"It wouldn't happen at Visma" - Jose De Cauwer criticizes Red Bull's lack of support for Evenepoel in first week
Cycling
The first block of racing at the 2026 Tour de France is a matter of the past, and the first rest day is a great opportunity to take a look back at what has gone down in the past nine stages. In his commentary for Sporza, Jose de Cauwer switches focus towards Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe. And in particular Remco Evenepoel.
The German team started Tour with great ambition to finish on overall podium with Florian Lipowitz. Or Remco Evenepoel. The pre-race signals were clear that home rider was the team's preferred option, however road has not given a clear answer as to which of the two former Tour podium finishers is the stronger.
And while the cards have not been distributed at the moment, De Cauwer is baffled by the team's overall display. What stood out to the analyst in particular has been the ninth stage where Lipowitz and Evenepoel sailed through smoothly, but without any support from their teammates in later parts of the stage.
"I received messages from people from his former team," he begins. "They said that Evenepoel had indeed changed teams, but that no one was sitting with him."
Read also
Van Gils has been nowhere
Red Bull have definitely not brought their strongest climbing support options to the Grande Boucle this summer, but that still hardly about justifies their meager presence throughout the first week. In particular Giro podium finisher Jai Hindley and returnee from injury Maxim Van Gils have not lived up to De Cauwer's expectations till now.
The young Belgian was even sighted trying to join breakaways, rather than sticking to their leaders, something uncomprehensible to the commentator: "I saw Maxim Van Gils jump along in the early stages. I would never do that, because that blows you up. We are talking about the Tour and the podium, you know. Then we don't give Van Gils a chance. Sorry."
"Van Gils wasn’t hired for that, even though he was already riding for Evenepoel on the team. You get paid for what you do. Yes, to win races. But Evenepoel gets paid even more, and he needs support. Do they have five riders like that who can support him? No. It is an unpleasant situation. Because just imagine getting a flat when a gap is formed. Will Lipowitz give up his wheel then? I don’t think so."
This wouldn't happen at Visma
The team has also made a rather risky decision to bring no less than four rouleurs who don't quite have the quality to stick around in key mountain stages. Then the race situation often comes down to that there is Hindley for Lipowitz... and Remco alone.
"I have a problem with the fact that he (referring to Evenepoel, ed.) doesn't have anyone with him. We are talking about a group of about forty riders. There were many riders of a lower caliber among them. But the Red Bull riders are trying to go for a prize; think also of Jan Tratnik and Nico Denz a few days ago. I wouldn't do that," he says emphatically.
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
The ninth stage is once again brought up as a prime example of how a team attempting for overall podium simply cannot afford to race. Fortunately for Red Bull, UAE nor Visma were willing to expose their vulnerability in later parts of the stage.
"At Visma | Lease a Bike they put them on the sidelines, but that’s not possible at this team," adds De Cauwer. "I don’t find this funny. It is a team with so much money. The fact that only the two leaders are in that group doesn’t make sense."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 1visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Right on. The more the merrier.Occam13-11-2026
- Remember, Del Toro struggled in this Tour. He is great, no doubt about that, but comparing him to a four time gt winner is absurd at this point. He has the potential. We'll have to see how he develops.awp13-11-2026
- what did Jonas gift and to whom? just curious, haven’t heard about this.mij13-11-2026
- You don't gift grand tours as it has come to light that Jonas has come to regret doing such.
Front24213-11-2026 - Exactly you said it urslf - he outclimbed del toro by 19 sec. 19SEC and you say hes alot better than del toro still lol? And can also do the same where del toro did that to jonas even and del toro dauphine numbers better than jonas all year so why this hard whats the issue its super easy stuff - del toro wasnt that before. Then factor in both their trajectory the last years and the answer is self explonatory like i said. Nothing against jonas like many do but the typing is no the wall and so stupidly easy as its so self explanatory now. Have a good daymiguel13-11-2026
- Dirty ex doperFront24213-11-2026
- As far as points go they need to take a page or ten out of the Astana playbook!Lozza13-11-2026
- Ah, seems he’s been busy elsewhere! 😆Lozza13-11-2026
- Where is he when you need him!? Wake up man! You’re missing an opportunity!Lozza13-11-2026
- A very true statement made by Johan Bruyneel: "We don’t know for sure about Jonas, because he dropped out of the Tour de France, but he would never have come close to Pogacar. Maybe he would have finished second. He won the Giro in dominant fashion and the Vuelta the year before, but Visma wants to win the Tour." That's exactly what I've been saying the last six months. If Pogi races with Jonas, the most he can be is second... UNLESS... Pogi crashes out or makes a BIG mistake, which is not likely to happen. Either Bruyneel thinks the way I do or he reads my posts. Ad acta!!!PogiSloFans13-11-2026
Loading
1 Comments