just dominance from a single rider, as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) so ably demonstrated in 2024. With a route acting as a lure, perhaps they’ll get their wish. That said, often the best racing is when a collection of similar-matched riders lock horns, as happened this season with Simon Yates vs Isaac del Toro vs Richard Carapaz. It’s not all about the biggest names.

It is refreshing to see a route which isn’t just about how much torture the riders can be put through – it is up to the riders themselves to create the torture through how they race the roads. There is variety here, from short, sharp mountain days to a stage, which at 246km, is 42km longer than the longest Tour stage in 2026. There’s a mix.

The Giro benefits from not having to attempt to Pogačar-proof its course, as the Tour has done – the Slovenian is unlikely to do both again in 2026 – but it still has to be clever, play the game. I’m looking forward to May already, and a Giro which is dynamic, not one which waits for final week fireworks. Let’s hope RCS get their dream of a start list.

Faster, higher, stronger isn’t always possible, but that doesn’t mean the race will be any less exciting.

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

With little opportunity for other riders to take the fight to Tadej Pogačar, as well as two ascents of a least favourite climb, "underwhelmed" is the first word Ned Boulting uses to describe his feelings about the route of the Tour de France 2026.

The broadcaster is preparing to shadow the race – and the Tour de France Femmes – next year with his former ITV co-presenters David Millar and Pete Kennaugh, as well as Lizzie Deignan, on their Never Strays Far podcast.

Boulting was impressed with the way the men's race was bookended, he said, welcoming the addition of new team time trial rules on stage one, and the inclusion of the Montmartre circuit in Paris – plus its longer stretch to the finish line.

But he lamented the lack of 'jeopardy' stages and the lack of a flat time trial that might give riders such as Remco Evenepoel any hope of taking on Pogačar.

Speaking about the 26km ITT on stage 16 – which is the only individual time trial and one dominated by the 9.7km, 4.3% climb over the Cote de Larringes – Boulting said: "It sounds really counter-intuitive, after years of railing against exactly this," he said, "but I now yearn for the time when you had a sort of 50, 60-kilometre flat individual time trial.

"And I think Remco Evenepoel will be rightfully pretty disappointed that he hasn't been thrown an incentive to come to the Tour de France and ride for the victory, because the sort of rider who's going to thrive on that individual time trial is called Tadej, and Pogačar.

"I mean, it does look like a course that, even if he turns up half-fit, he can't lose," he surmised.

2024's gravel stage around Troyes was one of the most spectacular stages of the race, but there is no repeat of the rough stuff and no obvious crosswind stages either Boulting notes.

"There's no cobblestones, no obvious crosswind stages, and no gravel. That's three things that we've grown accustomed to over the last 15 years," he says. "They have denuded this year, and that feels a little bit disappointing as well."

Of Alpe d'Huez, he adds: "I understand it's central to the way that the Tour de France markets itself to the world, but it doesn't necessarily produce great racing. And I sometimes think it shows the race off at its worst. To do it twice seems a bit much."

Two ascents of the mountain are featured, one on stages 19 and 20. The first time up is the standard climb, coming at the end of a short 128km day; while the second uses the Col de Sarenne to leapfrog almost to the top of the climb before turning onto the road already familiar to many of us.

While, he's no fan of Alpe d'Huez per se, Boulting reckons the brevity of stage 19 could make for some exciting race, while the brutal route of stage 20, which includes the Croix de Fer and Galibier, as well as an interesting approach to Alpe d'Huez, could be interesting.

"It's the fact it's not just this 13-kilometre climb," he says. "You've got a little right-hand turn that brings you on to the last few kilometres of the climb [of Alpe d'Huez]. But you've got a descent before that, and a bit of a plateau. And before that the Sarenne climb, which itself isn't hard once you've been over the Galibier. So it's just, it's more interesting. And if, if a small group gets over the Galibier together, then we've got a really good battle on our hands, potentially for the stage win."

Of the good bits, Boulting praises the Barcelona Grand Départ and the new team time trial rules, which see rider times taken individually rather than on the fifth rider.

"I think the rule change adds an extra layer of interest, because there's no one set way in which teams will play their cards," he says. "You know, there's a slight nuance in it."

And of the repeat visit to Montmartre, copying last year's 'special' Paris finish to celebrate 50 years of finishes on the Champs-Elysées, Boulting adds: This time last year, I was bemoaning the change from the traditional Champs-Elysées circuit. And I hold my hands up, I was completely wrong. I thought the Montmartre circuit worked brilliantly last summer. And I'm not surprised that they've included it again.

"I'm pleased that they've altered it slightly just to put it slightly back in the balance as to whether or not a sprinter could win it," he adds, alluding to the extra Champs-Elysées circuit thrown in after the final Montmartre climb this year.

In lieu of the ITV coverage he has been a part of for more than 20 years and which will be much missed next year, Boulting and his team will be following the Tour instead with their Never Strays Far this summer, producing what he terms "Tour-adjacent chat" – all live, it should be noted.

"What we're going to do, and this is the fascination of it," he enthuses, "is we might go to the odd stage start potentially, or kilometre zero, but we're not going to go near any of the finish lines.

"Every stage, we're going to set up somewhere interesting, somewhere relatively unknown, somewhere slightly low-key and somewhere very authentic in the middle of each course that perhaps has a little bit of interesting culture or history associated around it, and where the mayor will welcome us into the local village square and feed us with champagne and local produce."

"And we'll do these live broadcasts every race day, which are not commentary, but they are Tour de France adjacent chat. Let's put it that way."

Another weekend, another dominant victory for Tadej Pogačar. The previous weekend it had been the World Championships, now, clad in his renewed rainbow bands, the Slovenian stormed to the win in the road race at the European Championships.

There are almost 6,000km between Kigali, Rwanda, where the first triumph happened, and Valence, France where the latest conquest took place, but it was much the same. At the Worlds, Pogačar had attacked at 104km to go and was alone from 66km; at the Euros, he went alone with 75km to go. This is cycling by numbers stuff. Pogačar attacks, and the best riders in the world can't catch him.

It helped the déjà vu nature of Sunday that Remco Evenepoel of Belgium finished second once again, clearly the next best thing, but quite clearly next best, not best. That only belongs to Pogačar. When he attacked on the third ascent of the Côte de Saint Romain de Lerps, that was game over, no matter the fact there was still almost two hours of racing to go.

Solo victories are seemingly more common than ever in men’s cycling, and Pogačar is an expert at them. Across his career, the Slovenian has had 17 victories where he has gone alone from over 20km out. When there is a incohesive group chasing a solo attacker, especially when that man is one of the best time triallists in the world, things favour the rider in front. Evenepoel, with France's Paul Seixas, Spain's Juan Ayuso and Italy's Christian Scaroni chasing, just couldn't bring the gap down. Seixas finished third, an impressive result for a 19-year-old.

"I find myself in the front and I tried to keep a good gap around one minute. It was a comfortable gap. I don't think it was super dominant," Pogačar said post-race. "Remco was chasing me and I couldn't give up until the finish line. I had to push really, really hard. I'm happy it's over and another title."

He continued: "Obviously we knew that the race would be the hardest on the third climb. They started to attack on the second time and we started to lose some teammates. Domen [Novak] and Matevz [Govekar] were still going really strong to keep everything together.

"On the third lap I saw there was four or five Belgians and I was alone, so it was better to be on the attack than together with too many guys who can attack you, so I tried and I succeeded."

This race had been billed as the big match-up between Evenepoel, Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark, a rare opportunity to see the Grand Tour big three in action against each other in a one-day race. However, Vingegaard was one of the 80 riders who were unable to finish the attritional circuit race in the Ardèche. Evenepoel tried to match the world champion, but couldn't keep up.

"It was the first time I could follow his attack for so long, and I didn't get blown away, so that was positive," Evenepoel told Het Nieuwsblad. "But if I want to beat him in the future, I have to work on this kind of effort. Going really hard for those three to five minutes on a climb."

"How can I improve on that? Luckily, I'm changing teams, and it's up to my new coach to fix that," he continued. "I worked on it this summer, and in recent weeks and months, I feel like I'm getting better. It's important to train for that this winter as well. I think the wattage data from this race will be very interesting for my coach to analyse. He'll then have to decide what kind of training I should do. Because if I want to beat Pogačar in the future, I have to improve."

