Remco Evenepoel’s 2025 Race Plans begin to take shape

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Newly crowned Olympic Time Trial Champion and Tour de France podium finisher, Remco Evenepoel, is set to make his debut in both Milan-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders in 2025. In an interview with Derniรจre Heure, Soudal-QuickStep team manager Patrick Lefevere shared that Evenepoel will participate in Italy and Belgiumโ€™s biggest one-day races next spring.

In stark contrast to 2024, where Evenepoelโ€™s only one-day race to date has been the Figuiera Champions Classic in February โ€“ which he won with an impressive solo break โ€“ the Belgian is likely to have a Classics-heavy first half of the season in 2025. Lefevere mentioned that, in addition to Flanders, Evenepoel will also race another Flemish cobbled Classic as part of his preparation for “De Ronde”. He is also set to return to Liรจge-Bastogne-Liรจge, where he achieved back-to-back victories in 2022 and 2023 before missing the race in 2024 due to a crash and broken collarbone in Itzulia Basque Country in early April.

โ€œI confirm what I told you after this yearโ€™s Spring Classics, the idea is that Remco discovers Milan-Sanremo and the Tour de France,โ€ Lefevere said. โ€œHe will also do Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico, as well as a Flemish Classic to prepare for Flanders, either Dwars door Vlaanderen or E3 Harelbeke. Then heโ€™ll go back to Liรจge-Bastogne-Liรจge.โ€

Lefevere also confirmed that Evenepoelโ€™s 2025 plans include a return to the Tour de France, where he recently finished third overall in his debut, claimed a stage win, and took the Best Young Rider classification.

Any chance of a return to the Giro dโ€™Italia in 2025, which Evenepoel raced in 2021 and 2023, seems unlikely. Apart from a brief stint in his debut pro season in 2019 in the Belgian cobbled Spring Classics, Evenepoel has not competed in any Flemish one-day events.

For Belgiumโ€™s cycling community, Evenepoel’s return to these races is highly anticipated, especially after such a successful run. When asked about Evenepoelโ€™s potential for further improvement, Lefevere laughed and said, โ€œYou donโ€™t think heโ€™s good enough as he is? Heโ€™s already won two Monuments and a Grand Tour, heโ€™s twice been [elite] world champion.

โ€œHe was leading the Giro dโ€™Italia [in 2023] when he went down with COVID. Heโ€™s just got on the podium of the Tour de France and won the best young rider jersey. And now heโ€™s Olympic Champion as well. All this at 24.

โ€œOur goal was that he got on the podium in the 2025 Tour, so heโ€™s ahead of our initial plan. And whoโ€™s to say he wonโ€™t win it outright, even with Tadej Pogaฤar and Jonas Vingegaard in the peloton. You canโ€™t predict the future. Look at Jan Ullrich and Egan Bernal. They were both predicted five victories each in the Tour and they never got them. I hope that Remco has already had all the bad luck heโ€™s destined to have.โ€

The Queen of the Classics

As for the rest of 2024, Lefevere mentioned that the only definitive races on Evenepoelโ€™s current programme are the Olympic Games, the World Championships and, presumably as a warm-up for Zurich, the Tour of Great Britain from 3rd-9th September. Neither Il Lombardia, where Evenepoel had a bad crash in 2020, nor the Canadian World Cup rounds are currently on his provisional 2024 schedule.

Lefevere argued that Evenepoel could win every race except Paris-Roubaix, but noted that history could favour Evenepoel even in the most gruelling Classic. He cited the case of the late Belgian cycling star Frank Vandenbroucke, who was also not expected to win the Queen of the Classics, โ€œand the whole Mapei-QuickStep team was needed to chase him down to stop him winning the Hell of the North in 1999. Soโ€ฆโ€

Lastly, Lefevere addressed ongoing rumours about Evenepoel’s future at Soudal-QuickStep, when asked if he had anything to say to those teams trying to lure Evenepoel away. โ€œI will never oblige a rider to stay if he doesnโ€™t want to, but Remco is under contract until the end of 2026. Those who want to sign him know what heโ€™ll cost. In any case, Iโ€™m so sure that a team can offer him better conditions than ours. Iโ€™m not talking about money, but also his wellbeing. And if we are so rubbish [as a team], then why do the big-name squads keep trying to sign members of our management?โ€