{"id":448310,"date":"2026-02-27T10:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T10:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448310\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T10:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T10:16:12","slug":"let-remco-do-what-he-wants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448310\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Remco do what he wants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>His inability to follow the best climbers in those key moments fueled criticism in the media and among Belgian fans, who questioned his physical condition at this early stage of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Dirk De Wolf and <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/tom-boonen\" title=\"Tom Boonen\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tom Boonen<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/sporza.be\/nl\/2026\/02\/26\/wielerclub-wattage-predikt-kalmte-na-eerste-koersweken-van-evenepoel-maar-de-rest-wordt-bergop-wel-beter-en-beter~1772107055003\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">discussed the topic on Cycling Club Wattage<\/a>, with Boonen attempting to slow down the rush to judgment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s still far too early to draw conclusions. We\u2019re only in February. It used to be alarming when you won the Tour of the United Arab Emirates, with everything that was still to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Remco Evenepoel will head to altitude training in Teide and, once that camp is completed, we may see a different Remco, with improved climbing capabilities. \u201cGoing uphill, Remco will improve a lot because of that climbing camp. But it\u2019s clear that the others are also climbing better and better,\u201d said Dirk De Wolf.<\/p>\n<p>De Wolf added to his reasoning: \u201cBut on the climbs he will have to connect with Ayuso, Del Toro and Vingegaard to finish on the podium of a Grand Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the Middle East, the strongest rider in the mountains was Isaac del Toro of UAE Team Emirates &#8211; XRG, with Italian Antonio Tiberi as his main rival. <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/cycling\/results-uae-tour-2026-isaac-del-toro-wins-on-jebel-hafeet-and-takes-race-lead-from-struggling-tiberis-shoulders\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The race was decided on Saturday\u2019s summit finish at Jebel Hafeet<\/a>. \u201cAt the Tour of the United Arab Emirates, Remco rode on the home ground of the Emirates team. They made that stage race a main objective,\u201d Boonen pointed out.\u201cNo one can hold a candle to him\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although the Emirates team always wants to win its home race, Remco won the roughly 12 km ITT and shook UAE, recovering the time he had lost and moving into the race lead, leaving Isaac del Toro shaken. \u201cRemco is still the best time trialist. No one can hold a candle to him\u201d, said De Wolf.<\/p>\n<p>Boonen does not want to place too much importance on Evenepoel\u2019s difficult moments in the Middle East. \u201cLet Remco do what he wants\u201d, with De Wolf countering: \u201cRemco will certainly win many other races. But we, the Belgian cycling fans, want him to climb with the very best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The race, which ended last Sunday, provided plenty of fuel for discussion. Although he was a notch below his usual level, Evenepoel has his goals clearly defined for 2026, with the Tour de France on the horizon.<\/p>\n<p>In March, Remco will return to Spain for the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and, in April, he has three one-day races on his calendar: Amstel Gold Race, La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/tadejpogacar-remcoevenepoel-68ea8dd3e43e0.jpg@webp.webp\" class=\"w-auto h-auto\" alt=\"Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar catch up ahead @Sirotti\u00a0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar catch up ahead @Sirotti\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; His inability to follow the best climbers in those key moments fueled criticism in the media and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,20997,7133,101,110324,119130,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-448310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe","10":"tag-remco-evenepoel","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tom-boonen","13":"tag-uae-tour","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448310","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=448310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}