Remco Evenepoel starts chaotic opening stages in Tour de France on energy-saving mode: "Am I looking forward to it? No"

It's easy to forget, but Evenepoel is still only two and a half months into his 2025 season. The 25-year-old Belgian, the top favorite for the youth classification in the upcoming Tour de France, made his comeback on April 18 in the Brabantse Pijl after a long winter due to a collision with a van's door in his home country.

In the run-up to the Tour, Evenepoel competed in the Tour de Romandie and the Critérium du Dauphiné, wrapping up the necessary weeks of altitude training. He won the time trial in both Switzerland and France with ease, but still had some ground to make up in the high mountains compared to the men he will face in July.

Evenepoel will start Saturday in Lille as the third favorite for the Tour. “Have I progressed closer to the level of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard? I don't know because I don't measure myself against them every week. My winter was completely destroyed, and I still don't think that will give me an advantage.”

The Belgian will certainly not enjoy the first week and a half, either. “It's going to be more hectic, with all the sprinters looking for their chance on day one. The first week is completely different from last year. Am I looking forward to it? No, but I'll have to ride anyway. Like everyone else, we'll try to ride at the front, and then at the end of the first week, we'll see who has come through without any injuries or bruises.”

Tim Merlier could already take the yellow jersey for the team on Saturday. “When you have one of the best sprinters and one of the best GC riders, you have to find a balance,” explains sports director Tom Steels. "Our first goal is to escort Remco safely to three or five kilometers from the finish, and then we'll see how technical the finish is and what we can still do for Tim. That decision is up to me, Klaas (Lodewyck, ed.), and Brama (Davide Bramati, ed.), and we will take responsibility for it. Tim and Bert (Van Lerberghe, ed.) can also help in the chaos later in the race, so they're not just there for the sprint stages."

For Evenepoel, there is a golden opportunity to take the yellow jersey on day five in Caen during the first individual time trial. ‘And in my opinion, that's the only time trial because the other one is just an uphill effort. In Caen, we'll have a nice time trial that won't be too technical. That's also why we rode the Belgian time trial championship in preparation, and it's a great opportunity for me,’ he realizes.

“We're taking it day by day. The first ten days will mainly be about surviving and avoiding any problems on all fronts,” Evenepoel explains. “Everyone knows that the classification will be decided in weeks two and three, so we have to be patient. In part one, we'll try to save as much energy as possible.”

“Whether I can still seize my chance remains to be seen,” he concludes. “First, you have to get to the final of such a punchy stage, but we also saw what can happen in the first stage of the Dauphiné. There are a few stages in the Tour de France that could go that way, but we mainly want to stay safe.”

“We're dividing the Tour into two,” Steels concludes. “The first part will be very chaotic, with some tricky stages where I expect the GC contenders to be. For us, it's important to have as many guys at the right place as possible who can help us with that positioning.” He is counting on Dutch rider Pascal Eenkhoorn, among others.