Seven-year relationship concludes with defiant display by Evenepoel at Il Lombardia.
Remco Evenepoel (Team Soudal Quick-Step) at Il Lombardia 2025 on October 11, 2025 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Updated October 12, 2025 03:40AM
He didn’t get the wins he wanted the past three weekends, but Remco Evenepoel was relieved and smiling after Il Lombardia Saturday.
The Belgian has had an at times greatly frustrating season, with his near-disastrous crash last winter compromising his training and leaving him without the proper foundation for key races.
That in turn saw his form falter at key moments, and was at least partly responsible for his abandon at the Tour de France.
Finishing second in Il Lombardia wasn’t a victory, but it does mean he heads into the off season in fine form and with growing confidence.
That could be the basis for a very strong 2026: safe to say Evenepoel is back on track.
“I am just happy with how I have been racing in the past two months, or one month and a half because I only raced from the beginning of September,” he said after the last monument of 2025.
“I am just happy with the way I can end my season and my career at this team.”
Evenepoel was best of the rest, leading the chase after Tadej Pogačar attacked and easily dispatched the other big favorites on the climb of Passo di Ganda.
That vicious surge happened inside 38km to go and the Slovenian ultimately finished 1:48 clear, although at least 10 seconds of that deficit was due to Evenepoel being delayed on the final climb close to the line.
“Two motorbikes almost crashed in front of me on the last climb,” Evenepoel told CyclingPro.net. “That was pretty hectic, especially because I was going quite fast and then needing to stop on a 15 percent gradient is not that easy.
“There was a bit of panic with the motorbike and all the cars around, but luckily my gap to Michael Storer was big enough to not being in trouble. In the end everything went well.”
‘Impossible to react’
Evenepoel wanted to win, but accepted second at Il Lombardia (Photo: Sara Cavallini/Getty Images)
Pogačar’s move and Evenepoel’s chase was a replica of how things turned out at the world championships and European championships.
On each occasion the Belgian was with others in pursuit, dropped them and chased alone all the way to the finish.
That happened again Saturday, with Evenepoel followed by Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) on the climb, and the duo reeling in Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) before the summit.
He then dropped those other two riders on the descent and chased hard from there to the line.
It was his last day racing with Soudal Quick-Step prior to his move to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and he had words of praise for the dedication his teammates showed to him.
“We had one guy in the breakaway, which was the goal. Then Matthia [Cattaneo], [Peter] Sierry, all the others really guided me through the day. So I didn’t have to worry about positioning and all that stuff.
“Always at the beginning of the descents we were in really good positions, everything went well. So I think overall we didn’t do anything wrong. Also my positioning towards the second-last climb was really good. I was straight away on the wheel of the UAE guys so everything went super well.”
And yet being in the right place at the right time was not quite enough when dealing with a rival as ferocious as the world champion.
Evenepoel is a very ambitious rider and is desperate to try to close the gap, but he couldn’t react when the hammer went down.
“The moment when Tadej attacked the pace was already so high for a certain minute that it was impossible to react,” he accepted. “So I had to do my own rhythm, my own pace.”
Still, he was okay about the result, saying he was happy with his race.
He can’t match his big rival yet, but he hopes that next year will be different.
Saying goodbye to Soudal
Saturday marked Evenepoel’s last time racing in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey (Photo: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Speaking recently, Evenepoel shrugged off a question about how the gap between the two riders will be able to be closed.
He said it was up to his new trainer to worry about that and to work out what to do. Collaboration with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe will start soon and trying to find the missing percentages are certain to be top of the agenda.
He may well take encouragement from Saturday’s result. Okay, he was 1:48 behind Pogačar, but last year he was 3:16 behind when also finishing second.
For now he is grateful to Soudal Quick-Step. He may be leaving for what he feels are better opportunities, but he also recognised what he was given by that squad.
“I am just very happy and proud to have been the leader in this team, to have taken a lot of victories for this team,” he stated.
“Like I said this morning, I was going to give myself one more time at the maximum and I think I did it again today. I am the type of guy who will always keep fighting until the end.”
It’s that same ambition which sees him seek pastures new, motivated by the hope that this could be the route to Tour victory.
“I am just happy with how everything went. The last seven years is something I will take with me for the rest of my life, but I think now it is time for something new to start.”