"Remco is Remco. He can always win" - UAE Team Emirates wary of Evenepoel threat to Tadej Pogacar at Tour de France
Cycling
It's likely that for the first time ever, all of cycling's 'Big 4' of Grand Tour riders will be at the start line of the Tour de France later this month in Florence. Most untested of the quartet, will be Tour de France debutant Remco Evenepoel.
For UAE Team Emirates boss Joxean Matxin, this could actually be the most challenging field of general classification competitors ever assembled, making life difficult for his team leader and pre-race favourite, Tadej Pogacar. "What is true: of all the Tours we have ridden with Tadej, this will be the edition with the toughest field of participants. Carlos Rodriguez, Primoz Roglic, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Evenepoel of course... the competition has never been greater," Matxin tells Het Nieuwsblad, also expectant that Jonas Vingegaard will be present and close to his best.
In our recent poll "How will Remco Evenpoel's GC challenge go at 2024 Tour de France", you voted in your numbers and the general consensus was that the Soudal - Quick-Step leader is not a viable Maillot Jaune contender, with just over 2% backing him for the victory and a further 7% backing Evenepoel to claim a spot on the podium. In fact, the most popular option is that Evenepoel will instead be contesting for stage wins and the polka-dot jersey.
Matxin however, is very wary of the threat Evenepoel poses to Pogacar at the upcoming Tour de France. "Remco is Remco. He can always win," the UAE boss explains. "When he's good, he's very good. Okay, in the Dauphiné he wasn't one hundred per cent in shape yet, but that was three weeks before the Tour. And we all know that Remco is great at working towards something. I am sure he is going to be in top form in France."
The fact it's his first Tour de France should also be no concern for the Belgian according to Matxin. "When he won the Vuelta it was also his first Vuelta, right?" Matxin notes. "Remco has experience, overflows with ambition, has the right character and knows what it is to win a three-week race. Just chalk him up as one of the big competitors in the Tour."
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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- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
- 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
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Better day to finish off a week full of testing and hard work. 👊🏻🔥 We trust the process and stick to the plan. Time to get back to training now. ⛰️🐺
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