"It favors Evenepoel" - Visma boss on who 2027 Tour de France route benefits and why Matthew Brennan might be selected
Cycling
The 2027 Tour de France route has been revealed this morning in Paris. Richard Plugge, manager of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, admitted that Jonas Vingegaard is not the most favoured rider by the TT-heavy route; and that Briton Matthew Brennan will be considered for the Grand Depart.
"In any case, it’s really cool that we’re starting in England. There are also two long time trials, which we’ll need to look at closely," Plugge said in words to Wielerflits shortly after the announcement of the full route - for the first time in years.
"Beyond that, I don’t think there are many uphill finishes—or many mountain stages that are truly challenging. If I’ve read it correctly, the twentieth stage is a sprint stage, too. That means everything will likely be decided by Friday (stage 19, ed.)."
Plugge's main impression from the route, consisting of six high mountain stages, was that it is not as well adapted to the pure climbers - such as Vingegaard - as much as in previous years.
"I don’t think it’s necessarily designed for the top-tier climbers, but we still need to analyze it properly."
Richard Plugge shared his thoughts on the 2027 Tour de France
A Tour for the sprinters?
Plugge was keen on assuring that decisions would be made later on, pushing back on potential decisions or plans that would've already been made behind the scenes.
"Well, we’ll see. We’re going to take a good look at it with Marc Reef, Mathieu (Heijboer, ed.), Patrick (Broe, ed.), and Nathan (Van Hooydonck, ed.). We’ll determine the best path forward—who to bring and who not to. Either way, it’s something we’ll have to tackle as a team."
Asked about Matthew Brennan, Great Britain's strongest sprinter at the moment in the peloton, Plugge admitted that the team could aim for the yellow jersey with him next summer.
"Matthew really made a strong statement there (at the Vuelta a España, ed.). He’s clearly become one of the biggest stars in cycling, and this is the biggest race of all—so we’ll definitely consider him."
Read also
Remco Evenepoel the one who benefits
Ultimately however, specially as Victor Campenaerts already confirmed, the Tour de France is the ultimate priority for Jonas Vingegaard next year and a race he will look to win once again. But does the route, featuring two flat time trials with over 30 kilometers, help the Dane's chances?
"It favors Evenepoel," Plugge answers. "Anyway, fortunately there are still plenty of mountain stages". The team boss looks to focus on the more difficult stages, where historically the Dane was best able to make the difference.
"It won’t be easy in Great Britain, either. We’ll have to see how we’re going to approach it. As for whether this Tour is better suited to Tadej than to Jonas? We’ll need to analyze that carefully first."
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 2visitors 2
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Mathieu and Wout!!! You must start in CX this winter! (hope you reading comments here...) ;-)averagecyclist12-11-2026
- Who made you site boss?Lozza12-11-2026
- This shows so well you’ve never ventured out to a cycling event and checked out spectators.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- I preferred the one about amateur riders and passing (perhaps to explain why he can’t ride at 220 which would probably be more effective to return to shape).Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- Not just ManU, far worse in some minority sports ventures.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- From your writing it sounds like you’ve been sharing your views with people here for quite a while, quite presumouptuous for a new profile.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- Which is amazing given his weight and size, though, unlike in boxing and some rare instances we haven’t a clue what his fighting weight was. Anybody know why these “public” figures floated around are considered as being accurate?Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- That’s a first point, everyone can have an off year or just stagnate before a new upward cycle. What would have been more interesting is including Skjelmose’s performance into the discussion, things have also been expected from him after several performances in the past but he hasn’t really progressed either, his TdF was basically what you would have expected but he’s 26 and been kind of stuck at this level for at least 2-3 years. Maybe he’s a late developer or maybe he needs something to change but as manager I’d be just as demanding and worried about both. Perhaps the recruitment concept was to have enough talent so at least one every year would be in shape and they’ve just been unlucky. Don’t want to rub it in but you could even say Mads lost a notch, so is it the riders or is it more to do with the team?Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
- Bingo...I was also going to say that young pretty women are obsessed Pogi fan girls... who are chasing him. All glossy "____" (blank) about Tadej. PS: You can all fill in the "blank" yourselves, whatever you prefer. The definition of glossy is: It looks unusually shiny, glazed over, watery, or vacant/unfocused.PogiSloFans12-11-2026
- Are you able to discuss ANYTHING without making a reference back to your Special 1? It’s almost as if you’re paid by his marketing team to improve his ranking in search results.Jumpyjohn12-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment