“He was in pain, slept badly, and was allowed to do nothing but rest” – Remco Evenepoel’s coach provides update on golden boy’s fitness

The road cycling season is well and truly underway in 2025. Races such as the UAE Tour, Volta ao Algarve, and the Tour Down Under have already taken place, but this weekend marks the true start of the season with the Opening Weekend at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

While Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard have already started their campaigns, the man who stood on the podium with them at last year’s Tour de France is still awaiting his season debut. Following a freak crash with a van in December, Remco Evenepoel has yet to begin his year.

2024 was the best season of Evenepoel’s career, claiming a Tour de France stage win and the white jersey on his way to third place in the general classification on debut. He also became the first man ever to win double Olympic gold in both the time trial and road race in the same Games before defending his world time trial title in Zurich in September. However, his momentum was halted by the December crash.

Speaking to In De Leiderstrui, Koen Pelgrim, his coach at Soudal-Quick Step, provided insight into Evenepoel’s progress.

When asked about the riders he coaches, Pelgrim responded, "I have Remco, who nine of my ten interviews are about, haha. But I also train the now returned Maximilian Schachmann, Ilan Van Wilder, Ethan Hayter, Martin Svrček, and Mikel Landa."

On why he believes he is such a popular coach, Pelgrim remarked "I have no idea actually, haha. You try to do your job as well as possible and if the guys are satisfied with that, then that's a nice compliment.

“In his previous period, I had a nice collaboration with Schachmann, a guy who also has his own ideas and who likes to put them on the table. But he's not too stubborn either, if you have a different idea about that."

Pelgrim also discussed his coaching philosophy, "I don't think I'm a prototypical Dutchman, in that respect. You do learn to deal with the different cultures and characters of people. There are riders here who come from all over the world, with different manuals. You have to deal with that differently every time, to get the best out of it.

“You have to have your own way of working, but also respond to how a rider is put together and how you can motivate or slow him down. You don't always do the same thing, I really adapt to the personality and qualities of an individual."

"They are all very different. Remco has a certain character, a real winner. Schachmann has that too, but there are also guys who are different. I like it when riders have ideas of their own and that you can spar with them. That way you come up with a plan that everyone fully supports.

“If you have a rider who thinks everything is fine and does it alone, then that is a nice confidence, but I think you can really be your best self if you also provide input yourself. You can't always smell what is going on inside someone. You try to bring that out in conversations, but the feedback from a rider is very important. Riders who are very direct, I like that."

Maximilian Schachmann’s return to Soudal-Quick Step this winter was partly due to the presence of Pelgrim. The German praised his coach in an interview with In De Leiderstrui, "He is first and foremost a funny and nice person. The coach is the person you have the most contact with, almost daily.

"It is very important that you understand each other on a personal level, but Koen mainly does his homework well. I don't know anything about science, but he knows what he is doing."

Pelgrim also explained his approach to working with riders, "Of course, sometimes you have a different idea about something, but that should be possible. I'm not someone who imposes everything from above and tells the rider to just listen. I don't get angry quickly.

“The job of a trainer is also to convince a rider why you prescribe certain training sessions and put them on the program. You have to come to an agreement among yourselves, a rider has to feel good and not be afraid of you. Then you'll never get the best out of it."

"Of course, you analyse afterwards with the riders and sometimes adjust your plans based on that. They are still people and not robots. We have a certain conviction, but we do not know everything. Some things work for most riders, but it also happens that they do not work for one rider.

“Then you are talking about altitude training camps, for example, where after two or three times we sometimes had to conclude that it did not really have any added value. Then we try it in a different way next year. That evaluation is important, you have to adjust when necessary and not stubbornly stick to one vision."

So, how is Remco doing after his setback in December?

"Falling is never fun. You've had an offseason and are just starting to rebuild and then you have such a stupid fall. First of all, you're affected by it, because you feel that something is wrong. And then it turns out later that the damage is quite extensive, which means you're out longer than you initially thought. It was setback after setback for Remco, so he wasn't happy about it.

“In the beginning, it was difficult because he couldn't do anything. He was in pain, slept badly, and was allowed to do nothing but rest. That period lasted quite a long time, but when he was allowed to train again, he made that click again and looked ahead. He was making progress every day, so I noticed that that switch was quickly flipped, with a goal to work towards every day."

"I don't think it was a breaking point. He's back at work and when he's back in competition, we'll see a good Remco again. Setbacks are never fun and if they happen too often, it's not good for the head. But I don't think that's the case at the moment."

2025 is set to be a crucial year for Evenepoel. He has now firmly established himself as the third-best general classification rider, but can he close the gap on Pogacar and Vingegaard? If he can reach the level he displayed at the Olympics, the answer might just be yes.

Pelgrim also commented on his experience working with GC riders.

"Some years you work with a fixed group and sometimes riders leave, which allows you to take on others. For example, I worked with the sprinters within the team for years, with Kittel, Gaviria, Jakobsen, Hodeg, Bennett, I was also involved with that and that went well."

"Training a climber is almost easier, because you're only training for one characteristic. A sprinter is more complicated, you have multiple variables. You have to have the explosiveness and speed, but also the content to be able to do your thing in the final. If you do that too much, it will be at the expense of the speed, so that's a difficult balance. That was always an interesting puzzle to solve. Both have their challenges."

Pelgrim emphasised that the team is not solely built around Evenepoel.

"It's not that I train those guys in function of Remco. But the build-up of those guys is often similar, especially towards a Tour de France. For example, you do a lot of training camps together, which makes it easier to coach all those guys the whole year."

"We can no longer call Mikel a surprise if he rides at the front somewhere. He has been very consistent for years. We think he will do that this year too. Ilan had a very good winter and he showed things in training that he could not do last year.

"So he is at least as far along, but we hope that he has taken a step forward. He was already fourth in the UAE and Romandie, so if you take a small step there, you can suddenly ride on the podium in those kinds of competitions. That will do a lot for him mentally."