This is just normal now – Pogačar can and will attack from far out and power to victory. The shock that came with solo forays of old has faded as we become used to the Slovenian's powers. It's just what he does. Next up is Il Lombardia on Saturday, and who would bet against Pogačar winning that? Not me.

You’ve probably heard of the phrase ‘once in a blue moon’. It refers to a lunar phenomenon, one that happens rarely and unpredictably, where the moon appears extra full, and it leaves astronomers giddy with joy. Every two to three years, they’ll look up at the sky and marvel at the sight. They’ll then go to bed, close their eyes, and wonder how long it will be before they feel the excitement again.

Well, if any of those astronomers are cycling fans, they’re in for an even rarer treat this Sunday. Not since 20 April 2022 have they seen the planets align in this way. Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, for the first time since Flèche Wallonne three and a half years ago, will start a one-day race together. Statistically speaking, it’s a happening more uncommon than a blue moon.

The European Road Championships road races tend to pass by unnoticed in the post-World Championships hangover, but this year only a fool would miss them. Taking place in the southeast of France, this year's edition brings bonafide Classics; on Sunday, the men will tackle 202km with 3,306m elevation set over punchy climbs, while the women on Saturday face 116km with over 1,500m of climbing.

Both, too, have the start lists to match. Demi Vollering (Netherlands), Marlen Reusser (Switzerland), Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) headline the women’s race. While the men’s equivalent, the championships' curtain closer, brings a triple threat for the ages. And there’s still plenty at stake.

Take Evenepoel, for example. At 25 years old, the Belgian has won almost every major title in cycling. He did the Olympic double last year, has four rainbow jerseys split across the road race and time trial, and has won in both disciplines across his National Championships, too.

This past Tuesday, Evenepoel claimed his first elite European title in the time trial, leaving him with just one more accolade to complete the set: the European Championships road race. It's no wonder, then, that last week he said this Sunday's race is his “biggest goal of the year after the Tour”.

If Evenepoel is to win, he’ll have to beat Pogačar, the man he finished runner-up to a week prior in Rwanda. The last time the Belgian won a road race that both he and Pogačar finished was the World Championships in Australia in 2022. In the three years since, Evenepoel has dominated against the clock, while Pogačar has won at will on the road. Still, this will be only Pogačar’s second appearance at the European Championships, having placed 5th in 2021.

And then there’s the mystifying presence of Vingegaard. The Dane is one of the greatest Grand Tour racers of his generation, but he’s an unproven enigma in single day events. The fact he’s racing the European Championships at all is a surprise in itself; over the last three seasons, he’s only done one – yes, one – one-day race, and that was last year’s Clásica San Sebastián, which he abandoned before the finish. Prior to that, his one-day results read: 16th, Il Lombardia (2022); DNF, Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2022); DNF, Flèche Wallonne (2022); 1st, Drôme Classic (2022). It’s a patchy record to say the least.

There's a big question mark over what to expect from Vingegaard on Sunday, and that’s part of the intrigue. Will he lead Denmark, in the absence of the unwell Mads Pedersen, or will Mattias Skjelmose take the reins? I’m sure Pogačar and Evenepoel don’t need to be reminded of the last time they came to a finish with the Lidl-Trek rider (psst, Amstel Gold Race).

So whatever you’re doing this weekend, cancel your plans. A blue moon is coming, and it’s bound to be an awe-inspiring sight.

How do you make the best even better? That’s the conundrum Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe face as they prepare to welcome Remco Evenepoel for next season. And they’re confident they’ll succeed.

On Wednesday, the Belgian dominated the time trial at the European Road Championships, adding a fourth major title to the national, world and Olympic honours he already owns. If the golden helmet and rainbow jersey aren’t telling enough of the 25-year-old’s stronghold in the discipline, then his one-minute winning margins are clear as day.

Still, tasked with making Evenepoel faster, and turning him into a Tour de France contender, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe's performance team say there are gains to be found.

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“Obviously he’s not joined the team yet, but you get ideas of why he’s coming, and he’s coming to challenge himself, and us by association,” Jonny Wale, the team’s technical performance manager, told Cycling Weekly.

“He wants to improve, he doesn’t want to stay where he is. He’s going to buy in, hopefully, to our philosophy of continual development, because that’s what he sees in his future. He’s an aspirational guy, and he knows that he’s not at the level he wants to be now, but hopefully, with our processes, we can bring him up.”

At the head of Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s engineering team is Dan Bigham, an aerodynamics expert and Olympic silver medallist. Both Bigham and Wale previously worked together at Ineos Grenadiers, where they helped lead Filippo Ganna's bid to shelf the UCI Hour Record.

Their next project revolves around Evenepoel, who spent the last seven years with Soudal Quick-Step, and will join the pair in the wind tunnel this off-season.

“I think it’s scary,” said Bigham, “to bring in the Olympic champion, a three-time world champion… where do you go from there? But it comes back to trusting everything about the process.

“Just because he’s achieved performance doesn’t mean everything’s perfect, and I think you have to accept that. That has to be your base premise: he is flawed in how he’s done things – everybody is, we’re definitely not near perfection yet. Therefore there is more performance to be found.

“We haven’t mastered it yet, but there’s plenty of work to be done, and I think we will improve him. I hope we’ll improve him. It’s a scary thing, for sure, but I think we can’t be afraid of changing some aspects of what he does, or how he does things, because as long as you trust everything about your models, your process, then it’s completely justified. Hopefully we make him even more outrageous than he already is.”

It’s the same approach that Bigham and Wale, now heading into their second season with Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, apply to all the riders they test.

“You don’t treat Remco any differently than you treat anybody else,” said Wale. “Maybe he’s going to probably get more financial resources put into his project, which is deserved, but how we work and how we want to work going forwards is the same from the U19s all the way up to your Remcos. We’re a team. What we do isn’t just for one guy.”

“We want to win with everybody,” Bigham stressed. “We want do podium lockouts, stack the top 10s, just be dominant.” Evenepoel is one piece, albeit a big one, of that puzzle.

New time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel added another medal to his 2025 tally with an emphatic victory in the UEC Road European Championship time trial.

He left runner-up Filippo Ganna trailing by 43 seconds over the 24km course in southern France, with Niklas Larsen of Denmark taking third place 1:08 behind the winner.

It underlines his dominance in time trials following his recent win at the Kigali World Championships, where he caught and passed Tadej Pogačar.

Britain's Ethan Hayter was fourth and fellow countryman Josh Tarling fifth at one and two seconds behind Larsen respectively.

On a largely flat course beginning at Loriol-sur-Drôme and marked only by a small climb to the finish at Étoile-sur-Rhône, Belgium's Evenepoel perched head and shoulders above all comers.

Within seven kilometres he had caught and passed minute man Stefan Küng – who knows what the Swiss time trial specialist thought when he saw Evenpoel fly by.

He said afterwards: "I'm super happy to take another title... the wind was pretty strong, always on the head or a little bit on the side, so it was really difficult sometimes to control the bike and to take the corner properly, but I think we managed everything well.

He said he would now double down for an attempt on Sunday's road race, planning to do a recon in the next day or two.

"There is a bit more time in between the events, so tomorrow I'm going to rest and then have some good training here, and I hope to be ready for Sunday," he said.

The course should have suited double world TT champion Ganna, but the Italian was unable to match Evenepoel at any of the three time checks, the gap between the two slowly drawing out to what was a strong win for the Belgian.

It was a good course for Tarling too – himself a former European time trial champion – as well as his three-time national champion British team-mate Hayter. Tarling was, in fact, third through the first two checks, but both Larsen and Hayter finished strongly to nudge him down into fifth.

Belgium also enjoyed success earlier in the day when Evenepoel's young team-mate Jonathan Vervenne triumphed in the men's under-23 time trial, held over the same course. In the men's junior event, the glory went to Michiel Mouris of the Netherlands.

