Remco Evenepoel keen to show he's closing the gap on Vingegaard & Pogacar: "Hopefully in the future I can go above them"
Cycling
Remco Evenepoel is widely viewed as one of the four leading Grand Tour contenders in the current peloton alongside Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic. At the upcoming Criterium du Dauphine, the Soudal - Quick-Step leader will get a chance to prove himself against two of these, with a view to the Tour de France in mind.
Twelve months ago, Evenepoel was step below both Vingegaard and Pogacar at the Dauphine and the Tour de France, although there were plenty of positives in a podium finish on debut at the French Grand Tour. This year though, the Belgian is confident he has got closer, as Evenepoel says himself in conversation with TNT Sports.
"Yeah, because I think my shape now is better than last year at this time," begins the 25-year-old. "Also, I have the experience of riding my first Tour. Maybe that will bring a bit more pressure but, of course, I will also recognise some moments in the race and that will only help my end result."
"I think the gap [to Pogacar and Vingegaard] was there last year and I think this year the main goal should be to close the gap, not completely maybe, but to come closer," Evenepoel continues his analysis. "And hopefully one day in the future I can go above them, which will be very difficult, but that has to be my ambition for my career."
Evenepoel has made no secret of the fact that he dreams of ending the wait for a Belgian Tour de France win, but whether or not 2025 will be his year, the Quick-Step leader remains unsure. "Maybe for one day. If I don't lose any stupid time in the first four stages, and then I can make a good TT result, then there are a lot of possibilities to get my first yellow jersey," he concludes. "And then, of course, we have to try and defend it. There's no 'must', but I know there's a big chance if I do a good TT. I think that would be very nice and a nice reward for all the times I've been going through [with injury]."
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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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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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