Remco Evenepoel draws motivation from Pogacar: "It’s always a good stimulus to see another top rider win so easily"
Cycling
It is not uncommon for rivals to push each other into superior levels. Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert are perhaps the best examples in cycling, however a similar situation may be developing with two young supertalents Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel.
“It’s a very nice way to open your season, we also have to say the courses there suited him very well. Every stage, every finish was made for him," Evenepoel said in a press conference at the UAE Tour about 'Pogi'. “It’s always a good stimulus to see another top rider win so easily. You feel okay, it’s now up to us to try and come to his level. It’s not that it’s in my head all day, but it will help to give some motivation for this week’s training and racing.”
The two were meant to face each other this week in the UAE, but Pogacar made a late decision to start and completely race his spring campaign in Europe. he's dominated the Vuelta a Andalucia, winning three stages and the overall classification following an equally dominant victory at Gran Camino.
Evenepoel had a brilliant performance on the opening day of the UAE Tour, making his presence felt at every opportunity in the crosswinds, earning him 51 seconds over many of his rivals for the GC including the trio of UAE Team Emirates riders - which positions him better towards his goals for the final classification.
“The podium is a good goal. I feel good but I’m still only running at 90 percent of my ability," he said of the race. "A lot will depend on the team time trial. The main thing is not to get sick or crash, like when I did in 2019, injuring my arm. An injury like that would not be a huge deal in terms of the Giro, but a broken arm would be," he concluded.
Here Pogacar is facing both Adam Yates and Brandon McNulty who are set to be key men for Pogacar at the Tour de France. Although this year the two aren't expected to meet at a Grand Tour, in 2024 this battle is expected at the Tour de France.
Simultaneously, Evenepoel discussed his beginnings in sports, which was over in Football: “Maybe I started too early, and that’s the biggest reason why I changed. I did like football but it was all about money and agents. I started to get a bit angry and the way that little world decided a lot in the sport."
As for cycling which he changed coming into the junior ranks - where he thrived, he added: "I think more and more people are watching the sport because of the way races are ridden nowadays. Whereas before you’d only wait to watch the last hour because that was when everything happened, now you never know, things can happen at 100 kilometres from the start."
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Today's stage in the UAE was a perfect example, with the World Champion present in the front echelons rom kilometer 0. “At the same time, jerseys and bikes are looking good, and it’s all coming closer to football, it’s getting more chic and expensive. That’s why it gets more attention. Football’s the top sport, but cycling’s getting closer," he believes.
The Soudal - Quick-Step also details how his training experience has changed over the years, and how he has improved his professionalism and found his own ways to thrive. “I felt obliged to do training, obliged to train like the other guys, but now my racing runs under its own steam," he says. "I did 12 days training in Spain recently. The first five days were in the rain and in my first years I’d have refused to do that."
At the Giro d'Italia rough weather is expected, and Evenepoel is aware that to perform in these conditions there is no way to avoid the harsh experiences. "But now I did four and half, five, then six hours training in the rain and at a maximum of eight degrees so it was pretty cold. That’s because I see cycling as very different to the beginning of my career," he concluded.
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.
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- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
- He will be lol, but he can still win on the climbs hahaawp04-11-2026
- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- I'll say clean sweep all grand tourZamorano04-11-2026
- And the place he calls home is in Slovenia with his parents.RidesHills04-11-2026
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That was a windy and good start of the week here in 🇦🇪🌈🌪️ Strong teamwork finished off by @MerlierTim! 🔥🐺 #TheWolfpack Focus on tomorrow's TTT. 👊🏼 📷 @GettySport
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