Results

Elite men's UEC Road European Championships time trial

1. Remco Evenepoel (Gbr), 24km in 28:26
2. Filippo Ganna (Ita), +43s
3. Niklas Larsen (Den), +1:08
4. Ethan Hayter (Gbr), +1:09
5. Josh Tarling (Gbr), +1:10
6. Daan Hoole (Ned), +1:38
7. Mathias Vacek (Cze), +1:43
8. Stefan Küng (Swi), +1:47
9. Bruno Armirail (Fra), +1:48
10. Alec Segaert (Bel), +1:51

Under-23 men's UEC Road European Championships time trial

1. Jonathan Vervenne (Bel), 24km in 30:27
2. Matisse van Kerckhove (Bel), +1s
3. Adam Rafferty (Ire), +6s
4. Maxime Decomble (Fra), +15s
5. Mads Landbo (Den), +26s

Junior men's UEC Road European Championships time trial

1. Michiel Mouris (Ned), 24km in 30:49
2. Conor Murphy (Ire), +4s
3. Julius Løvstrup Birkedal (Den), +27s
4. Jan Michal Jakowiak (Pol), +49s
5. Eñaut Ukaregi (Spa), +55s

It was a sight that few people thought they'd ever see – four-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar, a rider whom it is easy to think of as invincible – being caught and passed for two-and-a-half minutes in a time trial by Remco Evenepoel.

The unlikely catch happened in yesterday's elite men's time trial in Kigali, Rwanda at the UCI Road World Championships, as the pair tackled the cobbled climb of the Côte de Kimihurura with around a kilometre left of the 40.6km event.

Evenepoel's up-and-down trajectory over the past two seasons, during which he has won Olympic and World titles but suffered major crashes and failed at some of his biggest objectives, made his routing of the Slovenian feel all the more unlikely. But what is good for the goose is good for the gander, and on this occasion it was Pogačar's turn to show that bad luck can happen to anyone.

Asked how he felt when Evenepoel passed him, Pogačar was ready, as ever, with a quip: "For sure it was a hard one to swallow, but he's Remco, he's too good in this discipline. I hope he prepared 100% for today and he will be 99% ready for next Sunday," he said.

And when one journalist wished him a happy birthday but pointed out it maybe wasn't the present he had hoped for, Pogačar joked: "I don't want to spoil myself on my birthday to win today… so let's try and win on Sunday."

Evenepoel, for his part, played down the incident: “This wasn't my goal for the race, I just wanted to win, and catching him or not didn't really matter. So I think it's not something that we need to make bigger than it is. Because I've also been passed in a TT this year, so it's something that happens or doesn't happen.

"Once you have a rider in sight, you just want to go as fast as possible towards him, because it gives some extra motivation to go through the pain wall, but it was not something that was in my head."

Pogačar, who is the reigning world road race champion, had arrived under-prepared for the time trial, he said, after falling sick in the run-up to the recent Canadian double-header, the GP Montréal and GP Quebec, and missing key sessions on the time trial bike.

"I can be happy with how I suffered today," he said after his unaccustomed fourth place. "It was not my best performance but good in the circumstances. Before Canada I couldn't finish my block of training on the TT bike. I'm looking forward more for the Sunday road race anyway," he insisted.

"After I got sick before Canada… it wasn't that I gave up on the TT but I had to skip a few important training sessions on the TT bike," he said. "But I knew that if I wanted to be 100% for the road race I had to go to Canada.

He added: "I think Canada (where he was 29th at Québec and second at Montréal) was a good decision for the road race."

Pogačar's main focus is clearly Sunday's elite men's road race, in which he will attempt to defend his title over a 267km course featuring a brutal 5,475m of climbing. The race will see him go up against Evenepoel again, Great Britain's Tom Pidcock, Thymen Arensman of the Netherlands and Juan Ayuso of Spain among others.

"I've been enjoying the last few days here training and I'm really looking forward to the road race," he said. "Now I need to just do two more hard training sessions and I'm ready for Sunday."

It was windy atop The Tumble in south Wales on Saturday afternoon. Windy enough to prevent any long-range attacks from sticking, and to blow any unsecured Geraint Thomas face masks away, but not enough to disturb the nascent moustache on Remco Evenepoel's top lip, despite the breeze hitting him full in the face as he sprinted to victory.

The moustache might be barely there on the Soudal Quick-Step rider's face, but the confidence is growing once again for the Belgian, after a season of ups and downs, a familiar story by now. The win on stage five of the Tour of Britain Men was just the Olympic champion's second road race win of 2025, after Brabantse Pijl, although there have been four time trial triumphs, including at the Tour de France.

"It's been quite a search for that [his second road race win], so in the end I'm happy to take a stage win here," the 25-year-old explained post-stage. "Last year I didn't manage to win a stage so it feels good to be here with some better legs and some better results as well. I'm very happy with the stage win in the queen stage actually. I'm very satisfied with the feeling."

Evenepoel's year started slowly, after he was hit by the driver of a Belgian post van in December, not returning to racing until Brabantse Pijl, which he duly won. Time trial wins at the Tour de Romandie and Critérium du Dauphiné and top fives on general classification followed, before he won stage five of the Tour de France in Caen. However, the Belgian then left that race early, on stage 14, before it was announced that he would be leaving his Soudal Quick-Step contract early for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe next year. The Tour of Britain is his first race back since that news broke, and one of his last in his current team's jersey.

The Tour of Britain fits in as Evenpoel's build-up for the World Championships and Il Lombardia, as well as a race to win in and of itself.

"I've done quite some work for the team already, for our sprinter, and also I've ridden a bit more after the stages sometimes, so I'm not here just for the racing, I'm here to improve myself, and to test myself," he said. "For the moment, it's all going well, and I feel like I'm on the right track, so that's very positive."

It is notable that Evenepoel is still trying for his current employers, despite the drawn out saga over his future. Earlier this week, he told Cycling Weekly that it's a "relief that it's out".

This win, narrow as it was, is a boost for the former world champion.

"It was difficult, the headwind was pretty strong after the last 3km, in the forest we didn't really feel the wind, but once we got over the cattle grid it was pretty windy," he said of stage five. "That made it a bit tactical in the end, we tried on the first time up the climb to go really hard from the bottom, but we felt with 3km to go that the wind was too strong to really tear things apart.

"It was only like seven to eight minutes, and everyone can push that really high power, so it was difficult to make a big difference. I quickly realised that maybe the sprint would be the best option for today, and in the end it was the right way today."

His sprint at the top of the climb might not have been against Tadej Pogačar, but it was still hard-fought, and Tom Gloag (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) were not easy opponents.

"That [his sprint] feels really good, especially with the headwind. I went from far away, from 200m, I was a bit worried that the guys would come over me, but I my sprint was strong enough to keep it to the line," Evenepoel said. "With winning the sprint today, maybe it's a bit of a shame of my mechanical yesterday because it would have been a bit different, especially in terms of GC, but in the end that's cycling, and we have to look to tomorrow and enjoy this one."

Evenepoel had a gear-issue on stage four, preventing him from taking advantage of a promising situation, which Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) won. However, after the penultimate day, Evenepoel is just two seconds off the Frenchman, and it will all come down to Cardiff on Sunday. It would be his first overall victory since the Volta ao Algarve at the beginning of 2024, so the Tour of Britain is not meaningless.

"We have to try, it's two seconds," Evenepoel said. "There's a GC win up for grabs. It's going to be really difficult, there's only one really big opportunity for that in the final. It's going to rain a lot, so it might be very tricky tomorrow. I'm not going to risk my life for it but I'm going to go for it."

The moustache will get wet on stage six, but expect Soudal Quick-Step's Olympic champion to go all in for the win; he wants to keep up the impression that he is back. Cycling is better for it.

Almost one month after the announcement, Remco Evenepoel has spoken publicly about his transfer to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, saying it’s “probably a relief” for the teams the news is out.

The Belgian will leave Soudal Quick-Step after seven years at the end of this season and join the German squad, it was revealed at the start of August. The transfer means his current contract will end early, by mutual agreement, having originally been signed until the end of 2026.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly and journalist Daniel Benson on Wednesday at the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men, Evenepoel said he had prepared himself for opinions about the move.

“I think it was just the time that both of the teams decided to come out with the news and I just had to accept it,” he said of the announcement, which came after the Tour de France. “In the end, it's how it goes. I said it already to the Belgian press yesterday: everybody has their opinions, and I was ready for both of them. I think it's probably for both a relief that it's out.”

