PRESS CONFERENCE: “Win the TT, and take yellow with the team on day one” - Remco Evenepoel sets aggressive Tour de France plan before Pogacar and Vingegaard battle
CyclingThursday, 02 July 2026 at 19:17
Remco Evenepoel has arrived at the 2026 Tour de France with immediate ambitions in Barcelona, a new coach behind him and Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe building their GC challenge around both him and Florian Lipowitz. CyclingUpToDate were present at the Belgian’s pre-Tour press conference to document every word.
The opening team time trial gives Evenepoel and Red Bull an early chance to shape the race, with individual times meaning the team can ride the final part of the course around their main GC cards. Evenepoel said the new rules make it easier to divide roles, particularly once the heavier riders have done their work before the climbs.
His build-up has been unusual. Evenepoel has not raced since Liege-Bastogne-Liege, using the long block to prepare with new coach Tim Heemskerk after both Heemskerk’s arrival from Team Visma | Lease a Bike and the exit of his previous coach. Evenepoel said the first two months together have gone well, but admitted only the Tour will show whether the approach was right.
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The headline target is clear from the opening weekend: win the time trial stage, put Red Bull in yellow and then try to place either himself or Lipowitz on the podium behind Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. Evenepoel also spoke about the dual-leadership dynamic, his long break from racing, the level of the main favourites, the importance of fuelling in modern cycling and why he feels he has “nothing to prove” at this Tour.
Full Remco Evenepoel press conference Q&A
Question: You are one of the best time trialists in the world. This Saturday you start with a team time trial, but with individual times. How differently are you approaching this time trial compared to a normal team time trial? Do you do long efforts, short efforts, one turn, several?
Remco Evenepoel: I think it is more or less the same approach. The biggest difference is that you have a bit more the technical aspect of riding with eight guys and not alone, so that is the biggest thing you have to remember.
With the new rules, I think it makes it a bit easier to divide the tasks, that you can get rid of the heavier guys once you go up the climbs. So in terms of tactics, it is a bit different from the normal TT and also an individual TT, but in general, nothing much is changing.
Question: How are you managing this kind of dual leadership, both tactically and personally?
Remco Evenepoel: We have known already for a long time that we are starting here together, so I think it is something we are prepared for.
We did Catalunya together, and Florian ended second in the GC and I was fifth. There was one day where we really needed to work for each other, where we had to make a bit of a change and a sacrifice, and I think it ended well. So I think there is nothing special to mention anymore from my side.
Question: We have seen among the favourites of the Tour this year some very different approaches. Vingegaard, for example, has done more than twice as many race days as Pogacar. You raced a lot in the early part of the season and then had this long training block. How do you feel with this particular approach, physically?
Remco Evenepoel: I think for me personally it was the best decision not to race anymore since Liege. I had a lot of time to prepare in a good way. Also, I needed to change coach after Liege, so I think that was also a big reason why I did not take any race after that, to make sure I could work well together with my new coach.
I think everything went pretty well, so I did the best I could to get in the best shape possible. Now we will see if it was a good approach or not. Of course, it is always easy to speak about it now, but we have to see after the Tour how it went. In general, everything has been going quite smoothly.
Question: You have not raced since Liege. Why did you decide not to compete before the Tour?
Remco Evenepoel: You just said it now.
Question: What is possible against Vingegaard, Pogacar and Seixas?
Remco Evenepoel: I think those three showed already this year that they are super strong. But I think we as a team will also show now in the Tour that we prepared well.
The race will tell. But we have to see. As I said, they showed that they are on a really good level. I hope we will also show good legs.
Question: In your opinion, what is the biggest innovation that has made the difference to performance in cycling over the last five years?
Remco Evenepoel: I think probably the fuelling strategies, the food and drinks that we take on the bikes. I think it is not a secret anymore that everybody is taking a very high intake of sugars, of carbs. So I think for sure this is something that helps us not to run out of energy if you do it well.
