Bruyneel and Martin worry over Remco Evenepoel's climbing ability - "It shows regression. Now he can't win the UAE Tour"

Remco Evenepoel is one of the best climbers in the world but not one who often shows his best level on the long climbs. The UAE Tour has exposed a fragility in his armour; and raises concerns after a brilliant season start that looked to show him on track for a proper Tour de France battle.

The climb to Jebel Mobrah on stage 3 of the UAE Tour provided some interesting insight into the tactics, recovery and current form of another set of top climbers. Firstly Isaac del Toro, who was dropped early on but bounced back to finish second on the day. "I've seen this before from Del Toro. He's done that before, like starting his own pace," Bruyneel said. "And then in his interview after the stage, he actually said 'you know, this is the first time I'm really in a position, like before the start of the race, that I didn't, you know, that I'm the leader of the team and the team expected a lot. So I didn't really know how to race this', but he definitely paced himself perfectly.

The Mexican looked in difficulty at the bottom of the climb, but instead paced himself conservatively. The power output revealed after the stage is evidence that he was riding a much higher wattage towards the finale. "I saw stats somewhere in the last nine minutes, which is the last 2.7 kilometers. He did 470 watts average. Yeah, and that's real, it's an RCS race, so they publish their real watts, o that's not an estimation. And so that's 7.4W/Kg. So he knew what he was doing. You know, it was not like he was getting dropped and then kind of all of a sudden started to feel better and could, you know, limit the losses. He knew what he was doing. The moment he went to the front, you know, you could see he took his glasses off and yeah, focus".

However on the other side was Remco Evenepoel, who looked very solid at the bottom of the climb, but soon began to suffer in the front. The signs are not good, Martin argues: "This is now the fourth straight World Tour stage race where he's won the time trial, dropped on a climb. It has to be mental, Johan, right? Because we physically know he's in good shape from these time trials, and then he's in, and you said in our pre-show, the last World Tour stage race he won was UAE Tour 2023, so it's been a while, and it shows regression. Now he can't win the UAE Tour".

The two argued over the potential that this is a mental issue, and potentially related also to the crashes that have affected him before. "I don't know what it is, and you know, like, before I start to go into, you know, what I think, you know, let's not forget, and this is not the case this season," Bruyneel added. "But let's not forget that Remco Evenepoel has had a trajectory with many ups and downs, and a lot of them are due to injuries and crashes. He had big crashes already. You know, you say Romendie, he won the time trial and then blew up, but he was, you know, it was his first stage race back after his".

"Yeah, we didn't really think much of it at the time because it's like, well, he's coming back. After his accident with the post car. But there is definitely something. I don't know what it is, and I cannot find a reason, Spencer, because he looked in great shape in Valencia". There, and in Mallorca, Evenepoel was untouchable, even against strong competition in the latter. In the UAE he was not able to perform at the same level.

"You know, he rode Tiberi off his wheel on [stage 4], so a very steep climb, very steep climb, shorter. So I'm tempted to think that, you know, he is explosive, he has big power, but what I see is when it's steep and long, he has problems. it sounds silly that I say that because, you know, he's won the Vuelta and he was third in the Tour, so he's done it already. It's just that I can't find that consistency in that level".

Team DS Klaas Lodewyck of Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe has argued that the Belgian has not yet done altitude training this year and his level on the longer climbs may be different than with some of his rivals. But he will do so after the UAE, and we could see a better level at the Volta a Catalunya.

"And I'm a bit puzzled, I mean, I can't find the reason why. Because, you know, 10 days ago he rode those guys off his wheel in Valencia. The same guys, yeah, that's what's baffling. And they looked like they didn't belong in the same race as him".