In an interview with Sporza on Tuesday, the 25-year-old said he felt a change might be “good for both parties”.

“It's clear that Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe is really moving towards the Grand Tours, and here they're focusing a bit more on the Classics,” he said.

“For me, at this moment, the most important [thing] is to keep going and give the best version of myself until my last race for Soudal Quick-Step,” Evenepoel added on Wednesday.

Speculation around the double Olympic champion’s future grew at July’s Tour de France, which he abandoned on stage 14, citing a lack of form following early-season injuries.

Since the race, he said, he had a “good reset” before returning to training. “Honestly, for the moment, I feel pretty relaxed and fresh in the body,” he said.

“I’m actually happy to be back in competition. I think this year here in the Tour of Britain, the course is pretty hard, so it’s a perfect race to get back into competition and towards the Worlds.”

The defending time trial world champion, and former title winner in the road race, Evenepoel will target both events later this month at the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda. “I think I have two nice opportunities,” he said, “so I hope to be in my best shape as possible, and then try to aim for the highest.”

The Belgian team that will support Evenepoel at the championships has not yet been announced, although Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) will not be present, having ruled himself out of selection.

“There are of course guys who didn’t want to join to go to Rwanda,” Evenepoel said, referencing no names in particular, “but I think the team we have now is the best possible.

“Every rider should be making the decision himself, and he has his reasons for that. The team we have now are all guys who were also on my list, let’s say, so I think it’s for the moment the best team that we could get.”

“We’ll just give it our best shot and try to go for it,” he added.

Following the World Championships, Evenepoel's final race with Soudal Quick-Step is expected to be Il Lombardia on 11 October. He finished runner-up to Tadej Pogačar in the season's final Monument last year.

Primož Roglič has welcomed the signing of Remco Evenepoel to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, saying he hopes the pair can “achieve great things together”.

It was announced earlier this month that Evenepoel will leave Soudal Quick-Step after seven seasons with the squad, and join Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe from 2026.

The move led to questions about Grand Tour leadership within the German team, after Roglič and Florian Lipowitz finished eighth and third respectively at July’s Tour de France.

Roglič has now spoken for the first time since the signing was unveiled, telling the Dutch press he is “happy” with the arrival of Evenepoel.

“He’s special,” the Slovenian told Nieuwsblad and In de Leiderstrui at a post-Tour criterium in the Netherlands. “Remco has already won quite a few races, so I hope we can achieve great things together."

A world and Olympic champion in both the time trial and road race, Evenepoel has focused his efforts on Grand Tour glory in recent years, finishing third on debut at last year’s Tour, but withdrawing on stage 14 this year due to fatigue.

Between them, he and Roglič have won six Grand Tours across their careers; the Slovenian has won four Vuelta a España titles and a Giro d’Italia, while Evenepoel won the Vuelta in 2022.

Asked if the two can convert their potential into a Tour de France yellow jersey, Roglič said: “The Tour is still a long way off. The last one only just finished, and it's not yet certain whether I can actually ride it next year. But of course, we will work hard to achieve the best together.

“We still need to make progress, and hopefully we can improve together,” he continued. “The team is growing, but there's still a gap with Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard.”

Reigning Tour champion Pogačar and two-time winner Vingegaard have shared the last six yellow jerseys between them.

In a team statement released at the time of Evenepoel's signing, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe hailed the Belgian's arrival as a “clear signal” for the team, which hopes to become “one of the most attractive focrsed on the international cycling stage.”

“[Evenepoel] brings not only exceptional athletic talent, but also a remarkable mindset,” team CEO Ralph Denk said. “His determination, professionalism, and relentless drive to succeed are truly inspiring.”

Remco Evenepoel is to ride the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men in what will be one of his final competitive outings in Soudal Quick-Step colours.

It will be the second time the Belgian has ridden the race, which runs from 2-7 September, starting in Woodbridge, Suffolk and finishing six stages later in Cardiff.

The make-up of the rest of the seven-man team has yet to announced, but Evenepoel's participation has been confirmed by the team.

There had been speculation that he might not make another appearance in Soudal colours, following his widely publicised transfer from the Belgian team to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.

But the 25-year-old has plans to ride both the World Championship road race and time trial in Rwanda at the end of September, where he will look to defend his rainbow bands in the ITT and win them back in the road race.

He attended the Tour of Britain Men last year a month after winning both the Olympic Games road race and time trial in Paris. But having trained in Spain since the Games, Evenepoel struggled in the cooler conditions in the UK.

"I really suffered from the cold," he told reporters mid-race. "After spending a month in Spain with temperatures around forty degrees, finding myself here with ten degrees and rain was a real shock for the body."

He went on to place 28th on GC, with a best stage finish of fifth on the lumpy second stage from Darlington to Redcar.

There are no time trials in this year's Tour of Britain, but there are three punchy finishes, which could be a good test for the hills of Kigali later in September. With the full route revealed for the race this week, fans can work out where to see the Olympic champion.

It will be his first race since he abandoned the Tour de France on stage 14.

Evenepoel's move from Soudal Quick-Step, where he will have spent seven seasons, to Red Bull, had been rumoured for months and often touted as 'the worst kept secret in the peloton'. Now it is official, the team dynamic going forward will be interesting.

Also set to be on the start line at the Tour of Britain is Geraint Thomas, for whom the Tour of Britain will be the final race of his long career, and who will be honoured in his home town of Cardiff on the final stage.

Seven seasons and out. Remco Evenepoel has spent his entire senior career at the Soudal Quick-Step set-up, but for the venerable Belgian team, Evenepoel's tenure is but one in a series of chapters, team CEO Jurgen Foré said.

He was speaking following the confirmation that Evenepoel would be leaving his Soudal Quick-Step contract early to move to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.

Speaking to Belgian outlet Sporza, Foré also pointed to the fact that Tim Merlier had recorded half of Soudal Quick-Step's victories in 2025 – the 32-year-old sprinter has won 12 times for the team – and added:

"I think we need to race broadly and with the team as a whole again.

"We've done everything we can to make Remco happy. I want to turn the page now and have confidence in the team. We've been around for 23 years and have written many chapters. This is just one of them."

Soudal Quick-Step had been paid a "fair amount" of money to let Evenepoel go , Foré said, adding: "Although sponsors like Soudal prefer to see a contract honored. But we decided we didn't want to go to court."

"I think we're parting ways on good terms," said Foré, following yesterday's news of Evenepoel's departure. "The intention was to start discussions about the future after the Tour—a big goal for both of us. In June, it became clear that there wasn't much room for an extended stay. Also, because of what had happened before, we felt we didn't need to push. So we didn't."

Evenepoel and Soudal Quick-Step have had a huge amount of success together, with the 25-year-old winning Olympic and World titles as well as becoming Belgium's first Grand Tour winner in 44 years when he won the 2022 Vuelta a España.

He had a top 2024 season in which he was third on GC at the Tour de France and then won the Olympic Games road race and time trial followed by the World Championships TT crown (all this despite a heavy early-season crash). However, he struck bad luck in December when he was 'car-doored' by a Belgian postal service vehicle, setting him back hugely.

So far this year he appears to have struggled to regain the form – and even the drive – of last season, perhaps amplified by the longstanding rumours that Evenepoel wanted to leave Soudal Quick-Step, feeling he could go no further.

It’s finally over, the most drawn out transfer saga in recent times is concluded. Remco Evenepoel’s time at Soudal Quick-Step, the team where he turned professional in 2019, is finished and he will ride for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe from 2026 onwards. Despite consistent denials from all parties that a transfer was imminent, Evenepoel’s move to the German team has been the worst kept secret within the WorldTour for months. Whispers were abound that it was finally done and contracts were ready for much of the recent Tour de France.

But where now for Evenepoel? Where does this leave him after a difficult ending to the Tour? It was already clear on the eve of the race in Lille that something was amiss. The double Olympic champion is typically calm, collected and measured in his words, although he appeared spiky and on edge when he met the media before the team presentation, stating that he will “never crack under pressure”.

