After flying start with Red Bull, Evenepoel looks ahead to Pogacar clash: “That’s exactly where he makes the difference”

With so many leaders at Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe, it wasn’t unthinkable that Evenepoel might be sent to the Giro d’Italia, and there was a feeling the organisers were hoping for that too, with a long time trial included in the route. There was also a brief flirtation with the Tour of Flanders, but both the Giro and “Flanders’ Finest” will be skipped this year.

As a guest on Bistrot Vélo, Evenepoel explained the thinking behind those choices. “We spoke a lot with the team. In my view the Giro was a very good preparation for the Tour de France, especially with the time trial that suited me very well. But the team really wants to get to know me this year, analyse my statistics and see how I develop throughout the year. I understand that too.”

Evenepoel hopes his debut season with the team runs smoothly. “Hopefully I don’t crash and I don’t get sick, so I can have a normal season and see how I respond after altitude training, after ten race days, and so on. That’s why we made a base programme. It’s a nice programme, with great races and quite a few peak moments. The spring races are all races where I’m going to compete to win.”

Evenepoel — who won all three of his first race days for his new team — will face Pogacar in both the Ardennes and the Tour de France. There’s a good chance they will also meet at the World Championships in Canada. The Belgian says he learned a lot from last year’s Worlds, where Pogacar took the rainbow jersey again in Rwanda.

“I was really at a high level and I could fight with him on the climb where he dropped me,” Evenepoel said, though he ultimately had to let the Slovenian go. “I had to recover for 20–30 seconds from that first effort. Those are the things we’re working on — the things we want to improve. We do a lot of high-intensity training.”

Evenepoel — the reigning time trial world champion — also pointed out just how extraordinary Pogacar’s level has been. “We look at his level from 2025, where I think he was untouchable,” he said. Still, Evenepoel wants to reach that level too. “We want to reach my maximum level. I hope that one day I can be alongside him — maybe even ahead of him.”

The two headliners will go head-to-head in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. In La Doyenne, Evenepoel hopes he can beat his Slovenian rival this time — but he knows it will be difficult. “It’s five minutes of a very intense effort, and I feel that Tadej makes the difference precisely in those five to ten minutes. That’s what we’re working on: being able to hold a certain power for five to ten minutes. So far everything is going well in training.”