'Dress rehearsal for the Tour de France' – Remco Evenepoel cruises to Belgian TT title

Never in doubt. Remco Evenepoel was such an overwhelming favourite for the Belgian time trial championships that the event essentially doubled as a public training ride ahead of the Tour de France. The question wasn’t whether he would win the title, but by how much.

The world and Olympic time trial champion held an average speed in excess of 54kph on the 40.5km circuit in Brasschaat to win the title by 1:11 from Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and afterwards he declared himself satisfied with his afternoon’s work.

Evenepoel already put Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to the sword in the time trial at the Critérium du Dauphiné earlier this month, and his performance here suggested that he will be the man to beat in the Caen time trial in the opening week of the Tour de France.

“Yes, that time trial is definitely a goal. That’s why we also chose to ride in exactly the same setup today, with the same bike and the same gear. There are no secrets about that,” Evenepoel told Sporza after the finish.

Later in the mixed zone, he explained why, unlike Wout van Aert, he had come down from his altitude camp in Tignes to ride Friday’s time trial. “It had also been a long time since I rode a long time trial, so this time trial was a dress rehearsal for the Tour.”

Evenepoel has now won seven out of his last nine time trials, a run that has included a Tour stage win and victories at both the World Championships and Olympics. His only defeats came in the mountainous final time trial at last year’s Tour and the short prologue at the Tour de Romandie.

“It may indeed be the best Remco Evenepoel in time trials, yes,” he said. “Since the last time trial of the Tour, I have hardly lost in a time trial. But every time is different.”

This was Evenepoel’s second Belgian time trial title after his previous victory in 2022, and he is now chasing another road race title after winning in 2023. He will line up among the favourites for Sunday’s road race in Binche. 

“Sunday will be something different, because that course suits a lot of riders,” he said. “It's also going to be very hot and that can be an advantage. We have a lot of options on our team and we’re in good shape. The most important thing is to get the jersey back with our team.”

Evenepoel reached Belgium late on Thursday, having trained at altitude since he placed fourth overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné. He had a mixed week at that race, winning the time trial but unable to match Pogacar and Vingegaard in the high mountains. 

Twelve months ago, however, Evenepoel showed considerable improvement between a subdued Dauphiné and a fine Tour debut, and he will hope a similar pattern emerges in 2025.

“The training camp was quite okay. We didn't train too crazy because of the heat and the altitude,” Evenepoel told Sporza. “I will definitely use this weekend as the last heavy block.”

Evenepoel smiled when asked if he could improve further ahead of the Tour. “It's a bit too late for that,” he said. “Luckily the first week is pretty flat and I can maybe use that to build up a bit.

“But with the predicted weather and wind, it will be full throttle right away. The Tour only starts in the second week for the GC contenders, but that doesn't make the first week any less important. I just have to trust that everything will be fine.”