That same pressure will be amplified tenfold by signing for Red Bull and is only set to increase next year when the Tour arrives once more. At the time of Primož Roglič’s arrival at the German team, its then head sports director, Rolf Aldag, said that it had forced the group to recalibrate its goals completely. Evenepoel signing means that those same goals must be recalibrated to a stratospheric level; the stakes could never have been greater.

With his departure confirmed, the mood amongst the camp at Soudal Quick-Step will be one of sadness and regret, even if their outward messaging suggests a stoic, resilient atmosphere and a positive outlook towards the future. The team reshaped itself in order to pursue GC ambitions in all of cycling’s three Grand Tours – with Evenepoel at the forefront of that – although it appears they will now return to the Classics identity of old. An identity they must return to without their most prized possession.

Patrick Lefevere, and his successor, Jurgen Foré, fought with tooth and nail to keep their most prized asset at the team in recent years, but more and more has pointed to the fact that Evenepoel simply wanted out, and he felt that he could progress no further at Quick-Step. This isn't the first time the prospect of the Belgian leaving has been raised, with Ineos Grenadiers a notable previous suitor, but this is final.

Do Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe even need a rider of his standing? The team already possess one of the brightest talents amongst the men’s WorldTour: Florian Lipowitz. The young German proved his durability and underlined his credentials as a future GC leader with a hugely impressive ride to third overall at the Tour, winning the white jersey in the process. Lipowitz has not yet made public comment regarding the arrival of his new teammate, although he could now be completely sidelined by the move for a rider just one year his senior.

Lipowitz was, until this week, Red Bull's golden boy, but might already have been usurped. The young German, at a German team, is seemingly a better climber and a better GC option right now than Evenepoel is, based on results this year. However, the team have gone and signed something shinier – a rider with a golden helmet.

The presence of Roglič will also be interesting, with the Slovenian seemingly not caring at the recent Tour, but with one more year on his contract. There will be a tricky balancing act of egos between three riders who are not at too dissimilar levels when it comes to GC racing.

But if the team gels successfully, could the move work? Evenepoel is heading to a team that is set up to perform much deeper in the high mountains, with help from Jai Hindley, Aleksandr Vlasov, Giulio Pellizzari and Dani Martínez. He will also stay aboard Specialized bikes, a brand he has a personal connection to, and be surrounded by staff he knows and trusts with former Belgian national coach Sven Vanthourenhout and Quick-Step DS Klaas Lodewyck expected to move with him.

Evenepoel could now find that all of this change could be a fast track closing the gap between himself and Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar - but that gap is more than just a bike length. Evenepoel now has increased financial clout behind him, as well as a greater calibre of riders to call upon as teammates, but Pogačar has been unstoppable yet again this calendar year. Retirement is likely to be the only thing that ends his insurmountable control of the top level of the sport.

Nevertheless, Evenepoel knows what it takes to perform and win big on the grandest of stages: his two Olympic golds stand as testament to that. He has long been seen as the only rider capable of truly going head to head with the Tour’s two best riders and standing a chance of coming out on top. With the right support, and some more fine tuning, this move could be exactly what the Belgian needs. Just don't ask Florian Lipowitz what he thinks.

Remco Evenepoel is to leave Soudal Quick-Step after mutual agreement, breaking his contract early, and will join Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe for 2026.

The move, announced by Soudal Quick-Step on Tuesday afternoon, comes after weeks of speculation regarding the 25-year-old's future, which dogged him throughout the recent Tour de France.

A short press release from Quick-Step confirmed that Evenepoel's contract will be terminated, bringing an end to their relationship of more than six years. Evenepoel turned professional with the team, formerly managed by Patrick Lefevere, in 2019.

Minutes later, a press release from Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe confirmed the arrival of the double Olympic champion.

“Representatives of Remco informed the team’s management that he did not wish to discuss an extension of his current agreement, which expires at the end of 2026," the statement from Quick-Step read.

"After taking some time to consult with our sponsors and partners, the team’s ownership and management have decided that it is in best interest of everyone to agree that Remco can move at the end of the current 2025 season," it continued.

"Since its inception in 2003, our team has seen many iterations and changes, while continuing to develop into one of the most successful teams in the history of professional cycling and recently became the first professional cycling team to reach 1000 UCI wins.

"While we regret Remco’s decision to leave, we will foster the memories that we have made and will continue to strive together to achieve some significant results for the rest of the season.”

“Remco stands for ambition. He doesn’t just want to ride – he wants to shape cycling,” Ralph Denk, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe CEO said. “He brings not only exceptional athletic talent, but also a remarkable mindset. His determination, professionalism, and relentless drive to succeed are truly inspiring.”

The Red Bull statement says: "Remco Evenepoel’s arrival marks more than just a milestone for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe – it is a clear signal. With renewed confidence and bold ambition, the team is setting its course to become one of the most attractive forces on the international cycling stage in the years to come.

As well as winning the Vuelta a España while riding for Quick-Step, Evenepoel won several other major races in the blue and white of the Belgian team; including two editions of Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

At the Tour de France, Soudal Quick-Step’s CEO Jurgen Foré said that he would discuss Evenepoel's future once the race was over, while Evenepoel played down reports of a move imminently happening.

In the build up to his exit, Evenepoel endured a difficult ending to his final race with Quick-Step, abandoning the Tour midway through stage 14 in the Pyrenees on the road to Superbagnères. Tom Steels, the team's lead sports director at the race, said at the time that the 25-year-old had withdrawn in order to protect his goals later in the season.

Evenepoel won the stage 5 time trial around Caen, but appeared out of sorts when the race hit the high mountains.

After abandoning the race, he revealed in a social media post that he had rushed to be fit in time for the Tour, and that he had raced with a broken rib.

A move to Red Bull looked likely to be confirmed soon when the German team, announced last week that their head sports director, Rolf Aldag, had departed the project. The former Belgian national team coach, Sven Vanthourenhout, then told Sporza that he would be joining Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe.

Sources have told Cycling Weekly that Quick-Step DS Klaas Lodewyck will also make the move with Evenepoel and suggested that Aldag was asked to leave to make way for Evenepoel's entourage.

Any transfer would need to have been ratified by Soudal Quick-Step, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, and Evenepoel himself, with approval from the UCI also requested as part of the process. Due to the contract being broken early early, reports have also suggested that the Belgian will need to pay his former team €5 million in compensation, with Red Bull adding €2 million.

Little is known about Evenepoel's racing schedule towards the end of the season, although he is expected to return to competition and lead Belgium at the road World Championships in Rwanda in September.

Rolf Aldag, the lead sports director of Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, has departed in another hint that Remco Evenepoel is heading to the German team.

The news was announced in a press release on Tuesday afternoon, which paid tribute to Aldag's work with the team, which he joined ahead of the 2022 season. The decision was by mutual agreement, and amicable, according the squad.

The German helped Jai Hindley to the Giro d'Italia title in 2022, helped oversee the transformation after Primož Roglič and Red Bull joined the team, and guided Roglič to Vuelta a España victory last year too. At the recent Tour de France, Red Bull finished third through Florian Lipowitz, and took home the white jersey too.

However, two days after their biggest result at the Tour yet, Aldag has left the team. With Evenepoel rumoured to be joining Red Bull from Soudal Quick-Step next season, the experienced German leaving could be part of changes to the team. Speculation has dogged both Red Bull and Evenepoel in recent weeks.

"With the white jersey win and podium placement by Florian Lipowitz at this year’s Tour de France, we have reached the goals we set four years ago," Aldag said in the Red Bull press release. "Accordingly, we have jointly decided that now is the right time for both parties to pursue new challenges.

"My time at Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe has been deeply formative, both personally and professionally. Together, we successfully navigated the complex transition from a sprint-focused team to one built around stage racing, and celebrated major victories – always with a clear vision in mind. I am proud of what we achieved as a team. Now is the moment to take a new path. I wish the team continued success and all the best for the future."

Aldag was also a key part of Mark Cavendish's success, managing him both at HTC-Highroad and Dimension Data.

“Rolf took on responsibility during a time of transition and helped drive our team forward both athletically and structurally. We are deeply grateful for his dedication. He has left a lasting impact – both in sporting terms and on a personal level,” Ralph Denk, Red Bull team CEO, said.

