'Enthusiastic' Evenepoel links up with Red Bull for first time
Remco Evenepoel's transfer was announced in August and though he only officially becomes a Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider on January 1, the new era begins with his new team's first 2026 camp this week.
The 2025 season only formally ended on Sunday, but squads are already looking firmly ahead to 2026, with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s roster gathering in Germany this week to begin their planning for the new campaign.
It marks Remco Evenepoel’s first formal interaction with his new team following confirmation in August of his transfer to Red Bull after seven seasons at Soudal-QuickStep.
Evenepoel will be joined by Soudal-QuickStep teammate Mattia Cattaneo and directeur sportif Klaas Lodewyck at his new team, and he will also be reunited with former Belgian national coach Sven Vanthourenhout, who joined Red Bull on August 1.
“He’s very enthusiastic,” Vanthourenhout told Sporza. “He’s really looking forward to this week, where we’ll get to know each other better in a different way.”
Evenepoel’s 2025 season was delayed by the injuries he sustained in a training crash in December, though he made a winning start to the campaign with victory at Brabantse Pijl and he produced a sparkling display at Amstel Gold Race.
Although Evenepoel won individual time trials at both the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de France, he would endure a difficult summer. He abandoned the Tour de France on the Col du Tourmalet on stage 14 while lying third overall.
Evenepoel returned to action at the Tour of Britain in September, where he won a stage, and he scorched to a third straight time trial title at the World Championships in Rwanda, catching and passing Tadej Pogačar in the finale.
Pogačar would have his revenge in the weekends that followed, beating Evenepoel into second place at the Worlds road race, European Championships road race and Il Lombardia.
Evenepoel has been signed by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe to lead its Tour de France challenge in the future, but his race programme for 2026 has yet to be established. He joins an existing stable of stage racing talent that includes five-time Grand Tour winner Primoz Roglic, 2022 Giro d’Italia champion Jai Hindley and 2025 Tour podium finisher Florian Lipowitz.
“Now we are looking forward to 2026 and at the team camp we will meet the new faces, make evaluations and draw up the schedule,” said Vanthourenhout, who was upbeat about his own early work with Red Bull. “I’ve had a really great introduction to the team.”
Evenepoel’s arrival at Red Bull has triggered an overhaul of the management structure, with Rolf Aldag and Enrico Gasparotto among those departing.
As well as Vanthourenhout and Lodewyck, Zak Dempster and Oliver Cookson join the team from Ineos. Dempster will serve as Chief of Sports, while Cookson has been appointed Head of Racing.
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