Former Vingegaard coach starts working with Remco Evenepoel at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe

Tim Heemskerk is set to work as Remco Evenepoel’s trainer, according to HLN. The news that Jonas Vingegaard’s former trainer had moved to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe had already emerged several weeks ago, but his exact role was still unclear at the time. HLN now reports that the trainer will indeed work with the Belgian Grand Tour rider.

There are currently many changes taking place in the staff of several top teams. Grischa Niermann is leaving for Lidl-Trek, where Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe trainer Dan Lorang is also moving. Heemskerk, meanwhile, has taken the route from Visma | Lease a Bike to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, as was already announced a few weeks ago.

Lorang was Evenepoel’s personal trainer at the German team and, for the sake of consistency, was expected to continue in that role until 2027, after which he would move to Lidl-Trek as Head of Performance. However, Heemskerk’s arrival and the wider reshuffle have accelerated the handover of Evenepoel’s coaching duties, meaning the change will already take place at the end of July.

The Dutch trainer, who won the Tour de France twice with Vingegaard, will take over training duties for the Belgian from 1 August, according to HLN, although he has already been involved in the process since leaving Visma | Lease a Bike. It is not yet known how much will change for Evenepoel. Lorang is said to have focused heavily on harder VO2max sessions in order to counter Tadej Pogacar’s accelerations.

It is, however, very much the question whether Heemskerk will continue along those lines. At Visma | Lease a Bike, the trainer left, by his own account, because he “struggled to keep putting his creativity and passion into the job”. As Evenepoel’s trainer at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, he is expected to have more room for that.