“This chapter ends now that we have achieved our objectives, but the path we walked together has left its mark. Rolf was instrumental in shaping our team – it was a period defined by determination and a deep passion for cycling. We look back on these years with great respect and gratitude and sincerely wish Rolf all the best in whatever lies ahead. For the next chapter of our story, we have jointly decided to bring in fresh impetus and take a new direction.”

You could see it on his face.

From the first pedal strokes up the Tourmalet, the tension was there. In his eyes, in his posture. The white jersey didn’t shine quite so bright under the grey skies on stage 14 of the 2025 Tour de France. Remco Evenepoel’s minutes in this Tour were dwindling, even if he didn’t know it yet. Or maybe he did.

The early slopes were a sufferfest for the Belgian superstar. He was pedaling squares. A rider usually so composed, so fluid, was at the end of his reserves, searching for rhythm, for oxygen, for anything that may carry him forward.

At first, his teammates rallied around him, trying to nurse him through the agony, but to no avail. The mountain was taking more than just seconds from him. It was taking his Tour. His season goal.

Then came and went the first Soudal Quick-Step team car. For a moment, there was hope. Maybe there was still a fight left in him after all. But no. He had nothing left to give. His head sagged. His body slumped forward. He was broken in body and spirit. The white jersey, the GC dreams, all of it dissolving.

And then came the second car. There was no drama, no spectacle; just a quiet surrender. But before he stepped off, before the car door opened and the dream closed, Evenepoel gave one last gesture: a bottle handed to a kid along the roadside. A thank you to his fans everywhere.

Four days later, the 25-year-old has broken his silence. In a reflective and heartfelt social media post, he calls that day “the rawest and most vulnerable moment of my career,” and reveals the deep physical struggles that brought him to that point.

It all started in December, when he collided with the open door of a van during a training ride and sustained significant injuries. While his competitors spent their winter months building strong foundations for the season ahead, Evenepoel was forced to focus on rehabilitation and recovery.

With that delay, everything suddenly became a race against time, something the Olympic time trial champion usually excels at.

“I always felt like I was playing catch-up,” Evenepoel says. “I never quite felt like myself. But I kept believing, I didn’t want to give up on the dream.”

Looking back now, he realises that his body was never fully given the chance to recover. Beneath the surface, it was still mending.

“We thought the time off during rehab had given me enough rest. But in reality, my body never truly had a break… I was running low before the Tour even started,” he admits.

Then came another blow. Just days before the Grand Départ, he crashed again. This time at the Belgian National Championships, where he sustained a fractured rib.

“Not the worst but definitely not ideal,” he says. But all these months of struggles meant that he “lined up for the hardest race in the world with a broken rib and tired body.”

Still, he remained determined, unwilling to surrender the goal that had been his carrot, his light at the end of the tunnel, all those long months.

The Tour started off promising. A stage win. The white jersey. GC contention. But once the race hit the high mountains, Evenepoel “cracked’.

He lost time on the climb to Hautacam. In the mountain time trial to Peyragudes, Evenepoel, the reigning time trial world champion, suffered the humiliation of being caught by his two-minute man, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a bike).

“But still, I didn’t want to give up. I fought as hard as I possibly could,’ Evenepoel writes. “For you, my fans, I wanted to give every last bit of what I had left in me.”

But there was nothing left to give. His body was worn out. Illness took hold and he was done.

“What was meant to be the highlight of my season turned into disappointment,” he says. But instead of frustration, what comes through is maturity and the perspective of a rider who has grown through adversity.

“That day became one of the rawest and most vulnerable moments of my career. I broke and strangely enough, I’m proud of it,” says Evenepoel.

“It takes strength to show that things don’t always go your way. That even when you want something deeply, sometimes your body has other plans. That moment, as hard as it was, showed that I’m human with highs and lows. Leaving the Tour was the hardest decision I’ve made in a long time. But it was the right one.”

Inspiring even when he’s down, Evenepoel leaves young riders with this message:

“It’s okay to stop. It’s okay to feel tired. It’s okay to be human. Sometimes stepping back is the strongest thing you can do.”

The mountains of the Pyrenees proved the undoing of Remco Evenepoel, who was dropped on the early slopes of the first climb of Tour de France stage 14, the Col du Tourmalet.

Wearing the white jersey of the best young rider, the Soudal Quick-Step rider began falling out of the peloton on the early slopes of the hors category climb.

At first, he had teammates around him as the day's grupetto formed, but he was then seen getting into the team car, his Tour over. With the abandon, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) moved into the de facto lead of the white jersey competition, and third overall.

The race's arrival in the mountains have been unkind to Evenepoel, raising speculation that he was suffering illness, although this was not confirmed, and he denied this after stage 13. He was dropped on Thursday's stage 12 to Hautacam, though limited his losses well, grinding to seventh place on the stage and retaining his third place on the GC.

Then, on Friday's brutal mountain time trial to Peyragudes, the world champion suffered the ignominy of being caught by his two-minute man, Jonas Vignegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) catching the Belgian in the final metres. He finished 2.48 behind stage winner and yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), though once again he retained his third place, though only by a hair's breadth.

It has been a bad day for abandons. Evenepoel's compatriot, Steff Cras (TotalEnergies) was first to leave the race, climbing off in tears early in the stage.

The other high profile abandon was Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), leaving the race after suffering injuries in a crash with 129km to go.

Having dropped out of the GC, the Danish rider began Saturday’s stage in 19th place, more than 33 minutes behind Pogačar, and has stated he would pursue the mountains classification instead of the GC.

However, the Dane hit a traffic island on the exit to roundabout, apparently hitting a traffic sign, sustaining cuts and other trauma. He attempted to continue the race, was abandoned when well over six minutes off the back, with the Tourmalet looming.

Remco Evenepoel was true to his word in Rouen on Tuesday evening as he snatched back crucial time in the fight for the yellow jersey at the Tour de France with individual time trial victory in Caen.

The Belgian has faced a tough opening few days to the race, losing time in the first few stages as speculation around his long term future continues to swirl, but he bounced back emphatically in Normandy to win the stage and move up to second behind the new race leader, Tadej Pogačar.

"I don't think that this win is something that I needed for the next weeks but I think it is something that is nice after last Saturday with the bad start we had for Tim and myself. I think today I was just motivated to prove to the team and I wanted to give something back for the next weeks. To take a stage win earlier in the Tour takes away the pressure and it is motivating, of course."

Pogačar now leads the race by 42 seconds ahead of Evenepoel, with Jonas Vingegaard already languishing in fourth, 1:13 down on the Slovenian. Speaking post-race, Visma said the Dane's poor performance came down to a lack of power, nothing more. Evenepoel was matter of fact in his assessment of his rival's performance stating that he felt it was "logical" that Vingegaard would struggle on the course around Caen.

"I think Jonas' sports director already gave a correct analysis," he said. "He is the lightest of the three of us if I talk about myself, Jonas and Tadej, and in absolute power he had disadvantage on this course with headwind and tailwind."

"I don't know if he will take it as a big loss or not – Jonas is mentally strong enough to take things like this. He already had an advantage over me before the TT so that will ease the pain a bit," Evenepoel added. "In terms of Tadej, his TTs at the Tour are always more than in other races, so it is not surprising. I was maybe expecting more of an advantage on him but on the moments he has to perform he does, this shows why he is the best rider in the world and the guy to beat in this Tour de France again."

One thing is now already certain as the end of the first week of the Tour approaches: Pogačar is in control and the Slovenian will have two opportunities in as many days to go on the attack, at Vieux Normandie and the Mûr-de-Bretagne on Thursday and Friday. Evenepoel surmised that he felt it was almost inevitable that the Slovenian would go on the offensive yet again.

"Tomorrow and the next day are two tough stages with two uphill punchy finishes so I'm not really sure he has the opportunity to give yellow away," he said of the new race leader. "I don't know if he has that mindset so I guess he will ride his own race and try to keep it."

Visma-Lease a Bike began stage five of the Tour de France hungry to hit back at Tadej Pogačar, after the Slovenian struck an early psychological blow the day before in Rouen.

But just hours later, the team were left aghast after their leader Jonas Vingegaard shipped more than a minute to Pogačar. That wasn't in the script.

