"Luckily I’m changing teams, so it’s their problem": Evenepoel puts Red Bull to work in mission "follow Pogacar"

Evenepoel seemed to have everything under control at the European Championships. He set a fast pace early on with Belgium, isolated Pogacar from his compatriots, and responded to Pogacar's expected acceleration 75 kilometers from the finish. However, his legs gave out before the battle was over when Evenepoel had to do all the work alone in a chasing group.

“It was quite frustrating,” said the Olympic champion about the lack of cooperation from Paul Seixas, Juan Ayuso, and Christian Scaroni, shortly after Pogacar had pulled away. “If everyone worked hard to close the gap, I think we could have come back. But some riders had orders not to ride. Those are race tactics, but we have to accept that,” he said in the mixed zone.

What briefly remained at 20 seconds eventually became a minute. It was the moment Evenepoel rode away from the other three, but of course, it was too late. And so the Belgian was left behind with a good race, strong teammates, but once again one who was even better. “We did what we had in mind. Everyone had a good day and did their job.”

National coach Serge Pauwels told IDLProCycling.com that all those losses to Pogacar have little effect on his leader's morale. “Take Pogacar out of these situations and you still have Evenepoel, who is three minutes ahead of the rest. Then he would have received all the superlatives. They are phenomena that stand out, but one is even more impressive than the other.”

“We haven't found an answer to that yet,” said Pauwels, who says he will not coach Evenepoel again until the 2026 World Championships in Montreal. “Maybe the dynamics and the relationship between them will have changed by then. Of course, we hope that Pogacar doesn't get any better, because it's not easy. Cycling is all about winning, and Remco is good at that.”

“We must continue to have hope, and it is to Remco's credit that he continues to do so. That is the only way to succeed in the end,” Pauwels concluded. This was also evident from the press conference, where Evenepoel responded very seriously to the question: How are you going to beat Pogacar? The content seems to be there, but the Slovenian's extreme accelerations often prove to be the problem.

“I think it was one of the first times I was able to respond to his attack for such a long time,” Evenepoel began positively. “I tried to keep up for as long as possible, but Pogacar didn't slow down, so my legs got heavy. It was the last steep part, because if I had been able to follow for 30 or 40 seconds longer, it would have flattened out a bit. But of course Pogacar knew that too.”

Evenepoel has shown many times that he knows his body very well, so he steered away from Pogacar's wheel. “It was important not to exhaust myself completely, so I chose a better pace. I didn't lose too much time, but it's something I need to work on if I want to beat him in the future. Although I've noticed in recent months that I'm getting better at it, and I wasn't completely knocked out this time either.”

“I'll have to do even better, but luckily I'm changing teams, so it's their problem,” Evenepoel then joked. In 2026, he will ride for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, and the World and European Championships provided some homework. “I think the final of this European Championship will be exciting for my new team and trainer. They can analyze it and decide what kind of training we need to do.”

Evenepoel already had some ideas of his own: "I don't think it's about a one-minute effort, because we're already going hard in the phase before that. You're talking about three or five minutes, and I'll have to work on that in the winter. I need to get accustomed to it and improve at it. We did work on it in the summer, but there simply wasn't enough time to improve significantly."

Maybe become less of a time trialist and more of a real climber with explosiveness, like Jonas Vingegaard? ‘I don't think so. If you're a good time trialist, you can also pedal at a higher power output for a certain period of time before returning to a more normal pace. Climbing is also about watts per kilo, but that's always easier said than done.’

The message was clear: “I'm going to give it my best shot and then we'll see where I stand next year,” said Evenepoel, who we will see in action one more time in Italy on Saturday, October 11. In the Tour of Lombardy, he hopes to give it his all one more time for a good result. Although Tadej Pogacar, the winner of the last four (!) editions, will also be competing.

"Everyone knows I'm motivated to win Lombardy. This year we're riding to Bergamo again, with almost 20 kilometers of valley in the final. The Passo di Ganda, as the final climb, is tough, but not as tough as last year's final climb. It will be slightly less steep, so I have to stay with him as long as possible with the legs I have now. I'm going to make the best of it and I feel ready," said Evenepoel.

Bram van der Ploeg ( Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])