"He got such a lot of stick in the Belgian press, bordering on cruel" - Experts share sympathy with Remco Evenepoel after fierce reaction to Tour de France abandon

For Remco Evenepoel, a 2025 Tour de France that started with so much hope and optimism, ending sadly on stage 14 as the Soudal - Quick-Step leader, who sat 3rd in the GC at the time, stepped off the bike and abandoned the race after being dropped early.

Since then, there has been a fierce reaction to Evenepoel's abandon back home in his native Belgium, with not all having sympathy with the Olympic champion's struggles. "He got such a lot of stick in the Belgian press," notes TNT Sports commentator Carlton Kirby. "It was almost relentless, bordering on cruel, because the expectations are so high."

Kirby's co-commentator and former INEOS Grenadiers road captain Luke Rowe shed more light on just why the reaction to Evenepoel leaving the Tour prematurely has been so strong. "He's an absolute superstar over there in Belgium - and in the world of cycling in general - but that's tenfold when you visit his home country of Belgium," explains the Welshman. "Unfortunately, when you are under the microscope and when you are the people's champion, you're going to have all the love when you succeed, and sadly a little bit of hate and disrespect when you don't succeed. That's part of being one of the best professional sportsmen in the world and one of the best in the world of cycling."

Ultimately, Rowe, who is now a sports director at the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, agrees that abandoning the race was the right decision for Evenepoel at the time.

"I think for sure he did the right thing [abandoning]. It actually wouldn't make very nice visuals just to see Remco rolling round, getting dropped, in the Gruppetto - it brings nothing to nobody," Rowe evaluates. "As spectators and fans, what we want to see is a Remco at his top level, going to races and ripping it up. We're not going to see that on the last week of the Tour, but hopefully we still can see that in the coming races towards the back end of this season."

Rowe spent almost all of his own pro career as a domestique, and the Welshman also stresses how the decision to carry on just to finish the Tour de France is totally different for a rider of Evenepoel's stature than it would be for himself.

"In terms of Remco going home, it's an honour to be a part of this race, to ride this race, so you do everything you can to finish. But I do think it changes when you're one of the big leaders, and when you're one of the few leaders within a team, like Remco is," Rowe explains. "If he's not performing in this race, and he finishes the race, cracks on, just to get to Paris to get a postcard, it doesn't really bring a lot for the sponsors, for the team."

"Whereas if he says, 'You know what, I'm going to call it quits, I'm going to go home, I'm going to prepare for my next goals' - whether they're the Tour of Poland, La Vuelta or the World Championships or whatever it may be - that's what the team needs to do," Rowe concludes. "So it's circumstantial. As a domestique, you go and you finish, and the only reason you stop is if you physically cannot ride a bike because of a crash, or if you miss the time cut. But if you're a superstar and you're in a team and you're there to go and get results, there's not a lot of point in him mumbling around Paris just for the sake of it."