“People act as if it's disappointing when Evenepoel doesn't win the Tour” - Michel Wuyts defends Belgian superstar amid impossible Pogacar-era expectations

Remco Evenepoel’s place in the Tour de France hierarchy has become harder to define than it was two years ago, but Michel Wuyts believes the Belgian’s career is still being judged through an unfairly narrow lens.

The former cycling commentator and long-time Belgian analyst has pushed back against the idea that Evenepoel can only be properly measured by whether he wins the Tour. That question has followed the Olympic champion since his breakthrough, and it will return again when he lines up in Barcelona for the 2026 edition.

Evenepoel finished third at the 2024 Tour and appeared to have established himself as the clear next name behind Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. Since then, the picture has shifted. Pogacar has continued to raise the ceiling, Vingegaard has rebuilt his Grand Tour authority with victories at the Vuelta a Espana and Giro d’Italia, and riders such as Paul Seixas, Florian Lipowitz and Isaac del Toro have made the fight behind the big two far more crowded.

For Wuyts, though, the constant Tour-based judgment risks flattening a career that already contains achievements most riders never come close to matching. “People sometimes act as if it is disappointing when Evenepoel does not win the Tour,” Wuyts said in the Tour special of Wieler Revue.

Evenepoel’s 2026 Tour build comes with pressure from several directions. Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe have shaped a long, controlled preparation around July, while Evenepoel’s own status inside the wider GC picture is under more scrutiny than at any point since his first Tour podium.

He remains a former Grand Tour winner, a world road race champion, an Olympic champion and one of the finest time triallists in the sport. Yet the Tour continues to dominate the way his career is discussed, especially in Belgium, where the search for a home rider capable of winning yellow has carried its own weight for decades.

Wuyts believes that context around Evenepoel’s rivals is too often overlooked. “When you have to race against riders like Pogacar and Van der Poel, you come up against a level that is exceptional,” he said.

That has become the reality of Evenepoel’s era. Pogacar has built one of the most complete palmares in modern cycling while still operating at the centre of the Tour de France conversation. Mathieu van der Poel continues to define classics and cyclocross greatness in his own sphere. Vingegaard remains the one rider with repeated Tour-winning proof against Pogacar.

Evenepoel has had to chase his own place among that group while carrying Belgium’s expectations into every major target.

Wuyts’ defence rests on Evenepoel’s existing record, not on lowering the bar for what he might still achieve. The Belgian has already won the Vuelta a Espana, become world champion on the road, claimed Olympic gold, won Monuments and built one of the most decorated careers of his generation.

The Tour, though, has become the test that follows him everywhere. A podium finish in 2024 strengthened the idea that he could eventually move closer to Pogacar and Vingegaard, but the past two seasons have made that progression less straightforward.

His climbing and GC results have not always followed the expected line, while the number of serious challengers around him has grown. Seixas has exploded into the top level at just 19. Lipowitz already has a Tour podium and has often looked the stronger pure climber in Red Bull colours. Del Toro and Almeida add further depth to a field where Evenepoel is no longer the automatic third name.

That does not erase what Evenepoel brings. His time trialling, one-day pedigree and Grand Tour experience still give him a route into the Tour that few others can match. It does make the expectation of a Tour victory feel more complicated than it looked after 2024.

Wuyts sees the issue in the scale of the expectations now attached to Evenepoel. “It is just that expectations have now become so high that almost everything is measured against winning the Tour,” he said.

That sentence captures the pressure around Evenepoel before Barcelona. He can arrive as one of the most dangerous riders in the race without being the clear third favourite. He can be a genuine threat without being Pogacar’s equal. He can still have an extraordinary career even if yellow in Paris remains out of reach.

The 2026 Tour may yet reshape that discussion. A strong opening team time trial, a controlled mountain performance and another deep GC run would immediately put Evenepoel back at the centre of the podium fight. A difficult July would bring the old questions back just as quickly.

Wuyts’ argument is that the verdict should not depend only on one race. Evenepoel’s Tour dream remains alive, but his career has already moved far beyond the idea that it needs yellow to be validated.