Evenepoel hunts Euro redemption after saddle chaos cost him shot at rainbow jersey in Kigali: ‘Remco said he shouldn’t have stopped.’
Bike troubles left Evenepoel chasing in the most decisive sections of the race. (Photo: Chris Auld/Velo)
Published September 30, 2025 06:20AM
Remco Evenepoel has no time to wallow in Kigali frustration from Sunday’s derailed road world championships bid.
Barely 72 hours after a saddle fiasco cost him a shot at the rainbow jersey in Rwanda, the Belgian reloads this week in France, where the European Championships deliver a chance for redemption in a rematch with Tadej Pogačar.
On Wednesday, Evenepoel lines up in the time trial, followed by Sunday’s 200km road race that ill see a replay of the world championship duel with Pogačar, one ideally without bike problems.
“The recovery is short, but the pressure for the time trial is not super great. Remco is relaxed, but also hungry,” Belgian national coach Serge Pauwels told HLN. “He’s already looking forward to the road race.”
And this time the field is even deeper at the 2025 Euro champs, with Jonas Vingegaard, Mads Pedersen, and João Almeida joining the fray after skipping Rwanda.
For Evenepoel, the Euros are a real-time shot at redemption after Sunday’s rumble in Rwanda went off the rails with bike issues in the most decisive part of the race.
Still bruising from Rwanda: ‘The strongest won’
Evenepoel checks back during the Rwanda road worlds. (Photo: Chris Auld/Velo)
Speaking to HLN, Pauwels reflected on the road race that turned into a fiasco of bike swaps and frustration after a pothole on the Mount Kigali loop jolted Evenepoel’s saddle out of position.
With the pressure on, things unraveled Sunday in front of a worldwide live audience just before the decisive climb at Mount Kigali, where Pogačar and Isaac del Toro pulled clear.
Pogačar later soloed to his second rainbow, and Evenepoel was never truly in the fight, though he saved the day with silver after chasing back and then attacking.
According to the team, an errant pothole jolted Evenepoel’s saddle out of position. From there, a cascade of stops and starts and three bike swaps saw the Belgian star racing for second, not for gold.
Pauwels said the team tried to break down the aftermath of the breakdown in a heated race contested Sunday without race radio.
“I spoke briefly to Remco at breakfast, and he himself said he shouldn’t have stopped. But of course it was a decision of the moment, in his bubble without much information,” Pauwels said. “It’s not as easy as when you watch the course on television.”
Belgium’s race never took off Sunday, first when time trial medalist and key helper Ilan Van Wilder crashed out with a broken wrist.
Evenepoel’s saddle problems only exacerbated the stress with the key climb looming up the road. Evenepoel first swapped bikes, then demanded another when he thought the saddle height was off.
Evenepoel kicked the air, shouted at the TV cameras, and pounded his bike in growing frustration as the rainbow slipped away up the road.
“We checked it three times, but there was nothing wrong,” said team mechanic Dario Kloeck, who is also Evenepoel’s cousin.
Real or imagined, the bike problems left Evenepoel chasing the entire race. The delay cost him 45 seconds before Quinten Hermans hauled him back to the front, but Pogačar was gone.
“The strongest won,” Pauwels said. “But in ideal conditions, we might have had a little more of a chance. There was that bad luck, Ilan [Van Wilder] who dropped out, Tiesj [Benoot] who was not there.”
Different outcome in Euros?
The race didn’t unfold the way Evenepoel was hoping. (Photo: Chris Auld/Velo)
Fans are lucky to see another Evenepoel-Pogačar title bout just a week after the Rwanda worlds.
The 2025 European championships will see three of the “Big 4” locking horns as Vingegaard parachutes in for a rare elite national teams race.
Pauwels, an ex-pro who is taking over the Belgian national team, said the demands of Rwanda’s brutal course could play out on the roads Sunday in France.
“Remco also found the course very hard, maybe a bit too much,” Pauwels said. “When I look at how the worlds were raced from 10 years ago, it seems to have become a different sport.”
With silver in the road race Sunday, Evenepoel stopped short of becoming the first rider to win the rainbow jersey in both the time trial and road race in the same year.
Since the time trial world title was introduced in 1994, a few riders have come close.
Spain’s Miguel Indurain and Abraham Olano amost pulled it off in 1995, when both won gold and silver in the TT and road race in opposite order, with Olano the world champion on the road and Indurain in the TT.
Evenepoel — a double Olympic gold medalist in road and time trial in Paris last summer — was close in 2022 when he won the road title and bronze in the TT. Wout van Aert won silver in both the road race and TT in 2020.
If Sunday’s European championships are not enough, Evenepoel and Pogačar will face off one more time at Il Lombardia on October 11 to close out 2025.