“He is a phenomenon” - Chris Froome backs Remco Evenepoel to contest for Maillot Jaune on Tour de France debut
Cycling
Very few people will have as much knowledge about what it takes to win the Tour de France, as Chris Froome does. A four time winner of the Maillot Jaune, Froome is very excited by the upcoming Tour debut of former Vuelta a Espana winner, Remco Evenepoel.
“He is a phenomenon. What Remco has achieved so far is incredible. I am sure he will achieve even more in the future," says the 39-year-old Brit, who won the Tour de France in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, full of praise for Evenepoel in conversation with RTBF, having had a close view of the Soudal - Quick-Step leader's return to racing from injury at the recent Criterium du Dauphine.
Evenepoel had a somewhat mixed time at the Dauphine, winning the time-trial and spending a few days in the Maillot Jaune. Although his climbing legs clearly weren't at their best just yet, with the Belgian slipping down to finish 7th overall, Froome, a three-time Criterium du Dauphine winner in his own right, was impressed by what he saw from Evenepoel.
"He completely dominated the time trial and put himself in a good position to claim a strong overall classification,” the Israel - Premier Tech rider recalls and as such, Froome is backing Evenepoel to contest for the Maillot Jaune at the Tour de France in the coming weeks. "We certainly can't rule him out. He will be the center of attention in the Tour. I have no advice to give him. He is doing an excellent job.”
Although he has no advice for Evenepoel, Froome did send a message in regards to his own experiences of riding to win a three-week stage race. “You have to try to lose as little time as possible on the difficult days and grab as many seconds as possible when the legs are good," concludes the 39-year-old, who still has hopes of making the Tour de France startlist himself. "I also don't think that the pressure from outside can be greater than the pressure you put on yourself."
Just in
NEW: WorldTour Manager Cyclinguptodate.com (FREE)
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- it is great that JA worked so well for Storer in the Paris-Nice race, but really, he is paid to win. to me it is odd that Storer didn't work for Alaphilippe for the win. I know it is an early season race, but but we see Mads winning, Jonas, Tadej, Mathieu, etc. Time to win is now.mij18-03-2025
- That is true, but I am speculating that he doesn't want to disrupt the training so that he can peak for the other 2 monuments.
KerisVroom18-03-2025 - Outside of Pogi and Vingo.. Jorgenson is the best GC rider along with Roglic, Remco, Ayuso, Bernal and Almeida to win GT.
James2631818-03-2025 - That's exactly why he can win it even without being at his best. It's basically a Z2 followed by 2 all out effortsvappaxbipmv18-03-2025
- Why are you putting Tom on that list of GT champions? Even stage race are not yet on his palmares 😅 He is good rider but Jorgenson is more capable of winning than Pidcock.James2631818-03-2025
- I’d say without resolving the back problems you have no chance of resolving his state of mind. Now, back problems in young cyclists is probably going to become an issue like e.g. concussion in rugby & football. As we try to catch and form them for high performance younger and younger, we’re kind of obliging them to hone their TT skills earlier and earlier, certainly still during growth phases. Those hours in those positions are likely to have complex effects in some.Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- So no 80km solo then?Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- Yeah, yeah. Ignore the race on the day totally and stick to a plan you make public well in advance and hope your rivals fall for it. Could even have worked, if there’d not been a very similar report last year. And how many (anonymous and not) reports do you think reporters could find and choose from anyway?Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- Funny, Ineos are better without Pidcock and Pidcock is better without Ineos. The relationship must have been really toxic.Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- Winning MSR is like a throw of dice. Even if you have the best legs, you may not win it. It feels so random. I'm guessing they are trying to squeeze out the last percentage of his performance through training camp.KerisVroom18-03-2025