“We cannot put Remco on the same level as clear Tour favourites” - Johan Bruyneel on Remco Evenepoel’s Tour de France chances

A victory on the final stage and second place in the general classification at Paris-Nice marked a solid outing for Remco Evenepoel in only his second race of the season so far. However, the young Belgian would have probably been hoping for better after his overall victory at the Volta ao Algarve last month.

After a solid performance from Soudal Quick-Step in the team time trial on stage 3, which left him in eighth place overall, Evenepoel made a series of tactical blunders and was unable to follow the decisive attacks, as he was often marked by the other GC contenders.

Speaking on The Move podcast, the former rider, sports director and general manager Johan Bruyneel criticised Evenepoel’s performance at Paris-Nice, as he said that “I love Remco, but I am also the first to be critical. By the way, I am not a member of his fan club. He is a strong rider, but he still has a lot to learn and improve tactically”.

He then gave a realistic assessment of Evenepoel’s chances at the Tour de France this summer, as he went on to say that “we cannot put Remco on the same level as clear Tour favourites such as Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar and even Primož Roglič. The Tour will be a learning process for him. He will race actively and aggressively, but I think the top five should be his goal. Remco himself will undoubtedly want to win, but we cannot expect that from him”.

There were also problems with the Soudal Quick-Step team on the final day of the race, as he had no teammates left in the group early on in the stage, with Bruyneel saying that “Remco was completely isolated during the final stage. Based on what I have seen last week, I have huge doubts about Soudal Quick-Step as a contender in the Tour”.

Evenepoel will now head to Itzulia Basque Country at the beginning of April, before then turning his attention to the Ardennes Classics, as he is currently scheduled to ride the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne ahead of his return to Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he will attempt to win the race for the third year in a row.