When Remco Evenepoel turned pro in 2019 one of his closest teammates at Soudal – Quick-Step was Philippe Gilbert. The Belgian, former World Champion and multiple monument winner, has discusses Evenepoel’s recent transfer to Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe.
“Remco is right to step out of his comfort zone. The financial resources will be completely different. I’m not talking about the salary he’ll receive, but rather the opportunities in research, development, training camps, quality of supervision, etc,” Gilbert said in words to Le Soir.
The double Olympic Champion had achieved a lot in the one-day races and time-trials but in the Grand Tours there seemed to be a ceiling when it came to the Tour de France in the current peloton, as UAE Team Emirates – XRG and Team Visma | Lease a Bike where head and shoulders above the rest when it came to collective power. Evenepoel was not a victory contender in the race even on his best level, but as shown in 2024 he could take advantage of his rivals’ battle to follow along and ride onto the podium.
But Evenepoel is a rider that aims to go higher, and Gilbert believes that at BORA he may have the resources to aim for more. “He will have a more solid and enriched technical and technological foundation, necessary for the progress he seeks. I have the impression that in recent months at Soudal-Quick Step, he was above all stuck to his achievements. He ended up surrounding himself with people who said yes to him, regardless of the circumstances or the choices he had to make.”
Also mentally, the new challenge and need for adaptation is something that may do the 25-year old good: “From now on, I think he’ll find himself a bit like he was at the beginning of his career, when he arrived at Quick-Step and had to earn his place in our group”.
“Next season, he’ll have to fight to exist in a collective that’s intrinsically stronger than the one he’s been in until now. That’s decisive! If he had to start from scratch on another bike, with another brand, to find his perfect position in the time trial, it would have been a detrimental step backwards. Here, he’s kept all his bearings, which is huge.”