In his young professional career, which at 24 years old he won 56 races including two Liege and two world championships (one road race and one time trial, opening photo), Remco Evenepoel has completed three Grand Tours. One won it (Vuelta 2022), in the second he finished 13th (Vuelta 2023), the third – the first Tour de France of his career – he finished it in third placeHe only had a bad time in the Giro d'Italia. He raced in two and retired in both: in the first by fall (2021) and for the absurd choice to deploy him as the first rider upon his return from injury at the Lombardia, in the second for Covid (2023). The reason why it is often said that the boy (he is two years younger than Pogacar and four than Vingegaard) is not suitable for these races is among social labels given with the aim of shocking and not understanding.
We talked about his Tour with Tom Steels and Koen Pelgrim, this time we do it with Davide Bramati, who with him prepared more than one victory and also the two unfortunate landings at the Giro.
"As we've always said," says the Bergamo coach, "and as Remco has said several times, we had a clear objective. Aim for a top five finish and a stage win. He won the time trial, a great time trial. While I, after the dirt stage, was more and more convinced that he would ride a great Tour."
What was striking from the outside was the calmness in managing every moment, both difficult and less difficult, even though we were at the Tour.
I've already said it: the years go by, he's maturing and he's learning a lot. Let's not forget that Remco skipped the under 23s and I think it wasn't easyWe all know that the pressure from all the journalists in Belgium is very high, especially with a rider like him and after so many years without one of them reaching the podium at the Tour. I think he was good, he handled it really well.Even on the days when he was separated from Pogacar and Vinegaard, he always managed all situations really well.
Is this a maturation that is coming over the months or something you are working on?
Already last year We came to the Giro d'Italia with the great goal of trying to finish in the top five and win a stage.The unconfessed idea, if we really wanted to aim high, was to reach the podium, but that could be figured out along the way. I think everything was handled well up until the Cesena time trial. Remco had won the opening time trial with flying colors. We had let go of the jersey so as not to waste energy every day, going to the podium and press conferences. Everything was going well and then unfortunately what happened happenedI think the same situation was seen this year at Tour de FranceCovid is here and in endurance sports like cycling, it's not easy. to move on if a rider catches it.
Finally the Tour and the podium on the first try: it's not a trivial result.
The Tour is the Tour and rightly so, before getting there, he did the Vuelta. I correct myself, Remco won the Vuelta at his first participation. Perhaps it's too often forgotten that Remco had already won a three-week Giro at the age of 22.He's 24 now and we thought he had the foundation to close the circle with a great deal of experience. The Tour was missing and I think that by running it I learned a lotHe handled himself really well in all the stages. Even if he was sometimes dropped, he never really got into trouble. He always did his part, knowing that Pogacar this year was on another levelFor now, Tadej is on another planet. This third place certainly bodes well for the future.
He's won a lot, but he's still young, right?
In fact, I think this podium gives him a lot of confidence for the coming years. He already has a remarkable track record, but I'm convinced that's not all. Tomorrow and then next week there will be... le Olympics, the time trial and the road, and I think we will see him fighting for one of the three medals.
Speaking of timing, did the last one disappoint you a bit or was it clear that it would be a test of endurance and so third place is fine?
Everything that had to be done was done to try and win it. We knew it wasn't an easy time trial, especially since it came after two very challenging stages. and we found Pogacar on another level again. Vingegaard was already closer, but we're happy with the results. I think everyone saw the emotion he had after arrivingMany kept saying that we could never get anyone to the Tour podium. For us, it's the fruit of teamwork that began years ago and that pays off for all of us. We have always believed in it, we have always kept our feet on the ground, we have worked day after dayNo one ever came out saying that we were in France to win the Tour, not even him. Everything that came would have been a very important experienceI think this is an important point to make.
On Saturday's stage, it looked like you wanted to attack hard.
We tried to go for second place. The day before, it seemed to us that Vingegaard had reached his limit and we said to ourselves: «Why not give it a try?"You never know, and then the next day there was the time trial. The riders were all very motivated, we did what we could, but we found Pogacar and Vingeegaard who were certainly still having a great dayIt was right to try and we learned something anyway.
There were fears that the team wouldn't be up to par, but despite the absences, they performed well. What can we say?
Nothing negative. Moscon he did his part. Landa He worked and finished fifth in the Tour at 34 years old. Maybe some stages for sprinters seem to have been experienced peacefully, but in a group there is always stress, fear of falling, fear of the three kilometre regulation, With some days where they moved it to 4 and 5 kilometers. All in all, it was a very high-level Tour, but with few crashes. The riders always remained focused, and our team did its part. Hirt was called up at the last minute and in the last week he was readyUnfortunately, we had two withdrawals: Cattaneo and Masnada, which, as an Italian, I was disappointed by. We had to make some choices, and for various reasons, they weren't ready. I think it was a useful Tour for everyone, looking forward to the future, and it gave us a lot more certainty.
The future is unknown. A merger with Ineos Grenadiers was already discussed last year, and then more concretely. with Jumbo Visma. Evenepoel has a contract with the Belgian team until 2026, but it is no mystery that during the Tour he was already linked to Red Bull for next year, with which the Soudal-Quick Step shares the bike brand. We've seen jersey changes paid with bags of euros, to the point that to shield Pogacar, the UAE Team Emirates he raised his release clause to 150 million eurosWhat can be observed is that within the Quick Step group, Remco is following a consistent and progressive growth, with the protections that his 24 years make necessaryAre we sure that ending up in a team that will certainly expect results from him is the right choice?
