Johan Bruyneel's transfer bombshell: "I heard that it was actually 'done' between Evenepoel and Red Bull - BORA... At the last minute the plug was pulled"

There has been plenty of transfer speculation regarding Remco Evenepoel over past seasons with the Belgian constantly linked at moves away from Soudal - Quick-Step. On every occasion though, the Olympic gold medallist remains with Patrick Lefevere. Could he have been closer than ever before to leaving amidst the most recent rumours though?

Well, according to former sports director Johan Bruyneel on his 'The Move' podcast, Evenepoel was a lot closer to joining the likes of Primoz Roglic, Jai Hindley and more at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe than perhaps first thought.

"It's not confirmed, but I heard that it was actually 'done' between Evenepoel and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe. There was even supposedly already personalized clothing made with Evenepoel’s name on it,” Bruyneel explains. “At the last minute the plug was pulled, I don’t know why that happened. Perhaps one of the parties changed their mind after all.”

Whilst it's not clear where Bruyneel picked up this information as he doesn't reveal his sources, the Belgian does have some criticism for his younger compatriot for not nipping the rumours in the bud straight away if he had always planned to stay at Soudal - Quick-Step. “He should have said: 'I'm going to honour my contract'," Bruyneel muses. "So I don't know if he decided to stay for one more season and then go to Red Bull next year.”

For their part, Soudal - Quick-Step are certainly building for the future with Evenepoel very much in mind. Team boss Patrick Lefevere continues to divert the team's traditional Classics focus into a more Grand Tour and general classification based attack, bolstering the climbing options in the roster with the likes of Valentin Paret-Peintre and Max Schachmann, to hopefully best support Evenepoel in his quest to win the Tour de France. Time will tell if it's enough to keep the former Vuelta winner long term.