Vingegaard had started the race in impressive style, matching Pogačar's accelerations on the steep finishing circuit on stage four, but he appeared to struggle in the Normandy heat and the time loss soon tallied up.

"I have no explanation," Visma DS, Grischa Niermann, said at the finish. "Before the time trial everything was good, there were no problems, but in the time trial he’s not able to talk to me, and I'm only able to talk to him.

"We already heard after a few kilometres that he was eight seconds down on Remco [Evenepoel]. He then just lost time over the whole TT. I haven't spoken with him yet but, of course, we hoped for more."

Vingegaard looked to be uncomfortable on his saddle for much of his effort, regularly adjusting himself in order to maintain some semblance of an aerodynamic position. However, Visma said at the finish that the team's initial thoughts were that the time loss was simply down to a lack of power compared to both the stage winner, Remco Evenepoel, and Pogačar who is now in yellow.

"I think in a TT like this you can't really get a strategy right or wrong," Niermann stated. "It's just pushing from start to finish and then doing the technical parts as well as you can. But that was not the problem."

How does the result alter the team's strategy in the forthcoming days? “It changes nothing in our overall approach,” Niermann added. "We just go ahead as planned but we're around 1:20 down on Tadej now [1:13 - ed], so we will have to find that time somewhere if Jonas wants to win the Tour. We didn’t expect that much of a loss. It happened though, we have to deal with it and we’ll fight again tomorrow."

By the time the GC favourites took to the start line, the wind had picked up from earlier this morning when riders underwent course recons, although a matter-of-fact Niermann would not use that as an explanation for the performance of both Vingegaard and his teammate Matteo Jorgenson, who is nine seconds further back on GC than the Dane.

"I think that's not an excuse for a lesser time trial," Niermann said. "Remco was of course the favourite, and rightfully so, but certainly with both Jonas and Matteo we hoped for better times."

"It was definitely windier than the recon," Jorgenson later explained when he spoke to gathered journalists. "The recon was at 10am so it was a long time ago. It definitely felt a lot more blustery and I was definitely getting pushed around a bit, but it was the same for all of us at the end. There's definitely no excuses at all there."

Remco Evenepoel stormed to victory on stage five's time trial at the Tour de France, setting a time that not even Tadej Pogačar could catch, at an average speed of 54km/h.

Evenepoel of Soudal Quick-Step repeated his feat from last year's race, winning the first individual time trial. The Belgian has not lost a TT since the final stage of the 2024 Tour, five in a row, which includes the Olympic and world titles.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Pogačar, however, climbed into the yellow jersey in the first week of the race after ousting Mathieu van der Poel from the race lead. Even better for Pogačar, he put over a minute into his great rival, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

On a flat course around the Norman city of Caen, a 33km race against the clock, Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) set what looked like the fastest time for most of the day until Evenepoel came along. The Italian completed the course in 37:15, but Evenepoel went 33 seconds quicker. Pogačar was 17 seconds off of the winner's time.

In the general classification, Pogačar now leads Evenepoel by 42 seconds, with Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) in third after a valiant ride by the Frenchman. Vingegaard is 1:13 behind Pogačar in fourth.

"You never know because big guys like Edoardo [Affini] can do these courses very well as well," Evenepoel said on television post-stage. "I knew I had a good chance, but the legs still have to be there, everything has to go with the plan. It was pretty good, I didn’t feel like I could go any faster, so I think I’m happy in general with this second stage win for our team.

"I pushed pretty steady, for the uphill more than the downhill. My strongest point was I kept the same pace at the end as the first 10km. It’s what we saw at the intermediates, I was always gaining time. I paced it perfectly, everything was on point.

"Tadej did a very strong TT as well; 17 seconds is pretty close. It's about half a second per kilometre, he made a step forward compared to the Dauphiné. That’s why he’s the guy to beat in this Tour de France. I tried to take as much time as possible to step up in the GC. It’s the same situation as last year after the TT. It’s a big step forwards to the podium, but there’s still a long way to go."

"Today was the first step for me to get a good GC result, but this is not where the Tour ends," he continued. "I know what’s coming up next week and the week after, there’s still a long way to go. The two guys from our team to take stage wins now have, so it’s all relaxed now, and focused on the podium in Paris."

More to follow...

How it happened

A 33km flat time trial around the Norman city of Caen was on the menu for stage five, with the blazing sun and good weather conditions ensuring that this would be a fast day.

The first rider down the start ramp, and also the first to finish, was XDS Astana’s Yevgeniy Fedorov, but the first rider to set a seriously competitive time was Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) in 38 minutes, at an average speed of over 52km/h. This was soon bettered by Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Iván Romeo (Movistar), the first pair to finish under 38 minutes.

The early benchmark was set by Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) who completed the 33km in just 37 minutes, 15 seconds, and would warm the hot seat for most of the day. However, the Italian European TT champ was pushed by French champion Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who finished just two seconds slower than his rival. The pair would occupy the top two spots for the next hour or so of action.

The priority of certain favourites became clear later in the day, with former Belgian champion Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) cruising round as much as he could, despite previously being a TT winner at the Tour.

The first of the true GC favourites to set off was Primoź Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who was half a minute down on the leader at the first intermediate check point. Soon after, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) followed suit, the world and Olympic champion charging down the start ramp.

Meanwhile, Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) set a relatively impressive time, 11th overall, 1:14 down on Affini. Roglič ended up with the 12th best time, losing a minute to the winner.

At the first time check, Evenepoel went faster than the leader at that point at the end, Affini, despite reports of wind conditions changing on the road. However, the Belgian was slower at the second check, but only just.

Early on in their efforts, it was reported that Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was faster than both Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). Vingegaard was seventh fastest at the first time check, while Pogačar was a second behind Evenepoel.

At the third timecheck, Evenepoel was faster than Affini, by 11 seconds, making an uncomfortable wait for the Italian in the hot seat. The only rider who looked like challenging Evenepoel at this point was Pogačar.

Coming into the final 100 metres, Evenepoel had dozens of seconds to play with, with the world champion finishing 33 seconds ahead of Affini.

Pogačar was 30 seconds up on Vingegaard midway through the course, who was slower than Roglič in turn. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), meanwhile, was setting a fierce time too. The Frenchman ended up fourth on the day, 49 seconds behind the fastest time.

By the third and final timing check, Pogačar was 17 seconds behind Evenepoel, who now led, while Vingegaard was almost a minute behind his rival.

The Slovenian ended up finishing 16.68 seconds behind Evenepoel, with Vingegaard 1:21 behind; Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), in the yellow jersey, only lost 1:44, but it was enough to lose the race lead to Pogačar.

Results

Tour de France 2025 stage 5: Caen > Caen, 33km (ITT)

1. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, in 36:42
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +16.68s
3. Edoardo Affini (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +33s
4. Bruno Armirail (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +35s
5. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +49s
6. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +58s
7. Iván Romeo (Esp) Movistar), +1:02
8. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:14
9. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +1:17
10. Pablo Castrillo (Esp) Movistar, +1:18

General classification after stage five

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirate-XRG, in 17:22:58
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +42s
3. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +59s
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:13
5. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:22
6. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +1:28
7. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:53
8. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:30
9. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:31
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +2:32

Remco Evenepoel remained upbeat and positive when he spoke to the media outside the Soudal Quick-Step team bus in Rouen despite losing three more seconds to his rivals at the Tour de France on stage four.

The Belgian has a chance to make up immediately for the time loss on Wednesday’s individual time trial in Caen on a course that seems tailor made to the world champion’s attributes. He is currently ninth on GC, 58 seconds down on Mathieu van der Poel, but that time loss could be clawed back on stage five.

"There’s a small climb at the start, but nothing crazy, so it should be something that really suits me and I’m really motivated to do very well and to gain quite some time back tomorrow," Evenepoel said.

The route for the stage is 33km, neither long nor short, and set mostly on flat road. Due to being injured over the winter, Evenepoel has not been able to recon the course.

"I saw that my coach put a video in a Whatsapp group so I’m going to watch that on the way to the hotel now. Tomorrow morning I’ll then do a nice recon. I think it seems to be pretty straightforward, not technical at all," he said.

