ANALYSIS | Has the criticism of Remco Evenepoel in 2025 gone too far?

The fallout from Remco Evenepoel’s withdrawal at the 2025 Tour de France has led to a wave of scrutiny from cycling legends, media voices, and fans too. But as the dust settles from a disappointing July, the question arises: is the criticism of the Belgian too harsh, especially considering the circumstances surrounding his season? The short answer is yes, and the longer answer is more complicated.

Evenepoel, still only 25 years old, has already won the Vuelta a España, the World Championships road race, two time trial world titles, two Olympic golds, and two Monuments. He’s finished on the Tour de France podium and worn the white jersey. These are not hypotheticals or potential achievements, they are facts. And yet, following his exit on stage 14 of the Tour last month, the narrative in some corners of the cycling world has flipped.

“Remco Evenepoel? No, definitely not,” said Eddy Merckx to Wielerflits when asked if the Belgian could challenge Tadej Pogačar for Tour wins. “Remco is more of a time trialist. He's not strong enough uphill to compete with Pogacar for the Tour de France victory."

This was a withering assessment from the most iconic name in Belgian cycling history, one that seemed to question Evenepoel’s fundamental makeup as a rider. It’s not surprising given Merckx’s long-standing, occasionally gruff views on modern cycling, but his words carried weight. They also ignored context.

Yes, it seems unlikely right now that anyone can beat Tadej Pogacar, especially in a grand tour. But to rule Evenepoel out, considering the context of his 2025, seems harsh to me.

Evenepoel’s 2025 season began in April, and his last race of 2024 was on October 12. After that, he was sidelined for four months following a high-speed training crash with a van in December. It wasn’t until April 18th at Brabantse Pijl that he returned, and when he did, he promptly beat Wout van Aert in a sprint. This was not the sign of a finished rider. It was the sign of one who could still deliver brilliance, even without the months of foundational training others had banked.

Chris Horner, speaking on his Beyond the Coverage podcast, offered the most nuanced, if critical, analysis of all. He identified Evenepoel’s collapse at Liège–Bastogne–Liège as the point where the warning lights began flashing. "Whatever brought in that problem at Liège–Bastogne–Liège… that was the moment he needed to take two weeks off the bike,” Horner said.

Instead, Evenepoel continued racing. He started Tour de Romandie, then the Dauphiné, and ultimately the Tour. In hindsight, it was a chain of miscalculations, either from the rider himself, his team, or both.

“He was never able to put together a training session between Dauphiné and the Tour,” Horner pointed out, referencing Evenepoel’s own Instagram posts. "If you're a rider like Remco Evenepoel and you can't put in a six-hour ride and feel fresh after, you're not ready for the Tour de France.”

Horner's takeaway was clear: Evenepoel was over-raced and under-recovered. The “dead battery” metaphor he used was telling. “A battery should never drop from full to zero,” he said. “If something happens like that, you’ve got a dead battery. Remco, you have a dead battery.”

These are fair criticisms rooted in form and physiology, but does not mean the Belgian can’t bounce back.

Jan Ullrich, however, took it a step further. Speaking on the Ulle & Rick podcast, the former Tour winner said, “Remco has to learn to deal with it. Even when things aren't going well, people are following him. Remco needs mental help.” He then added, “His base wasn't sufficient. He's simply missing thousands of kilometres of training. His foundation wasn't strong enough, and then you can suddenly collapse completely as a rider.”

There’s truth in Ullrich’s assessment of the physical base. You can’t fake Grand Tour condition, especially when your competitors have been preparing at altitude since January and you only returned to racing in mid-April. Evenepoel’s 2025 season, by his own admission, was built under time pressure. “The winter months were taken over by rehab and recovery... the goal gave me focus, but it also created a lot of time pressure,” he said in his post-Tour statement.

But the suggestion that he “needs mental help” veers into sensationalism. Evenepoel has shown resilience repeatedly, he has been able to bounce back from many set backs before. He won the Brabantse Pijl on return. He came back from near death at Il Lombardia in 2020. He recovered from a spring crash in 2024 to light up his debut Tour. At this year’s Tour, he won a stage against the clock, and held the white jersey.

It was only in the high mountains, after a fractured rib from the Belgian Nationals and a bout of sinusitis, that he finally faltered. When he stepped off the bike on stage 14, he called it “one of the rawest, most vulnerable moments” of his career. “I broke,” he admitted. “And strangely enough, I’m proud of it.”

Contrast that with the reaction to Wout van Aert this spring. After a quiet start to the year, Belgian media pounced. Van Aert was called finished, broken, and out of place. He then went on to win two of the most memorable stages of the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. The narrative flipped overnight, clearly another Belgian in Van Aert was written off far too quickly.

The question is: will the same media extend Evenepoel the grace of a comeback?

It’s important to remember that Van Aert and Evenepoel both entered 2025 with injuries. Van Aert began racing earlier, whilst Evenepoel had to wait until mid-April. That’s six months without racing at the highest level. Merckx’s claim that he’s “not strong enough uphill” ignores that Evenepoel finished third overall at the Tour last year, and has won a grand tour before.

In many ways, Evenepoel is a victim of his own success. He is naturally seen as one of the very few riders that can compete with the ‘aliens’ that are Pogacar and Vingegaard. The problem this year was not lack of talent or desire, it was a lack of foundation.

As Horner put it: “Hopefully he has taken these last two weeks off… and just rested on the couch… because if he did, there’s time to prepare for the Worlds.”

And therein lies the next chapter. The World Time Trial Championship and Road Race are still on the horizon. Evenepoel has three rainbow jerseys too his name already, and if he can regain his form he will be a favourite for a fourth and maybe even a fifth.

Criticism comes with stardom, and Evenepoel carries the burden of being a national figure in a country that still measures greatness by the Merckx standard. But perspective matters. He is 25, his palmarès already rivals most retirees. And if 2025 has taught us anything, it’s that injury, pressure, and human limitations can derail even the best.