"Why would I stop believing" - Remco Evenepoel's national coach fully positive on Tour de France GC challenge

Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe are going all-in for the Tour de France, with Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz in the lead and Giro d'Italia podium finisher Jai Hindley likely heading as a domestique. The Belgian rider is the biggest headliner in the team, and his preparation is looked at through the lens of someone who knows him well.

“We have seen in the past that he often emerges from such a training bubble in great shape for major stage races or championships," Belgian national coach Serge Pauwels said in an interview with Wielerflits.

Unlike the initial schedule, Evenepoel will use only training ahead of the Grand Boucle. The brutal eight-day Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes was removed from the calendar, so as to remove variables, and maintain full focus on the bigger goal. Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro will headline the fight for the yellow jersey over the coming week.

"I don't think that is really the problem anymore. It is the same in the winter, and he wins immediately then too. In training, you can also focus well and work on all the parameters you still want to fine-tune. The time of needing competition to be in shape is over.”

For the classics, the Belgian often looked to be at the level he aimed for. That was the focus for the spring, and helped him reach a podium in his debut Tour of Flanders; as well as the victory at Amstel Gold Race and a podium at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

But much like Tadej Pogacar, his focus is now fully on the Tour, which requires much longer efforts and a lower weight so as to improve the key W/Kg ratio.

The team wants to make sure his form and the lowering of his weight is fully perfected - something which, in racing, can't always be controlled as the teams desire.

"Although I still think racing isn't bad, he might just want to keep that mental focus truly on the Tour. Doing everything perfectly and controlling it, and naturally, that is best done in training.”

"What the classics demand is a different kind of effort than where the general classification is decided in the climbs. Preparing for that well also has to do with the type of intervals you will be doing in training, and with potentially losing one or two kilograms," Pauwels added.

“Those are all things you can take perfect control over in training, and slightly less so in the race. Of course, it is not just that one week in the Dauphiné that you have".

Moreover, the sheer difficulty of this year's Auvergne route could come as a potential obstacle, as that race in itself will require extreme focus and physiological output so as to fight for a top result.

"It actually starts the last three days before, when you have to taper for that race, and then another three days after that when you have to recover. You are talking about two weeks in total. And those are certainly not two wasted weeks. But they are two weeks in which you have less opportunity to make adjustments or where you cannot tackle the things you really want to work on," Pauwels explains.

Racing the Tour de Suisse was not seen as an ideal alternative. Florian Lipowitz in the meantime will skip both but race the Tour of Slovenia, where he should be the main favourite for the overall classification.

“Personally, I really enjoyed riding the Dauphiné because it was a good preparation race and sometimes even a wake-up call, about three weeks before the Tour. But now you can hardly show up at the start in poor shape. Plus, the level in the Tour is getting higher and higher as well. That requires an increasingly specific approach, which is best prepared for during training.”

But on the doubts that Evenepoel can perform consistently in a three-week race, Pauwels has no doubts: “I still believe in Evenepoel as a general classification rider. Why would I stop believing in that? Last year in the Tour it was a bit less impressive, but that was more due to that training block beforehand, in which he was only able to race late after his accident".

Aside from his winter injury, Evenepoel began the Tour right after suffering a fractured rib at the national championships; and amidst a media frenzy over his potential (and true) transfer to Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe.

But in ideal conditions, he can perform incredibly well. "He has done it before; he has already won the Vuelta, he has already finished third in the Tour. They have the expertise in that team to get him to the start exactly as he needs to be. And on top of that, with that specific, professional preparation leading up to it… yes, it will all work out.”

"That doesn't mean the competition has diminished, mind you. We have a Vingegaard who is top-class, who is perhaps close to or just as good as the Vingegaard who won the Tour twice. Pogacar certainly hasn't gotten any worse," the former pro numbers.

"And then you have Paul Seixas, who is probably joining the fray. He is going to squeeze his way into the mix in the general classification as well. If you look at it from a distance with those three… that is a very specific era we are living in in racing right now. But Remco certainly has his place in it".