“The whole team has been working on it for a while” - Remco Evenepoel targets Tour de France Maillot Jaune with potentially game-changing new Specialized bike

Remco Evenepoel’s 2026 Tour de France could begin with a major equipment statement, as Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe prepare to target the opening team time trial in Barcelona with a brand new Specialized time trial bike.

Evenepoel heads towards July in a very different place to where he stood after his 2024 Tour de France podium. Two years ago, the Belgian looked clearly established behind Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard in the Grand Tour hierarchy. Now, Pogacar has only moved further clear, Vingegaard has rebuilt his aura with Vuelta a Espana and Giro d’Italia victories, and the fight behind them has become far more crowded.

Paul Seixas has exploded into the top level at just 19. Florian Lipowitz, Evenepoel’s own teammate, finished third at last year’s Tour and has often looked the stronger pure climber of the Red Bull duo in 2026. The likes of Isaac del Toro, Joao Almeida and others add further depth to a GC field where the old “third man” status can no longer be handed to Evenepoel automatically.

That makes the Tour opener in Barcelona even more significant. The 2026 race begins on 4 July with a team time trial, offering Evenepoel and Red Bull a rare immediate chance to put pressure on the rest of the GC contenders and potentially fight for the first Maillot Jaune of the race.

Speaking to Sporza at the Wattage Festival in Ostend, Dario Kloeck, Evenepoel’s cousin, mechanic and confidant, confirmed that the team have been focused on the Barcelona opener for some time. “The whole team has been working on that for a while,” Kloeck said.

For Evenepoel, already one of the finest time triallists in the sport, the opening stage gives Red Bull a clear route into the race before the mountains begin to sort the wider hierarchy. Kloeck did not hide the importance of the first day. “It is an important opener,” he said. “If you can take the yellow jersey there, that is always nice.”

Red Bull’s plan is set to include new equipment. According to Kloeck, Specialized have been preparing a fresh time trial bike for the Tour, with the aim of finding further gains before Barcelona. “That’s right, yes. Specialized has worked hard to build a new time trial bike. It should be just about ready now,” he explained.

Evenepoel has not yet tested the machine, but Kloeck suggested the adjustment should be manageable because the Belgian’s position is not expected to change. “The position remains the same, only the frame changes. Obviously, the intention is to gain a few watts again,” he said.

For Red Bull, those details could carry more weight than a simple equipment upgrade. Evenepoel’s 2026 season has included major results, including victory at Amstel Gold Race and podium finishes at the Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but his Tour position remains complicated.

He is still one of the most dangerous riders in the race because of his time trial ability, engine and Grand Tour pedigree. His recent climbing and GC results, though, have not fully matched the trajectory once expected after his 2024 Tour podium.

Barcelona gives him an immediate opportunity. Evenepoel may not arrive as the clear third favourite behind Pogacar and Vingegaard, but he does arrive with a weapon few GC rivals can match. A strong Red Bull performance in the team time trial, backed by a new Specialized bike built for marginal gains, could instantly return him to the centre of the Tour conversation.

The margins will still need to be defended in the mountains. Against Pogacar, Vingegaard, Seixas, Lipowitz and the wider GC field, a fast start alone will not be enough. For a rider trying to reassert his place in a reshaped Tour hierarchy, though, the chance to begin in yellow would be a powerful statement.

Kloeck also offered a glimpse into how Evenepoel’s camp handled his spring programme, including the late confirmation of his Tour of Flanders debut. The race had already been discussed in December, but the team waited before making the plan public. “The plan was already on the table in December, but it was never 100 per cent certain. We first wanted to wait and see how the preparation went,” he said.

That secrecy was partly designed to avoid building another layer of expectation around Evenepoel’s first appearance in Flanders. “We did not want to create expectations. But he also quite enjoyed playing that little game,” Kloeck said.

The same tactic is unlikely to become standard. “I don’t think there will be any more games, no. You can only do that once in your career,” he said. “From next year, the programme will simply be known in December or January.”

For now, the immediate focus is far clearer. Barcelona offers Evenepoel, Red Bull and Specialized the first chance to show whether a carefully controlled Tour build can produce an early yellow jersey statement.