Obviously, all the aerodynamics testing is also getting more and more. The bikes are getting faster, wheels are getting faster, the clothing is getting faster. Everybody is looking for these little details.
But in my opinion, the food and the fuelling strategy is reason number one why cycling is getting faster.
Question: You mentioned that you changed coach, and I believe that is to Tim Heemskerk. What is it like working with him, with the experience he has taken to this team from his time at Visma?
Remco Evenepoel: It is a special person as a human being, but I think as a coach we work well together. For me it was a different approach, of course.
That is also why we wanted to switch as quickly as possible, with the possibility of his exit from Visma and also the exit of my ex-coach. The team managed to take him immediately into the team, and then it was just a no-brainer to work together as quickly as possible after my break after Liege.
It is a new type of person that I am working with, also with all the knowledge he has. Maybe that is also just good for me, to get more information about all kinds of stuff. I just try to be as open as possible with him. For the moment everything has been going very well. I think the first two months have been good, so I hope it will stay like this for many more.
Question: A specific question on the team time trial. I know the strength of the team is made by the eight guys, but the guy in front of you and behind you will be very important. Where do you situate yourself in the chain of those eight guys?
Remco Evenepoel: Always at some position, no? I mean, I do not really understand the question.
Question: What place in that chain, in the train?
Remco Evenepoel: I will be everywhere. We turn, so I will be in every position.
Question: Who will be in front and behind you? You guys were training.
Remco Evenepoel: If you look at the pictures, you can probably see it.
Question: Same as in Mallorca?
Remco Evenepoel: It is not the same team here. Five guys from there are here, so it is a different team.
I do not know if I can say anything about this, because I would bring out the race strategy a bit. You will see. I think the start order is the start order and the finish order is the finish order. So we will not speak too much.
Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel during the 2026 Tour of Flanders
Question: What is your personal goal for this Tour de France?
Remco Evenepoel: Personal goal? Win the stage for sure, win the TT, and take yellow with the team on day one. I think that is the ambition we have as a team.
Next to that, I know where you want to go, because you want to hear that I say I want to be on the podium and Florian says I want to be on the podium. Of course we want to be on the podium, but whether it is him or myself, I think if we do it in a good way, without having this negative energy, it is good for both of us and for the team.
We both really want to do what we did already in the past, to be on the podium behind Tadej and Jonas, and then just try to be up there as much as possible for stage wins as well, with both of us and with some other guys too.
Question: The Tour de France is all about Paris, and some years ago you experienced joy twice there. Did you manage to take some energy from the Olympics, and if it happens, will you think about LA already?
Remco Evenepoel: Actually, yes. I think we have been thinking already, because it will come pretty quickly. In exactly two years it is already there. If I arrive in Paris, it is always a pretty good outcome. Last year I did not arrive in Paris, so I hope if this year I can arrive there, it will be with some good results and some nice memories again.
In general, for me, that was probably the highlight of my career so far. Winning, being on the podium of the Tour, and then two world medals in the TT and the road race was probably the best cycling month of my life. So obviously Paris has a special place in my heart with those results.
Question: What do you want to prove to yourself and to others in this Tour de France?
Remco Evenepoel: Nothing. Nothing to prove, I think. To show? I do not know.
Question: You are two different kinds of characters. What can you learn from each other in riding skills but also in personal skills?
Remco Evenepoel: What can we learn from each other in riding skills and personal skills? Because we seem completely different riders and persons?
I think that is why we do not need to learn from each other, no? Just be yourself. It is like if I asked you, what do you want to learn from this journalist? Then I say to you, you are a bad journalist.
Question: We are not riding the Tour de France together.
Remco Evenepoel: No, I know. That is why we go with two different characteristics and just do our own thing, in our own way, I guess.
At least I am happy with who I am, so I do not know if I want to change that. I guess Lipo is also happy with who he is, so he also does not want to change that. It was a strange question.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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