"That's a race for you" - Remco Evenepoel's right-hand man on Giro d'Italia absence

Mattia Cattaneo has joined Remco Evenepoel at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, something which also happened on request of the Olympic champion. The 35-year old is happy with his move and three-year contract at this point of his career, and will follow Evenepoel to the Tour. However, he believes the Giro d'Italia was tailor-made for him.

"My contract with Quick-Step was expiring, and as a 35-year-old, I was considering other options, both financial and otherwise, since these were objectively the last years of my career," Cattaneo said in words to Bici.Pro. "I had three or four attractive offers, financially better than what the team was willing to offer me". Hence a move away from the Belgian team, which is putting more emphasis on the classics and sprints from 2026 onwards, looked clear.

"Meanwhile, Remco had decided to come here. He called me and said 'If you can, sign with Red Bull, because I'm going there'." Cattaneo didn't hesitate, and for good reason. At this year's Tour, before both abandoned, Cattaneo was the man guiding Evenepoel through the flat and hilly days that started the race. His importance was evident, and his skillset is ideal for Evenepoel, a he has plenty experience as a domestique and is also a very strong time trialist who can aid the team's ambition of taking the yellow jersey in the team time trial which will happen in Barcelona next summer to open the race.

And Cattaneo is seeing a different Evenepoel, after the transfer, and in his new environment with the German team - perhaps away from the pressure that is a constant from Belgium. "Maybe it's just my feeling, but it's like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. Because I talk to him every day, I notice he's calmer and more confident. Those are things you immediately notice, whether someone is more relaxed or under more pressure".

Cattaneo crashed out of the Tour on stage 7, and Evenepoel also left the race a week later. It was a tough hit for the team, but Cattaneo believes his teammate will have benefited and learnt from the disappointment he experienced. "It was definitely a hard blow to have to leave the Tour like that. At the same time, I think it gave him a positive shock, something like, 'I have to change something.' A wake-up call, in short. It might not sound pleasant, but sometimes you learn from a defeat, even if you're a champion."

However, if he were the one to select the team's schedule for this season, he would've done things differently. "When I saw the Giro d'Italia, the first thing I did was call him. I said 'look, they've given you a forty-kilometer time trial; that's a race for you.'" But Evenepoel and the team have chosen otherwise, with him set to follow a smaller calendar, with focus on stage-races, early in the year, the Ardennes, and the Tour de France. Evenepoel wants few and very specific goals.

"It's also clear that a huge investment has been made in him. For Red Bull and the team, the Tour de France is extremely important, and when you make such an investment, it's right to focus on it first and foremost," Cattaneo understands. "But that Giro... was, of course, perfect for him."