"I can count myself lucky that I sustained this injury in December" - 3 months later, Remco Evenepoel still needs another month until return to competition

Wednesday, 12 March 2025 at 15:00

There's no such thing as having luck with a career-threatening crash, but taking into consideration circumstances Remco Evenepoel and Soudal - Quick-Step can be glad that this happened in the middle of the off-season. he Olympic Champion has talked a bit about his past months, spent on and off the bike but with no action in the peloton as of yet.

"After the season, I had a few nice holidays in Morocco and Qatar to watch the Formula 1 race there, among other things. So I have a very positive feeling about that. But the impact of that crash was of course very hard," Evenepoel told Wielerevue. "On the first day that I was going to start training in a structured way again, I crashed into that van".

The Belgian suffered fractures in his ribs, shoulder blade and right hand. It has truly put a massive obstacle in the way for the 2025 season as he had to spend an entire month without getting on top of a bike, and then another month of only indoor training. Now, he is finally training properly but will still take on a training camp with the Giro block before starting his season at the Brabantse Pijl on the 17th April.

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"I found it hard to accept that I had ended up in this situation. Especially after my crash on the same side in the Tour of the Basque Country. I couldn't train normally for a long time. Not only could I not cycle, but also no strength training in the gym. So I have to come a long way this time. I know what it takes to get back into absolute top shape and that simply takes a lot of time," he describes.

However, this does not mean he will not be able to have a great year. “Yes, that also makes it a strange sensation. In the summer I won Olympic gold twice, so that is the absolute highlight. And a few months later you are in sackcloth and ashes. That is apparently how it can go as a professional cyclist. The contrast is very big," he knows well.

But missing out on all of the action during the months of January and December, crucial for team building and preparing the season, was a tough hit. "Especially in the period when everyone goes to training camp and you see the photos and videos from sunny Spain, while you yourself are lying in bed doing nothing. That is not easy.”

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“I can count myself lucky that I sustained this injury in December. My classic spring will be brief because I absolutely want to be 100 percent in the Tour. If everything goes well in April, we may add the Tour de Romandie to my program," he reveals. "A few extra racing days can't do any harm in my case.

But the goal is clear: Tour de France and having the ideal preparation towards it. "After that I will copy my preparation from last year towards the Tour. Long altitude training camps, the Dauphiné, the national championships and the Tour. If everything goes well from now on, I have no doubt that I will be there during the Tour. Seven months should be enough to fully recover. I think it makes sense to have the Tour as the only main goal for the first part of the season.”