{"id":445904,"date":"2026-01-29T21:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/445904\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T21:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:04:09","slug":"remco-evenepoel-answers-the-hype-with-debut-red-bull-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/445904\/","title":{"rendered":"Remco Evenepoel Answers the Hype with Debut Red Bull Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

The early season race against the clock served as a race-speed dress rehearsal for the Tour de France team time trial in Barcelona that Evenepoel and Co. will face in July.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Evenepoel helps power Red Bull to victory in his season debut at Mallorca. (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Published January 29, 2026 10:14AM<\/p>\n

The Remco Evenepoel<\/a> era at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe<\/a> began the only way it realistically could \u2014 with a victory.<\/p>\n

Racing for the first time in Red Bull colors after the most expensive transfer the sport\u2019s ever seen<\/a>, Evenepoel drove his new team to the \u201cW\u201d in Thursday\u2019s 23.8km team time trial at close to 60kph on the roads of Mallorca.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we did today was really close to perfection for this TTT,\u201d Evenepoel told Eurosport. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a hard course for elevation, but a team time trial is always pretty hard. We had a structured plan, and it turned out well, so we have to be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fast TTT doubled as a race-speed dress rehearsal for the opening stage of the Tour de France<\/a> waiting in July, where the Tour opens with a team time trial on the urban streets of Barcelona.<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional team time trials, where the clock stops on the fourth or fifth rider, the Tour\u2019s July test will count each rider individually, even if raced as a full squad.<\/p>\n

Still, Thursday\u2019s victorious debut counted, and it was just what his new bosses at Red Bull spent millions of dollars on<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anything else would have been seen as a disaster.<\/p>\n

Test run for Barcelona
\n\"RedEvenepoel, center, celebrates his first win in Red Bull colors. (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Racing with many of the riders who will be at his side in July, Evenepoel powered Red Bull to the win, though the margin was far tighter than anyone expected after Movistar came within four seconds.<\/p>\n

At the intermediate time check, Red Bull ranked only third. The race hinged on a key climb, where Evenepoel steadied the team and then poured on the gas in the final kilometers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are one-for-one in team time trials, so we started well,\u201d Evenepoel said with a laugh. \u201cIt was nice to start here with some strong guys, who are on the \u2018long list\u2019 [for Tour de France].<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery race is different, so it\u2019s hard to say where we can improve. Today was close to perfection. We\u2019re ready to go to the Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evenepoel continues his Mallorca block with Friday\u2019s Trofeo Serra Tramuntana and Saturday\u2019s Trofeo Andratx-Pollen\u00e7a, two punchy one-day races that will further hone his early-season condition.<\/p>\n

His WorldTour debut comes at the UAE Tour next month, when he\u2019ll face off against Jonas Vingegaard.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s lineup also hinted at the larger goals at the center of what this season is all about.<\/p>\n

Co-captain Florian Lipowitz also debuted his 2026 season, along with several riders racing Thursday, including Mattia Cattaneo, Gianni Moscon, Maxim Van Gils, and Nico Denz, all on the team\u2019s Tour long list.<\/p>\n

Key staffers followed in the team car, including sport directors Klaas Lodewyck and Patxi Vila. Red Bull is just revving things up.<\/p>\n

Evenepoel was typically blunt when he spoke to journalists this week about his season\u2019s Tour de France goals after joining cycling\u2019s newest super team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that, if everything goes well, I can fight for second place,\u201d he said earlier this week. \u201cFirst place? That all depends on how strong Tadej and Jonas are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Evenepoel Era at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe is now officially underway.<\/p>\n

A win was all but mandatory Thursday, and Red Bull got it. His new bosses will be happy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The early season race against the clock served as a race-speed dress rehearsal for the Tour de France…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,214038,63,784,68224,85,145758,150211,100857,78831,67883],"class_list":{"0":"post-445904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-audio-true","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cycling","12":"tag-parent_category-road","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tag-florian-lipowitz","15":"tag-tag-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe","16":"tag-tag-remco-evenepoel","17":"tag-tag-tour-de-france","18":"tag-type-article"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}