Remco Evenepoel's reboot, Geraint Thomas' goodbye - Tour of Britain preview

Remco Evenepoel hasn’t been seen in a bike race since he abandoned the Tour de France on the Col du Tourmalet, but that doesn’t mean he disappeared from view for the rest of the summer. Anonymity simply isn’t an option for the rider who was compelled to doing his growing up in public.

Even as Tadej Pogacar was ambling his way towards another Tour victory, much of the media attention was diverted towards a different soap opera. Evenepoel’s switch from Soudal-QuickStep to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe was the transfer saga of the season – or perhaps the decade – and it duly dominated column inches in late July as we awaited confirmation of the blindingly obvious.

The whole process was wrapped up mercifully quickly in the end, with the formal announcement arriving in early August. Since then, Red Bull have been busily retooling their backroom team in preparation for Evenepoel’s arrival, while Soudal-QuickStep have been signing up Classics riders with an eye to a return to their roots next season.

Evenepoel, meanwhile, is in something of a halfway house, still wearing a Soudal-QuickStep jersey but surely already projecting ahead to his new life at Red Bull. Still, there are miles to ride and promises to keep before the end of this season, and Evenepoel’s road to the Rwanda Worlds runs through the Tour of Britain, which gets under way in Woodbridge on Tuesday.

There is no time trial on the route and, as ever, most of the race is tilted more towards the fast men than to riders like Evenepoel. But even if the Olympic champion turns up simply to ride around and get some race rhythm for Rwanda, his every move and every utterance will be parsed and analysed to the nth degree.

Evenepoel has endured a trying season, starting with the heavy crash last winter that delayed the start of his campaign until April. Although he won instantly at Brabantste Pijl and impressed at Amstel Gold Race, a reality check followed at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

His Tour build-up, we now know, was troubled, and it underlines Evenepoel’s outlandish talent that he still lay third overall in the race on the morning of his abandon. But his travails in the Pyrenees also made clear that something had gone very awry in the weeks leading up to the Tour.

In that light, the Tour of Britain marks a reboot for Evenepoel. The race in and of itself won’t change Evenepoel’s season – though expect him to make an impact on the penultimate day to The Tumble – but it provides a runway for the Worlds and a head-to-head against Pogacar in the road race and, perhaps, the individual time trial.

While riders like Jonas Vingegaard, Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel have all opted against the trip to Rwanda, Evenepoel, it appears, is energised by the prospect. The Belgian might be picturing how Bernard Hinault bounced back from a much-criticised Tour abandon to win the arduous Sallanches Worlds in 1980. 

Pogacar is the overwhelming favourite to retain his crown, of course, but Evenepoel has always liked a challenge. The Tour of Britain will give us some pointers as to how he’s shaping up.

While Evenepoel is hoping to begin a renaissance next week, he will share the headlines with a man bringing the curtain down on his career. This year’s Tour of Britain concludes in Cardiff expressly to give Geraint Thomas a send-off from the professional peloton, though the Welshman is set to remain in the sport as part of Ineos Grenadiers’ management next season.

Thomas’ has been one of the remarkable cycling lives. He was part of the vaunted British academy in Tuscany and an Olympic team pursuit champion. He made his Tour debut as a callow 21-year-old back in 2007, reaching Paris in second-last place. Not even he could have imagined that he would ride into Paris in the yellow jersey 11 years later.

And even though Thomas underwent many transformations as a rider – track star to Classics hunter to Grand Tour winner – the man himself never seemed to change, brushing off joy and agony with the same deadpan humour. 

For the bones of two decades, Thomas achieved a rare feat in this game – he took his sport extremely seriously without ever falling into the trap of taking himself too seriously. Plenty in positions above him at Team Sky/Ineos over the years could have learned from his example. 

Regardless of what he achieves at the Tour of Britain, Thomas will be cheered from the rafters throughout the race, and especially in the grand finale in Cardiff.

British interest, of course, is not limited to a farewell tour. Two riders at the opposite end of their careers will hope to shine across the six stages. 

Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) has been one of the season’s outstanding performers, with 11 wins to his name, including four at WorldTour level. The 20-year-old will have opportunities to add to that tally here, and he might even be in the hunt for overall victory, given his ability to withstand rugged terrain. His towering performance at Zakopane on the recent Tour de Pologne encapsulated what he can do.

Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) lines up for his first stage race since he placed fourth overall at the Tour de France. Like Evenepoel, he will use the Tour of Britain to tune up for the Rwanda Worlds, but the rugged terrain on stage 4 and 5 will also be to his liking. After placing second overall a year ago, Onley will be to the fore again here.

It’s worth noting, too, that the two outstanding young talents in British cycling are not racing for Ineos, the team that once seemed to have its pick of the supply line in the country. Food for thought for Thomas as he faces into his new career.

The 2025 Tour of Britain begins in Suffolk, with a flat 161km run to Southwold on stage 1. The sprinters – and Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) – will be to the fore. Stage 2 starts and finishes in Stowmarket, and it should provide another chance for the sprinters, though the late climb of Semer Hill might provide a springboard for later attackers.

At first glance, stage 3 from Milton Keynes to Ampthill looks like another sprinters’ benefit, but the terrain is more rugged, and the day is a short one, just 123km in length. It should be an aggressive day and that might well force a selection ahead of the finish, in which case Matthew Brennan and Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) could well shine.

A hillier day is in store on stage 4, which features a tough finishing circuit around Burton Dassett Hills Country Park, where Mathieu van der Poel took victory. The three ascents of the 1.4km climb (average gradient 5.7%) will whittle down the field. It could provide a platform for Evenepoel, Onley or Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), though on the evidence of the Tour de Pologne, this day could be within Brennan’s range.

The Tour of Britain crosses into Wales for the final weekend, and stage 5 is the most demanding of the race. There are five climbs on the agenda, and the key ascent is The Tumble (5.5km at 7.3%), which is tackled with 48km to go and again at the finish. The Tour of Britain will be decided here, and Evenepoel and Onley will be the men to watch.

On the final afternoon, meanwhile, all eyes will be on Geraint Thomas. The 112km stage from Newport tackles the Caerphilly Mountain in the finale ahead of the fast drop into Cardiff.