<\/p>\n
That sentence cuts straight to the core of the debate. Just days before arriving in the UAE, Evenepoel had controlled races in Spain with authority, riding rivals off his wheel without appearing strained. In Abu Dhabi, he was suddenly isolated and distanced on gradients that, historically, suit his sustained tempo style.<\/p>\n
Malori does not believe the explanation lies in desert heat or simple fatigue. \u201cTo me it looked like Evenepoel went there to test the time trial, and the rest of the race didn\u2019t interest him that much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The 68-tooth test<\/p>\n
The time trial itself is central to Malori\u2019s reading of events.<\/p>\n
Evenepoel rode the stage with a 68-tooth single chainring, a significant choice even in today\u2019s high-speed aero era. He later suggested the effort may have contributed to the difficulties that followed in the mountains.<\/p>\n
Malori sees it differently. \u201cIt was an extremely fast course, and this year he has changed many things, from preparation to equipment,\u201d he explained. \u201cYou have to test that gear in competition. You need to understand how to launch it, how to accelerate, how the chain works across the cassette.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, this was not an indulgence. It was a rehearsal.<\/p>\n
He dismissed the idea that such a gear would leave lasting damage in modern stage racing. \u201cThere is no disadvantage. The distances are shorter now, cadence is higher. It\u2019s not like the old 50-kilometre time trials at 78 rpm. The problem doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
The implication is clear: the mountain losses were unlikely to have been caused by mechanical overreach.<\/p>\n
\u201cJebel Hafeet is not Alpe d\u2019Huez\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps Malori\u2019s most pointed observation concerns the terrain itself. \u201cJebel Hafeet is longer and harder, but it\u2019s not Alpe d\u2019Huez,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Evenepoel\u2019s profile has always been built around steady-state climbing rather than explosive accelerations. On paper, Hafeet suits that engine. For Malori, the version of Evenepoel seen in Spain should not be distanced so decisively on such a climb unless the broader objective lay elsewhere. \u201cI think he went there to test the time trial, he won it, and then he drew a line,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
That interpretation reframes the week entirely. The GC was not the priority. The time trial was.<\/p>\n
A staged build towards bigger goals<\/p>\n
Malori also questioned the structure of Evenepoel\u2019s early season. Mallorca. Andalucia. UAE. Then, a month away from racing before Catalunya. \u201cYou might expect that from Van Aert targeting the Classics, not from Evenepoel,\u201d he observed, suggesting the UAE Tour may have doubled as an endurance block rather than a peak performance target.<\/p>\n
He even noted that Evenepoel did not yet appear at his leanest racing condition. \u201cIf you look at the photos, he is still slightly above his usual standard,\u201d Malori said, implying that February was not meant to showcase final climbing form.<\/p>\n
That matters when weighing the broader context. Evenepoel has repeatedly stated that his defining goal remains beating Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France. February in the desert is not July in the Alps.<\/p>\n
Excuses \u2013 or transparency?<\/p>\n
Evenepoel\u2019s openness in dissecting his setbacks has drawn mixed reactions. He acknowledged being dropped. He referenced recovery, illness and effort distribution. He did not hide from the outcome.<\/p>\n
Malori\u2019s perspective does not accuse him of indifference. Instead, it questions whether the narrative of collapse is misplaced. \u201cHe knows his programme, and he did what he had to do,\u201d Malori said. \u201cThe important thing is that the team knew it. The rest doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UAE Tour, in this reading, becomes less a warning sign and more a controlled checkpoint in a longer preparation arc.<\/p>\n
Whether that interpretation proves accurate will only become clear later this spring, and ultimately in July.<\/p>\n
But for Malori, the idea that Evenepoel simply \u201clost his level\u201d in a matter of days is the least convincing explanation of all.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" That sentence cuts straight to the core of the debate. Just days before arriving in the UAE,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,20997,7133,101,119130,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-456081","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-uae-tour","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456081","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=456081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}