Ahead of the first big mountain stage of this year’s Tour de France, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are full of confidence in their star rider, Remco Evenepoel, with long-term sports director Klaas Lodewyck saying this is the lightest he’s seen him for a long time.
Evenepoel confirmed before the Grand Départ that he had shed almost four kilograms in preparation for the long climbing, but also insisted that “the power has remained,” highlighting just why Red Bull are seeing only positive signs.
Although without a major summit finish, stage 6 to Garavnie-Gèdre contains the two hardest climbs of the race so far: the Col d’Aspin (12km at 6.5%) and the legendary Col du Tourmalet (17.1km at 7.3%), where the GC favourites could properly come to the fore.
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Evenepoel has made it through the opening team time trial, two punchy finishes, and survived the road back to the Pyrenees without much incident, sitting just 23 seconds behind key rivals Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard overall. According to his team, everything is on track, but that could all become unstuck, or get even better, on Thursday.
“So far, so good. All signals are positive for the moment,” said Lodewyck to Cyclingnews at the team bus before stage 5. “I mean, I’m pretty excited [for the first mountain day]. It’s a long time ago since we saw Remco with this race weight. I think so far we only have positive signals, so yeah, we’ve got to be excited racing tomorrow.”
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There were question marks surrounding Evenepoel’s form heading into the Tour, after he cancelled all his racing plans after the spring and instead opted for 68 days of intense training to arrive at the start in Barcelona at the correct weight and with his best level yet.
Lodewyck also spoke of how this break from the stresses of racing has also made Evenepoel calmer and has actually made him more confident that competing at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes or Tour de Suisse might have achieved.
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“I think he feels good, and maybe is a bit less stressed, because the last two months he really took time to prepare well. In the past, it was always a bit of a rush to get ready for Dauphine, and then after, you either feel really good or feel really bad,” said Lodewyck.
“I think this time we really took the time to respect his training, but also his rest. If you start a Grand Tour with less question marks, you go much more confident into the race, and I think so far we have positive signals in this race. That’s why maybe he’s a bit more relaxed than in other years.”
While relaxed after five tough days of Tour racing, it’s safe to say the team won’t be letting in any outside noise surrounding Evenepoel’s previously plagued history with the Tourmalet, which will be crested with 40km to go on stage 6.
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In 2023 at the Vuelta, Evenepoel was forced to ride up the Tourmalet to the finish after his title defence went up in smoke on the Col d’Aubisque some 90km before the summit.
Two years later, his return to the climb at the Tour was no better, and he was forced to abandon the race on the Tourmalet and climb into the team car. As he returns to its slopes tomorrow, there could be a sense of conquering previous demons, but Lodewyck was only looking to the positives and the future, not previous bad days.
“I don’t think we should focus too much on [this] or try to create a black piste,” he said firmly. “I think he has already done amazing climbs in the past that were much harder than Tourmalet. So, let’s just focus on how he is and move forward.”
‘They have to be pretty light to be competitive’
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The Belgian DS, who worked with Evenepoel at Soudal-QuickStep and went with him to Red Bull for the start of this season, also spoke about the weight management and how diligent Evenepoel was in his efforts. By all accounts, he left no stone unturned to arrive in July in top shape.
When was the last time he was this skinny? “It’s a long time ago, let’s say,” said Lodewyck.
“But in general, if you see Pogačar now, and compared to other years, he also stepped up his game again, so he’s also very lean. It’s not only Remco; they know it’s going to be very, very hard, especially from the second weekend on, and then the last week is brutal, so they all know they have to be pretty light to be competitive.
“As you said, I think Remco is probably the lightest I’ve ever seen him so far, so I think we should be very pleased with that.
“We took our time, we didn’t rush, and I think we came at a certain point, also with the feedback from nutritionist trainers, that we find the real balance now, and he can also hold the weight. I think that’s the most important thing, because you can start super skinny, but if you squeeze, you just gain super fast. So far, we’re on track. We hope to keep it that way.”
With the weight loss, Evenepoel is hoping to be able to match the moves of Pogačar and Vingegaard on the vicious slopes of the Tourmalet, where his DS is expecting the world champion to ignite the race as he and lieutenant Isaac del Toro did to win stages 2 and 3.
“I think it’s pretty clear UAE will probably go again for the stage and try to gain some time back,” Lodewyck said.
“I think with the way they’re racing already so far, I don’t see a big question mark. They’re just going to do what they want to do, and I think all the rest is just a matter of staying as long as possible in their wheel.”
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