Evenepoel camp quietly hopes for a slightly more passive Vingegaard in battle with Pogacar

Evenepoel and Lodewyck arrived at Deceuninck Quick-Step at the same time back then. The rider as the universally praised “glutton” coming out of the juniors and already Belgium’s new great hope, the sports director—who had retired as a rider at 27 in 2015 with BMC—somewhat more quietly, but with credentials all the same.

It was at that American team where, as a super-domestique, he learned plenty from Olympic and world champions like Philippe Gilbert, Greg Van Avermaet, Cadel Evans, Thor Hushovd, Samuel Sanchez and Alessandro Ballan—knowledge he then put into practice as a directeur sportif with the (almost equally impressive) development squad in those years.

With that team, he guided riders such as Jasper Philipsen, Marc Hirschi, Nathan Van Hooydonck, Bas Tietema and Pascal Eenkhoorn, before moving on to Quick-Step. There he encountered the next top talent in the shape of Evenepoel, and a strong bond of trust formed. So it was no surprise that he also followed Evenepoel to Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe.

With a rider, the obvious question is always: what’s it like in a new environment? But what is it like as a sports director? “Let’s just say it’s pretty exciting as well. I came to Soudal Quick-Step and I already knew quite a lot of the staff, but here it’s almost completely new. So that first introduction in Salzburg was quite exciting: you shake hands with people, but you don’t exactly know who you’re shaking hands with. But now it’s already starting to go well.”

“What also makes it harder: all those nicknames,” the friendly Belgian laughs. “It’s actually not their real name you have to remember, but the nickname. And I was also aware that we had to let go of our ‘little clique’ from Soudal Quick-Step. And that’s worked out well,” Lodewyck concludes during the team camp in Mallorca.

Second standard question: what’s different? “We did a bit more meeting up at Soudal Quick-Step—without taking anything away from them. They did very good work there and they still do. At Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe there’s just a bit more knowledge on board to go into the details. Is that better? I assume so, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

“With Remco, you can sell him something if it’s effectively built on something,” Lodewyck knows from experience by now. Racing is racing, of course, but with things like nutrition or training it really helps if you can show that it’s proven to work—through studies, but certainly also through riders who are already with the team.

“Koen Pelgrim has done very good work, but it’s always interesting to see how someone responds to slightly different stimuli in training,” he continues. In racing, the changes on the coaching side will probably remain limited. “I’ll still do the races with Remco and that connection stays intact, although I also think it’s very important that I have a feel for the other riders.”

Evenepoel starts his season on Thursday with the team time trial on Mallorca, with the focus primarily on the Tour de France. And that means—among other things—no Milan–Sanremo, Tour of Flanders and Giro d’Italia for the double Olympic champion.

“They’re not easy choices. As a Belgian, but also as a non-Belgian. And he will definitely be able to ride a race like the Tour of Flanders at some point. It’s up to us, the team, to protect him. If Remco feels good, he’d want to ride a race every week, so to speak,” says Lodewyck.

“That’s also the case for Tadej, but what if he breaks his pelvis in a crash in Roubaix? Then even his team thinks: damn. And Remco is still at a different point in his career, where he hasn’t won the Tour yet. If that were to happen, then certain choices afterwards might become easier.”

“His last six months have been really good and Remco has truly taken another step,” Lodewyck analyses the second half of 2025. “Tadej makes the difference, sure, but then that difference stays the same. And Remco also rides minutes clear of the rest. We want to build on that period towards the Tour, but after Catalonia we’ll already know where we stand in a certain way. Then we can say: this is or isn’t possible.”

“Last year’s Tour wasn’t a yardstick, but the year before, the gap to Jonas Vingegaard wasn’t big at times. We have to hold onto that as well,” the Belgian keeps the faith. “Tadej Pogacar is still only human. When Egan Bernal won the Tour, we also thought he would be set for six, seven, eight years. And with Vingegaard and Pogacar it was like that too.”

“We have to believe that at this point in his career we can go all-in on the Tour and start there in the strongest possible way.” Whatever comes out of that is for the future. “The legs will always decide in the Tour. That last week is so hard that you can’t hide from it.”

“With two riders we can try to do damage, and maybe Vingegaard will also say to Pogacar: I’ve been second so many times and I don’t get any gifts either—so you do it,” Lodewyck hopes. And then? “And then we have to be ready with two.” (En dan moeten wij met twee klaar staan.)