🎥 Remco Evenepoel reveals massive FTP numbers in behind-the-scenes altitude camp video

Remco Evenepoel chose to step away from racing after a busy spring, taking a lengthy break in the build-up to the Tour de France. The Belgian leader of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe is spending 68 days away from the race calendar — though "away from it all" is not quite right. He is working hard on his Tour de France condition at an altitude training camp. He has given fans a glimpse behind the scenes at his latest altitude training camp on his YouTube channel.

Evenepoel had a busy spring with a heavy racing load. He opened his season in January and carried it through the UAE Tour and the Volta a Catalunya before taking on the Tour of Flanders and the Ardennes Classics. After finishing third at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he and his team decided to stay off the bike entirely until the Tour de France start.

The Belgian headed to an altitude training camp. On his YouTube channel, viewers can see exactly what that involves. In March, Evenepoel was on Tenerife, accompanied by mechanic and cousin Dario Kloeck and carers David Geeroms and Bartholomeo Bartek. He worked through some steady training kilometres and also made time for walks on the rest days. There were evenings of Uno over dinner too — but the serious work was very much on the menu. An FTP session makes up the most interesting part of the video.

For those unfamiliar with the term: FTP stands for Functional Threshold Power. It is the average wattage a cyclist can sustain for a full hour — a key measure, especially on long climbs where you might genuinely be riding for an hour at a time.

The FTP test was gruelling, as the video makes clear. Evenepoel had to hold his FTP value for 15 minutes, then twice for 12 minutes, once for 10 minutes and twice more for 8 minutes. During the session, world time trial champion Evenepoel and his performance coach Dan Lorang revealed that his FTP sits at 425 watts. "With 420 watts we would be under threshold," Lorang explained after taking a blood lactate reading. "425 — we are somewhere there when we talk about the long effort, so it's perfectly matched."

To put that into context: Evenepoel weighs 63 kilograms according to ProcyclingStats, which works out at approximately 6.75 watts per kilogram. For a further comparison, consider Tadej Pogacar's effort on Plateau de Beille at the 2024 Tour de France — one of his finest performances. The Slovenian produced 6.98 watts per kilogram over 39 minutes. For a rider whose strength is the time trial and who is not yet at peak form, Evenepoel's numbers are anything but modest.

For context: a well-trained amateur will typically produce around three to four watts per kilogram over an hour, while professionals measure between five and six. When you are this far above that range, you know the shape is there. Roll on the Tour de France.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]