"He's got to be nervous as hell" - David Millar and Peter Kennaugh question Remco Evenepoel’s protected Tour de France build-up before make-or-break GC test
CyclingThursday, 02 July 2026 at 12:30
Remco Evenepoel arrives at the Tour de France with almost everything carefully controlled. The race days have been limited, the altitude work has been prioritised, the training numbers have been released and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe have built their July around a dual-leadership structure with Florian Lipowitz alongside him.
Speaking on the For the Love of Cycling podcast, former Grand Tour stage winner and Tour de France yellow jersey wearer David Millar joined Olympic champion Peter Kennaugh in questioning the approach. While Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Lipowitz have all reached the Tour with recent race evidence behind them, Evenepoel has leaned heavily into training, freshness and internal measurement before Barcelona.
“He has got to be nervous as hell”
Evenepoel’s public stance has been calm enough. Red Bull have framed his lighter schedule as a tailored plan, with the Belgian skipping a final major stage-race test in favour of altitude and training. Millar does not expect that to remove the nerves. “Evenepoel is going in there playing it all cool, calm and collected, but he has got to be nervous as hell,” said Millar.
Kennaugh, who rode through the Team Sky era of tightly managed Grand Tour campaigns and later competed for BORA-hansgrohe, questioned whether Red Bull had kept Evenepoel away from a public pre-Tour risk. Without the Tour de Suisse or Criterium du Dauphine, there was no chance of a confidence-boosting GC result, but also no chance of a damaging setback before the Tour had even begun.
“I almost think, by not racing Remco, they’re just trying to protect him, almost,” said Kennaugh. “If he went to the Tour de Suisse or the Dauphine and had a slight disaster, let’s say outside the top 10 on GC, where would they go from that?”
That leaves the first proper answer for the Tour itself, rather than a preparation race where a poor result could have been absorbed before July.
Evenepoel finished 3rd at the Tour in 2024
Training numbers and Tour pressure
Millar also questioned Evenepoel’s decision to reveal training data during his build-up. With no recent race result beside it, the public numbers became part of the story rather than just proof of condition.
“I think the fact he hasn’t raced for so long and has been on training camp is quite revealing,” said Millar. “It was interesting that he did that YouTube video and revealed all his numbers. That was almost like a little bit of insecurity.”
He then sharpened the point further. “Why would you be telling people what your FTP is and how incredibly strong you are in your training camp?”
Evenepoel’s 2026 campaign already includes major one-day performances, including victory at Amstel Gold Race and a podium at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, while Red Bull’s approach has been based around freshness rather than another block of race days. The Tour will ask different questions quickly, first in Barcelona and then through the mountain stages that decide whether he can turn numbers into a genuine GC challenge.
Lipowitz’s presence keeps Red Bull from relying on one card. He is not a fallback domestique after finishing on the Tour podium in 2025 and arriving with fresh confidence from the Tour of Slovenia. Evenepoel remains the bigger name and the more explosive rider, but the team’s dual-leadership approach gives them a second GC route if the Belgian’s controlled preparation leaves him short of race rhythm.
Red Bull have built a powerful squad around that plan, with Jai Hindley, Maxim Van Gils, Mattia Cattaneo, Jan Tratnik, Nico Denz and Tim van Dijke completing the selection. After weeks of altitude, numbers and limited exposure, Evenepoel’s Tour now moves from managed preparation to the part Millar and Kennaugh were circling: what happens when the protection ends.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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