"An alien like Tadej Pogacar can maybe do that" - Red Bull - BORA dismiss Giro-Tour double for Remco Evenepoel
Cycling
The 2027 Tour de France will feature over 70 kilometers of individual time trials and less days in the mountains and hills than in previous editions. On paper, a route perfectly suited to Remco Evenepoel. But does that mean he can race both Giro d'Italia and Tour de France?
“It’s far too early to make the call, but personally I’m not a fan," Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe sports director Ralph Denk said in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws. "An alien like Tadej Pogacar can maybe do that".
The Giro d'Italia route will soon be revealed in Rome, but for the time being the riders have been able to learn about the route of next year's Tour. Two individual time trials of 38 and 33 kilometers, mostly flat, provide Evenepoel with an unusual advantage.
The first of which also takes place before the race arrives to the mountains, ultimately providing the time trialists with a chance to take the yellow jersey into the Grand Colombier.
Evenepoel finished second at the Tour this year, and with such a route presented to him, a return appears likely. But that will depend on what the Giro d'Italia has to offer. Is racing both possible for the Olympic Champion?
“Let’s say there have been enough examples of trial and error in the past. It seems better to me to focus on one of the two," Denk answered. "But I’m also not a sports scientist who can give you super accurate information on this. We’ll see.”
Remco Evenepoel climbing with Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France
Red Bull - BORA have multiple cards
In 2026 both Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz aimed for the Tour de France; whilst Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari raced the Giro d'Italia; and Primoz Roglic raced the Vuelta a España.
The team has depth on its side, and so it is not forced to decide on a combination of Grand Tours for its leaders - but instead focus on specificity.
“The big advantage of our project is that we have a wide range of potential Grand Tour leaders. We also have Florian Lipowitz, Jai Hindley and some young, fast-developing talents like Giulio Pellizzari and Lorenzo Finn. It’s not only Remco. Definitely.”
Backloaded Tour to the benefit of Evenepoel?
Another aspect that appeared positive for Evenepoel was the fact that the first mountain stage of the race only came on day 9. This year, his form improved significantly from the second half of the race forward, having appeared less capable in the mountains early in the race.
This combination of factors, combined with another time trial in the final week where he should be able to take time on his rivals, could make for a pretty ideal route for him to aim for a potential overall win.
“That can indeed be an advantage. On the other hand, if you go all in for the general classification, and that’s what we always want to do with this team, you have to be awake in those first ten days and control things," Denk concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- Man, I'm really looking forward to next season. Seeing these new line-ups, it's going to be VERY interesting.wrsty23-10-2026
- This Remco-friendly (and Seixas-friendly?) route was almost certainly designed to reduce Pog's dominance. But as Prudhomme has said straight out, now he thinks Pog's accident will have reduced his dominance anyway.Hills3323-10-2026
- We also don't know how much Pog was really putting into gaining time. Feels like watching Usain Bolt, where you can only wonder how much faster he'd have gone if he was sprinting 100% to the line, instead of being two feet ahead and starting to pull up with ten yards to go. If any of the other riders really started to close in on Pog, I do think he'd simply have gone even deeper and crushed them. I would really like that kind of race though, none of this "4 minutes lead by the first rest day" trouncing. So if introducing more TT and less summit finish makes the race go more to the wire, I'm all for that. I don't think it'll change the outcome necessarily, but it'll make the whole thing less of a foregone conclusion by week 2.wrsty23-10-2026
- That nearly is 7 mins and you win GTs comfortably by 2 mins. Remco fans - he almost won the TDF, He beat Pogi twice in the mountains this year.abstractengineer23-10-2026
- What would be your preferred Tour design then? Just out of interestwrsty23-10-2026
- I like Remco but even I'll admit he didn't get anywhere close to Pogacar, just like everyone else.megasmacky23-10-2026
- That's what y'all said this year, "remco will come fifth"bruins3022-10-2026
- That used to be the norm, 100 kms of TTs. Now look at the '87 route...acem8222-10-2026
- Well, crashes can happen, so it's not impossible...acem8222-10-2026
- that would be kinda cool. there is a lot of untapped potential. which I'm sure the UCI will overlook. in order to get sock length correct.mij22-10-2026
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