Belgian national coach "begs" Remco Evenepoel to participate at 2025 European Championships

The 2025 season is far from even starting for Remco Evenepoel. The Soudal - Quick-Step superstar is still recovering from the accident when he collided with postal van during a training in December. His return is scheduled for mid-April at the moment.

Evenepoel faces a key year for the development of his career. His main goal will be to return to the Tour de France. This time, he will be looking to fight for the overall victory, not just the podium like last year, when Tadej Pogacar (and even Jonas Vingegaard) were out of his reach in the mountains. He'll once again rely on the stellar Mikel Landa along with renewed support team. But there are more goals in the season for the double Olympic champion.

And the Belgian national coach Serge Pauwels hopes that the European Championships could be one of them. That's why Pauwels trying to get on the good side of Evenepoel who already has a full set of medals from the continental championship, having won the time trial in 2019. Two years later, he returned to finish third against the clock while he finished runner-up in the 2021 road race, losing a sprint to Sonny Colbrelli.

Pauwels confirmed the intention of bringing Evenepoel if possible to Het Nieuwsblad: "No decision has been made yet, but it's certainly an option," Pauwels says. "Remco is someone who likes special jerseys. He has never been European champion (in road race), so it could be interesting for him. But also someone like Maxim Van Gils can certainly play an important role on that course," adds the Belgian national coach.

In the statements, Serge Pauwels also talks about Remco Evenepoel's motivation to compete for the rainbow jersey in the first World Championships edition on African soil in history. Rwanda will present riders with a brutal course that includes approximately 5500 meters of climbing. In this case, Pauwels won't need to pull any stunts to convince his biggest star to book a ticket to Kigali.

"I already spoke to Remco on the phone in December. As a coach, I have to find the right balance: keep in touch, without being intrusive. Remco seemed very motivated for Kigali. It's no coincidence that he's already been vaccinated," Pauwels jokes.