Evenepoel set to be supported by Visma and Quick – Step stars as Belgium announce World Championships squad
Cycling
Belgium has confirmed its lineup for the 2025 UCI Road World
Championships in Rwanda, with Remco Evenepoel leading the squad. The 2022 world
champion and reigning two-time world time trial champion (2023 and 2024) will
be backed by Ilan Van Wilder, Victor Campenaerts, Tiesj Benoot, Florian
Vermeersch, Xandro Meurisse, Quinten Hermans, and Cian Uijtdebroeks. The
selection features two of Evenepoel’s Soudal – Quick-Step teammates, Van Wilder
and Louis Vervaeke, alongside three riders from Team Visma | Lease a Bike in
Campenaerts, Benoot, and Uijtdebroeks.
Evenepoel returns to racing this week at the Tour of
Britain, his first competition since abandoning the Tour de France in July. He
had started strongly in France, winning a stage and holding the white jersey,
with a podium finish looking realistic after his third place overall in 2024.
However, in the Pyrenees during the second week, he endured three disastrous
days and was forced to abandon. Now, the focus is on regaining top condition
before Kigali.
The Worlds will see Tadej Pogacar as the leading favourite, with
most people certain that the defending champion and four-time Tour de France
winner heads into Rwanda as the man to beat. The championships run from
September 21 to 28, with the men’s road race stretching 267.5 kilometers and
featuring around 5,500 meters of climbing, one of the most demanding courses in
history. The event will also mark the first time the UCI Road World
Championships are hosted on African soil.
Jonas Vingegaard will miss the Worlds, as he remains
occupied with the Vuelta a España, leaving Evenepoel positioned as Pogacar’s
primary rival. For the Belgian, it is an opportunity to salvage a difficult
2025 season. After a stellar 2024, where he claimed two Olympic gold medals and
a Tour de France podium, a winter crash delayed his start this year until
April. He never reached peak form at the Tour, but Rwanda offers him the chance
to end his campaign on a high note.
Fin MajorCycling Journalist
Fin Major is a UK-based writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2024. He is the site’s main writer for FAQs and evergreen explainers and has written around 2,000 pieces for the platform. Alongside this work, he focuses on in-depth analysis and covers the biggest races on the calendar, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, providing clear context around performance trends, tactics, and key storylines.
In his reporting, Fin uses reputable data sources such as ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. Outside of writing, Fin is an active cyclist, which supports his practical understanding of the sport and its demands.
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- Congrats! It is done so now is time for CX.averagecyclist15-11-2026
- It's going to happen at some point. It will happen to Tadej as well, we all get older. Jonas was in pretty great form at the tour. I still consider him a top two or three cyclist in the world, until he's not.awp15-11-2026
- mij, I am not so sure of that. I have been on a spine ward at a Denver hospital that had quite a few spinal injuries from mountain biking.BDBigGuy15-11-2026
- Pogi takes care of his teammates in races and training. Tadej Pogačar is widely praised within the cycling peloton for his fair and egalitarian leadership, actively supporting his UAE teammates both on the road during races and behind the scenes at training camps. Rather than acting like an untouchable superstar, he has intense team loyalty by sharing daily chores, giving up personal glory to help domestiques, and publicly praising their sacrifices. Unlike some Grand Tour contenders, like Vingegaard, who occasionally train away from their squads, Pogi consistently attends team training camps alongside his domestiques, making the exact same sacrifices to build friendship. I love how Pogačar shares his teammates-domestiques, either when they succeed or win in races or when they simply just do a good job for him. It has to be a great moral boost for them. And then they work even harder and go even deeper for Pogi. This is teamwork.PogiSloFans15-11-2026
- Yeah, what he said!Lozza15-11-2026
- I’m sure Jasper Philipsen would disagree with you.Lozza15-11-2026
- Article says he was “out for a spin around the town”, implying not off-road.Lozza15-11-2026
- let’s be honest, Alpecin is all about one rider - MVDP. I’m sure he gets whatever he needs, the rest get the scraps.mij15-11-2026
- there are more vicious injuries on a road bike than a mountain bike far and away.mij15-11-2026
- That'll be one crazy rider
Rafionain-Glas15-11-2026
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