Tadej Pogačar won stage four after coming out on top in an uphill sprint. Evenepoel tried a late attack during the fast-paced finale but was unable to snap the elastic to his rivals.

"It was a good day," Evenepoel said. "Maybe the attack with two kilometres to go was unnecessary but I just wanted to see whether the others would react or not. It seemed they didn’t give me any space which is normal in a final like that. I gave it a try, maybe it was unnecessary, but overall I’m very happy with the feeling, even though I was really on the limit in the last 500 metres."

"I just didn’t have the legs anymore to sprint so another three seconds is not the worst," he added. "That would have been 30 or 40 seconds behind Tadej. I’m just happy with the feeling, and happy with the legs. I missed a little bit of that explosiveness to sprint and react to the attack of Tadej and Jonas, or Tadej especially. Overall I’m very happy. I think we saw a beautiful finale so it’s up to tomorrow now."

Meanwhile, Jonas Vingegaard got straight onto his time trial bike when he arrived back at the Visma-Lease a Bike bus and tucked into an aero position for his warm down. The Dane took third behind Pogačar, after following the world champion’s attack with 5km to go.

"Onto tomorrow," Vingegaard told reporters. "I'll just try to do as good a time trial as possible, and then we'll see. It's only eight seconds, everything can happen. It's also that Van der Poel, or Pogačar, or somebody else is doing a good time trial, and you never know."

Soudal Quick-Step’s CEO Jurgen Foré has said that he will discuss Remco Evenepoel's highly-discussed future once the Tour de France is over, after reports once again emerged linking the double Olympic champion with a move away from the team.

Escape Collective reported after stage two of the race that Evenepoel is unhappy at Quick-Step and will inform his employers at the end of July that he wants to depart at the end of his season. He has a year left on the five-year contract he signed in 2021.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are favourites to sign Evenepoel, and Cycling Weekly has been told by a source close to the 25-year-old that he spent time at the Red Bull training centre in Austria last autumn, and has since maintained contact with the German team.

HLN, meanwhile, reported that long-time admirers Ineos Grenadiers remain in the race to sign Evenepoel, if indeed he can come to an agreement with Quick-Step and leave one year before his contract expires.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews after the finish of stage three – won by Evenepoel’s team-mate Tim Merlier – Foré didn’t deny reports of Evenepoel's possible exit, instead insisting that it was a matter to be discussed after the Tour has finished.

“We’re here in the Tour de France, there are times to talk about the future and when there is a time we will sit down and we will do that,” said Foré, who replaced Patrick Lefevere as the team’s manager at the start of this season.

“But right now we’re here to race, to try to win in the Tour de France. There’s nothing to say [just] because someone writes something. There’s nothing to mention, that’s the honest answer.”

Referencing the persistent rumours which have surfaced every summer since 2023, Foré continued. “It’s already been going on for a long time. I give one answer now and I’m not going to respond to it anymore because it is what it is.

“It will not affect anyone because we are used to it. Everybody is used to it. We know up front that this again could be the case – it is what it is. We focus on racing and everyone thinks that at the table: we’re here at the biggest race in the world to race and I don’t have anything else to say.”

Evenepoel has endured a difficult opening three stages of the race; he lost 39 seconds on the first day after crosswinds split the bunch; the same evening he took to social media to respond to a video that appeared to show him refusing to sign autographs; and on stage three, he crashed in the closing kilometres, but didn’t appear to suffer any injuries.

As if to compound his frustration, when he returned to his team’s bus after the third stage, the bus’s front door didn’t open and the side door twice closed on him before he finally boarded.

At the start of the race in Lille, Evenepoel was asked about the transfer speculation. “It’s the first time I’ve heard about it,” he smiled back, adding that the news reports were “a bit of a surprise.”

He added: “I think you probably start to know me a bit now and comments from outside and stressful situations do not have a big effect on me. I’m always pretty calm, whether it’s a positive or negative situation. I would never crack under pressure.”

This was not how stage one of the Tour de France was meant to go for Remco Evenepoel, and definitely not how it was meant to go for a Belgian team whose DNA is built on creating and profiting from crosswind-induced echelons, not being caught out by them.

But after only one day’s racing, Soudal Quick-Step and Evenepoel are already on the back foot in the Tour, losing 39 seconds to Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) after the peloton fractured with 17km remaining.

Evenepoel wasn’t the only GC rider to cede time: Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s Primoz Roglič and Florian Lipowitz both lost 39 seconds as well, as did Ineos Grenadiers’s Carlos Rodríguez, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s Felix Gall and Pogačar’s teammate João Almeida.

But the big story is Evenepoel. “This is not what should have happened but it did happen,” Soudal Quick-Step CEO Jurgen Foré bemoaned after the race. “We came here for a sprint victory [with Tim Merlier] and not to lose time, and we don’t have both. What happened was not supposed to happen.

“As a group we were too far back when it broke. We need to analyse it and for sure we will talk about it.”

Evenepoel was equally as blunt. “We had 17km to go, and it was the last chance for echelons which we knew, but we fell asleep because of the relaxed environment we were in at that moment.

“After the [second of three categorised] climb of Cassel [80km to the finish], it was quite relaxed in the bunch and we became sleepy because of that. We believed it was going to be a sprint so it was a big mistake from us and a pretty unfortunate situation.”

It was, as Foré and Evenepoel both alluded to, a double blow for Quick-Step, as Merlier, the in-form sprinter of the season, had been one of the pre-race favourites to take the first yellow jersey, which instead went to Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck.

“The most disappointing thing is that we didn’t get to go for the stage with Tim. That is more disappointing than the time loss,” Evenepoel said.

Despite the disappointment, Evenepoel attempted to put a positive spin on the outcome, noting that opportunities to take back time will present themselves in the forthcoming week, starting with stage two’s Classics-like finale.

“We have to look forward. It’s still long, it’s 21 stages, one down and we’ll focus on tomorrow and try to make the best of it,” he said.

“Tomorrow will be an explosive race and Tuesday will also be a tricky stage, so I think there’ll be many more chances, but it’s always a bit shit to start like this. It’s still a very long race. We have a stupid time loss but we can’t change it.

“It will not change the strategy [in the next few days]. A lot of guys want to race for the stage tomorrow and the GC guys will always be in the mix – the same for stage four, so I think we have to be fully focused until the end and not fall asleep anymore.”

Remco Evenepoel and sprinter Tim Merlier will share Soudal Quick-Step leadership at the Tour de France, the Belgian team announced on Tuesday morning.

After finishing third overall and winning the white jersey as best young rider last year, Evenepoel returns to the race targeting a spot on the podium once more, with the stage five time trial in Caen an early opportunity for a potential stage win and the yellow jersey.

Evenepoel finished fourth behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, but he comfortably beat the Slovenian in the race’s time trial to take the stage win.

"It’s my second Tour de France and I’m looking forward to the Grand Départ, which won’t be far from Belgium. I think it’s obvious that I’m aiming for a good general classification, but the most important thing will be to not lose time in the first half of the race, which should be a very nervous one, with lots of traps and tricky roads. Just like last year, I want to win a stage there and do a good GC, while taking it one day at a time," Evenepoel said.

As well as the double-Olympic champion and Merlier, Soudal Quick-Step’s team also contains Ilan van Wilder, Bert van Lerberghe, Max Schachmann, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Pascal Eenkhorn and Mattia Cattaneo.

Merlier returns to the Tour for the first time since 2021 with several early opportunities for success, including the opening flat stage in Lille. The Belgian has ten wins to his name already this year and will be able to count upon the likes of Eenkhorn for support in the opening week.

"The race can be divided in two parts. A hectic first half, without a proper mountain stage, but with a flat individual time trial where gaps can be made, and plenty of opportunities for the sprinters and the puncheurs. Tim and Remco will have a couple of chances, but important will be that everybody makes it through those ten stages safely," the team’s sports director, Tom Steels, said.

"The many mountain stages and the uphill time trial that come in the second part will make for an incredibly hard race, but also the last stage in Paris should play a role in the general classification. We have a strong and experienced team, capable of some nice things this summer, and so we start with a lot of confidence."

The Tour de France gets underway on Saturday in Lille.