"His team is not yet ready" - Why Evenepoel has opted for the Giro instead of the Tour in 2023
Cycling
As Remco Evenepoel has announced, it will be the Giro d'Italia for him in 2023, with the Belgian opting not to go for yellow at the Tour de France. Commentator Renaat Schotte believes the decision was made easy for him as "his team is not yet ready".
"I don't think there was much doubt at Quick Step when the decision between Giro and Tour had to be made. After all, the courses spoke for themselves." Schotte told Sporza. Key to that decision are in Schotte's opinion at least, two main reasons. Firstly, "the Giro will contain about 70 kilometers against the clock, in the Tour the riders will have to make do with just one climbing time trial." And secondly, "I think Evenepoel is already ready for the Tour, he has already shown that, but his team is not yet ready."
With 31-year-old Czech climber, Jan Hirt the only real reinforcement brought in by Quick-Step, Schotte believes the likes of Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates will have too much strength in depth. "Quick Step is not ready for that yet, Patrick Lefevere will be the first to confirm that," he says. "Basically the same guys as in the Vuelta: Van Wilder, Serry, Vervaeke... In the Tour they would then have to compete against round teams such as those of Jumbo-Visma or UAE, that is too early."
Evenepoel also has a score to settle with the Giro after a crash on stage 17 of the 2021 edition saw him exit the race and lose a chance at his first-ever top 10 finish at a Grand Tour. "Do not underestimate the motivation of a top athlete to take revenge after a failure - which the Giro of 2021 was in his eyes" Schotte concludes.
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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- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
- He will be lol, but he can still win on the climbs hahaawp04-11-2026
- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- I'll say clean sweep all grand tourZamorano04-11-2026
- And the place he calls home is in Slovenia with his parents.RidesHills04-11-2026
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It's official 🤩 I'm riding the 2023 @giroditalia and I can't be more excited for it. Andiamo!! 🇮🇹💕🐺 #Giro #TheWolfpack
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