{"id":789001,"date":"2026-07-08T20:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T20:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/789001\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T20:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T20:44:13","slug":"lightweight-evenepoel-aims-to-conquer-the-tourmalet-on-stage-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/789001\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightweight Evenepoel aims to conquer the Tourmalet on stage 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cycling world will be holding its breath on Thursday during Stage 6 of the Tour de France. With a stage over the Tourmalet<\/a>, Tadej Pogacar and UAE Emirates-XRG could make a strong move. Jonas Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike will have to be on their game to keep up. And what about the super-lightweight Remco Evenepoel<\/a> and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe?IDL Pro Cycling spoke with team director Klaas Lodewyck.Evenepoel seems to have found a new version of himself in this Tour de France\u2014Evenepoel 2.0. The Belgian, who is still only 26, opted for a different approach to Tour preparation with his new team (which he joined last winter) and appeared with a sharp look on his face at the team presentation in Barcelona in early July. \u201cI lost 4 kilos,\u201d he proudly told the journalists in attendance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This was thanks to 2.5 months of training and meticulous preparation, after he rode Li\u00e8ge\u2013Bastogne\u2013Li\u00e8ge in April and decided not to race again until the Tour. \u201cWe took our time and didn\u2019t rush anything, in close consultation with our nutrition coaches and trainers. We\u2019ve found a balance that allows Remco to maintain this weight,\u201d said Lodewyck.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"remco-evenepoel\"\/<\/p>\n

Remco Evenepoel at the team presentation in Barcelona<\/p>\n

Evenepoel has never been as light as he is in this Tour de France<\/p>\n

The Belgian team director, who\u2014like Evenepoel\u2014moved from Soudal Quick-Step to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe last winter, had to admit to us that he had never seen his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 look so light before. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time. That\u2019s why he was a little less explosive in the first few days, but let\u2019s not forget that Tadej Pogacar has simply taken it up a notch and looks sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Add Vingegaard and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) to that, and you\u2019ve got four skinny guys among the top favorites. \u201cIt\u2019s not just Remco who\u2019s light\u2014things get tough starting in the second week, and the third week is brutal. You have to be light to be competitive in this Tour, even though Remco has never been in such great shape in his career. He should be happy about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the long preparation period without races was also related to that. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t start the Tour lightly, only to be quickly worn out. We\u2019re on track; hopefully it stays that way. Yes, Remco is feeling good and is a little less stressed because he\u2019s been able to prepare really well over the past 2.5 months. In the past, there was always a bit of a rush to be ready for the Dauphin\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"remco-evenepoel\"\/<\/p>\n

Evenepoel rode a strong team time trial with Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe<\/p>\n

Evenepoel feels confident heading into\u00a0Tourmalet<\/p>\n

Evenepoel had already ridden the Tour de France in 2024 and 2025. His debut was a success, with a stage win, the young rider\u2019s jersey, and a third-place finish in the overall standings. In 2025, he was a shadow of his former self. \u201cHe had more time to really focus on his training and get some rest. When you start a Grand Tour with fewer uncertainties, you go into the Tour with more confidence. Maybe that\u2019s why he\u2019s more relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, so good,\u201d Lodewyck concluded after five stages of the Tour. Evenepoel is 23 seconds behind Pogacar and Vingegaard, but ahead of all the other team leaders. \u201cEverything looks positive, although on days like Stage 5, you always have to be on your guard and make sure your nutrition is on point all day. If you\u2019ve got everything in order, you can head into Stage 6 with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

On that stage, the riders will face their first mountain stage in the Pyrenees. The Col d\u2019Aspin, Tourmalet, and the uphill finish in Gavarnie-G\u00e8dre add up to nearly 4,200 meters of elevation gain. Even Lodewyck isn\u2019t sure exactly how his team leader will fare. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since we\u2019ve seen Remco climb at this race weight. So far, we\u2019ve seen nothing but positive signs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"florian-lipowitz-remco-evenepoel\"\/Can Evenepoel break the Tourmalet curse?<\/p>\n

According to his team director, the fact that Evenepoel had very weak legs during his last two ascents of the Tourmalet shouldn\u2019t matter. In 2024, Evenepoel lost contact with Pogacar and Vingegaard there; in 2025, he abandoned the stage over the Tourmalet. And then there was the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a in 2023, when Evenepoel lost 27 minutes on the Tourmalet stage. He did, however, bounce back with several stage wins and the mountains jersey in the days that followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t focus too much on the idea that the Tourmalet is some kind of black monster for Remco. He\u2019s already tackled much tougher climbs successfully, so let\u2019s focus on where he stands right now and look ahead,\u201d according to sources at Red Bull. \u201cIt seems clear to me that UAE will once again be going for the stage win and time gains. They\u2019ll do what they want; we just have to stay on their wheel for as long as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cycling world will be holding its breath on Thursday during Stage 6 of the Tour de France.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,18460,5901,82,262636],"class_list":["post-789001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe","tag-remco-evenepoel","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}