'He's unpredictable' - Evenepoel adds 'stress factor' for Pogacar at Tour of Flanders

After months of well-informed speculation and flagrant denials, Evenepoel finally confirmed his participation in the Tour of Flanders on Wednesday. At his pre-Ronde press conference in Waregem on Friday, Pogačar acknowledged that Evenepoel’s presence would bring a new dynamic to the race.

“I think from my side, it’s good to have a rider like Remco, who always wants to go from distance and race hard far from the finish, always on the attack,” Pogačar said. 

“We saw in the last few races, he always goes for the win, no matter what. I think he can do really great race on Sunday. I think he's in good shape and he’s definitely a rider to look for, for his long-range attacks. We must not let him out of sight on Sunday.”

Speaking earlier on Friday, Evenepoel was bullish about his prospects in the first Flemish Classic of his career, but it remains to be seen how he will cope with the vagaries of racing on the cobbles and hills that punctuate this corner of the world.

It might well prove that Evenepoel feels his best chance of success will come from anticipating the moves of the more experienced Pogačar and Van der Poel in the finale.

“With Remco, you never know where he can go, he can attack in most random place, and you need to be also ready for that,” Pogačar said. “You can never let him go in the front with a couple of seconds, because it’s almost impossible to catch him back because he’s so fast. I think Remco can attack on the most flat sections of the race and then he can make a gap and then it’s difficult to bring him back.”

Pogačar smiled when asked if the Evenepoel factor would add to the habitual stress of the Tour of Flanders.

“Yeah, for sure, he likes to attack and he’s unpredictable sometimes,” Pogačar said. “And also, it’s his first time here in Flanders, so for sure it’s another stress factor in the race.”

The Tour of Flanders is only Pogačar’s third race of the season and his first since his dramatic victory at Milan-Sanremo two weeks ago, when he finally won La Primavera despite crashing shortly before the Cipressa.

The Slovenian acknowledged that his injuries had a minor impact on his training in the days after Milan-Sanremo, but he declared himself fully fit – and at a fighting weight of 66kg – for his tilt at a record-equalling third Tour of Flanders victory.

“I finally ticked off Sanremo as a big goal of my career, but I had to still recover from the crash,” Pogačar said. “It was not too crazy to recover, but I still had to do a few days a bit easier, but then through the weekend and in the last few days, I did some good trainings and arrived here with the motivation for Sunday’s race, so I’m pretty good.”

Pogačar is lining out at the Ronde for the third time, and after somehow contriving to finish fourth in a two-up sprint against Van der Poel in 2022, he made no mistake in soloing to victory in 2023 and 2025.

The Slovenian has made a habit of long-range solo victories in recent seasons, and he compiled an astonishing sequence at the end of last season at the World Championships, European Championships and Il Lombardia. 

He continued in the same vein with a 79km lone effort to win Strade Bianche on his first race day of 2026, but recent cobbled Classics have seen strong lone attackers caught – or almost caught – before the finish thanks to solid collaboration among chasing teams.

“I think now the teams maybe finally realised that if somebody attacks 60k to go, there’s still time to reorganise themselves in the back,” Pogačar said. 

“If you work together and don’t just attack each other over the climbs, there’s more chance to catch the guy in the lead. I think that’s what happened in Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen. It was interesting to watch, definitely.”

But will it happen at the Ronde? 

“It’s way longer and more demanding, so it depends how you race it,” Pogačar said. “But I’m not saying that I want to attack every race with 50 or 60k to go, so we’ll see, you know?”