“Do not ride to bring him back immediately” - Tadej Pogacar’s former mentor reveals counter-intuitive Remco Evenepoel plan to beat Tour de France favourite

Allan Peiper helped guide Tadej Pogacar to his first Tour de France victory. Now, from inside the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe set-up, he has outlined the kind of patience Remco Evenepoel may need if he is to stop the Slovenian doing the same thing again.

Peiper was one of the key figures behind Pogacar’s 2020 Tour triumph at UAE Team Emirates, before later moving into an advisory role at Red Bull. That gives his view a rare double edge: he has seen Pogacar’s method from the inside, and he is now around the team trying to build Evenepoel into a Tour-winning threat.

Speaking on the De Koffiestop podcast, Peiper described the pattern that has made Pogacar so hard to bring back once he has gone clear.

“That is very difficult, because his system of riding everyone off the wheel, widening the gap and then staying a minute ahead is something he has perfected,” Peiper said. “They get a little bit closer, then he rides a little harder again. He drinks and eats well. Nobody can close it down.”

Pogacar’s long-range attacks often create panic behind. Peiper’s answer is different: do not burn everything trying to erase the gap immediately. “It is better, as Remco, not to blow things up,” Peiper explained. “You gather your troops, but you do not ride to bring him back immediately. You let him ride at a minute and keep the tempo tight. Tighter than he wants.”

Peiper’s point is built around control rather than reaction. Pogacar is at his most dangerous when rivals chase on impulse, break their own structure and leave him to settle into a rhythm out front. Holding him close, without emptying the whole chase too soon, is the route Peiper sees as more realistic.

“Then you need a strong team, but the Belgians have that,” he added. “If he goes from 100 kilometres out, then you have more chance than from 40 kilometres.”

That part of Peiper’s answer looks most directly towards the World Championships in Canada, where Evenepoel can call on Belgian strength around him. At the Tour, the equivalent question will fall on Red Bull, and whether they can keep enough riders around Evenepoel when Pogacar begins to stretch the race.

Belgian national coach Serge Pauwels also sees the problem facing Pogacar’s rivals. Once the Slovenian has made the gap, the numbers behind him can remain stubbornly stable.

“At Red Bull they can see that it stays constant once the gap has been made,” Pauwels said. “Do you train very intensively to try to follow him, or do you do something different? Pogacar can ride a very hard five minutes, while he also has not yet suffered at the moment he attacks. That just makes it very difficult.”

Pauwels pointed to Pogacar’s victory at the World Championships in Zurich, where the Slovenian launched from long range and still survived to the finish despite fading late. “In Zurich there was a chance to beat him, because he basically fell into the trap there of going from 100 kilometres out,” said Pauwels. “On the final lap he stalled, but he still made it."

“In Rwanda he did something similar. But the instinct is to try to follow him," he added. "Suppose Remco can follow him on one climb, then that is obviously also just a good situation for us. He may then be able to make sure Pogacar uses more energy than the other way around, because Remco can use his aerodynamics.”

Evenepoel’s best route may depend on the exact situation: follow Pogacar when he can, use his aerodynamic strength when the road allows it, and avoid turning every Pogacar attack into an immediate all-or-nothing chase.

Peiper knows how Pogacar built his Tour-winning method. His warning to Evenepoel and Red Bull is that beating it may require resisting the first instinct to chase.