'A no-brainer' - Evenepoel on how Vingegaard's old coach changed his Tour build-up

Remco Evenepoel’s form is the biggest mystery on the eve of the Tour de France, given that the Belgian hasn’t pinned on a number since he placed a disappointing third at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April.

The decision to forgo a planned ride at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes means that Evenepoel will have gone 68 days without racing when he rolls down the start ramp in Barcelona on Saturday. He will hope his extended hiatus will bear fruit at the Tour.

Red Bull’s decision to withhold Evenepoel from racing bears echoes of the build-up to his 2022 Vuelta a España victory during his time at Soudal Quick-Step, but there has also been something very new about his preparation for the Tour: his coach.

Jonas Vingegaard’s long-term coach Tim Heemskerk joined Red Bull in May after leaving Team Visma | Lease a Bike at the start of the season, and Evenepoel confirmed on Thursday that the Dutchman has been overseeing his training ahead of the Tour.

“He’s a special person as a human being, but I think as a coach, we work well together,” Evenepoel said in his pre-Tour press conference in Barcelona. “For me, it was a different approach, of course. That’s also why we wanted to switch as fast as possible.”

Heemskerk’s arrival coincided with the news that Evenepoel’s previous coach Dan Lorang was about to leave to join Lidl-Trek.

“The team managed to take him immediately in the team, and then it was just a no-brainer to work together as quickly as possible after my break after Liège,” Evenepoel said.

“It’s a new type of person that I’m working with, also with all the knowledge he has. But maybe that’s also just good for me, to get more information about all kinds of stuff. I just try to be as open as possible with him. For the moment, everything has been going very well. I think the first two months have been good, so I hope it will stay at least for many more years.”

Evenepoel defended the decision not to race between Liège and the Tour, acknowledging that the change in coach had played a part in that call. 

“For me, it was the best decision to not race anymore, since I had a lot of time to prepare in a good way,” he said. “I needed to change coach after Liège, so I think that was also a big reason why I didn’t take on any race after that, to make sure that I can work well together with my new coach.”

Two years ago, Evenepoel finished third overall behind Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard in a most promising Tour debut. His second effort twelve months ago was less auspicious, even though he won the Caen time trial in the opening week and he was still lying third overall when he abandoned on the Tourmalet.

At Red Bull, Evenepoel finds himself in the new position of riding as a co-leader and Florian Lipowitz, third in Paris last year, will set out with considerable ambition after winning the Tour of Slovenia last month.

Evenepoel bristled in a decidedly joking not joking sort of a way when a Dutch journalist asked him to outline his personal ambitions for the Tour.

“Typical Dutch, personal goal…” Evenepoel said. “The personal goal, yeah: win the stage, for sure, win the TTT, and take yellow with the team on day one. I think that’s the ambition we have as a team.

“And then next to that, because I know where you want to go, because you want to hear that I say I want to be on the podium, and that Florian says, ‘I want to be on the podium.’

“Of course we want to be on the podium. But whether it’s him or myself, I think if we do it in a good way, without having this negative energy, it’s good for both of us and for the team.

“We both really want to do what we did already in the past, which is to be on the podium behind Tadej and Jonas.”

Sitting alongside Evenepoel, Lipowitz offered a diplomatic response. “I think there’s not much more to add to what Remco said. I think if we do our best every day, we should be happy with the outcome,” Lipowitz said. “If we didn't make any mistake, we have to be happy with any result.”

Evenepoel and Lipowitz will hope to get off to a fast start in the opening time trial in Barcelona, where the short and sharp final haul up Montjuïc might offer some early indications on the internal hierarchy at Red Bull.