{"id":225522,"date":"2025-10-25T23:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T23:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/225522\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T23:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T23:49:09","slug":"tour-plot-twist-in-the-making-evenepoels-father-drops-striking-remark-about-pogacar-that-comes-from-the-heart-of-the-peloton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/225522\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour plot twist in the making? Evenepoel\u2019s father drops striking remark about Pogacar that “comes from the heart of the peloton”"},"content":{"rendered":"

People sometimes make some pretty bold statements in cycling, and Friday was no different. Belgian broadcaster RTBF<\/a> chatted with Patrick Evenepoel, dad of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s new signing Remco Evenepoel<\/a>. The Belgian looked ahead to the Tour de France<\/a> and had a fascinating comment to share \u201cfrom the heart of the peloton.\u201dIt is still far from certain that Evenepoel will be allowed to ride the Tour on behalf of his new team. \u201cWe will now wait for the routes of the other major tours before finalizing the season plans for the leaders,\u201d said brand-new <\/a>Chief of Sports<\/a> Zak Dempster<\/a>. \u201cOf course, we are looking at the Tour route with the classification in mind.\u201dIf Evenepoel does go, the Belgian seems likely to come up against Tadej Pogacar<\/a> and Jonas Vingegaard again. The two stars have dominated the last five editions of the Tour, sharing the overall victories three (for Pogacar) to two (for Vingegaard). Logically, the two will be there in 2026, right? Right?!<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure Pogacar will be competing?\u201d Patrick Evenepoel questions the world champion’s participation. \u201cYou always talk about Pogacar, but I don’t get the impression that he will be competing in the Tour this year. He wants to ride the Giro and the Vuelta. That’s what I’ve heard from the peloton,\u201d Evenepoel’s father drops a tiny bombshell.<\/p>\n

In Pogacar’s absence, Papa Patrick sees opportunities for his son. According to the Belgian, the short time trial on day sixteen won’t make much difference. \u201cYou don’t win the Tour with a time trial anyway. You win the Tour in the mountains. Whether there’s a 40, 50, or 60-kilometer time trial, I don’t think it changes anything. In the last week, you can still have a three-minute lead and lose ten minutes in one stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\"remco-evenepoel\"\/Patrick Evenepoel would like to see his son go to the Tour as team leader: “Everyone knows he is mentally very strong”<\/p>\n

Father Patrick is reluctant to discuss his son’s schedule for next year. “We don’t talk much about racing. The season is over; it’s up to him and his new team to decide how to organize their schedule. Anything can happen. We saw it last year: an illness, a simple accident, and everything went down the drain.”<\/p>\n

While Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe is waiting for the Giro and Vuelta routes to be announced before deciding who will start where, Patrick Evenepoel sees his son leading the team in the Tour. \u201dEveryone knows he is mentally very strong. In his first Tour, he made it to the podium. Last year, he wasn\u2019t ready, that\u2019s clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that with a perfect winter, with very good preparation, without bad luck, he can be 100% ready for the Tour and achieve an outstanding result,\u201d Evenepoel’s father continues.<\/p>\n

And then, of course, a dream about the yellow jersey after day one cannot be missing. \u201cI think it’s achievable. And I especially think that if he goes to the Tour, they will try to achieve a very good result. But both Vingegaard and Pogacar will want the yellow jersey,\u201d concludes the Belgian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People sometimes make some pretty bold statements in cycling, and Friday was no different. Belgian broadcaster RTBF chatted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-225522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}