'I believe I can get closer to Pogacar and Vingegaard' - Remco Evenepoel ready for Tour de France test at Dauphiné

In training rides up and down Sierra Nevada last month, Remco Evenepoel must surely have been measuring himself against Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard in his mind, wondering if his efforts were bringing him to the exalted levels they reached at last year’s Tour de France.

The beauty of the Critérium du Dauphiné is that Evenepoel’s yardstick is now so close at hand. This week in the Alps, Evenepoel will race against Pogacar and Vingegaard, as the three podium finishers from last year’s Tour put the finishing touches on their preparation for the 2025 race.

Last July, Evenepoel was a sparkling third in his Tour debut, but he still reached Nice a distant nine minutes behind Pogacar and over three down on Vingegaard. The Belgian believes he can close the gap in 2025, and the Dauphiné will offer a significant status update.

“I’m probably already around my shape from the Tour last year, so that’s good,” Evenepoel told reporters in a video call on Saturday. “I’ll be better in the Dauphiné this year than last year, so I really believe that I can make a big step closer to Tadej and Jonas. It’s pretty exciting to be here, especially with the stage of Saturday, that’s a very good test to see where I’m at now.

“Of course, I know that there is still some room for improvements towards the Tour, but for the moment, I’m happy where I’m at now, and I believe I can come closer to Tadej and Jonas, yes.”

The start of Evenepoel’s 2025 season was delayed by a heavy training crash in December, but he began his campaign with a victory at Brabantse Pijl in April and a stirring display at Amstel Gold Race. Although he struggled at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and then rode a relatively subdued Tour de Romandie, Evenepoel is confident that he arrives at the Dauphiné in altogether better shape than a year ago, when his season had been disrupted by a broken collarbone at Itzulia Basque Country.

Soudal-QuickStep coach Koen Pelgrim told Domestique and Belgian media this week that Evenepoel was 1.5kg lighter now than he was at the same point last year, and the thought was echoed by the rider himself in his pre-Dauphiné press conference. 

“I think there’s a big difference between the last two years,” Evenepoel said. “This year, I’ve had two months without problems since I returned to competition. I wasn’t in the best form for the Classics and Romandie, but I was able to take confidence from the progress and not panic. When I started the camp in Sierra Nevada, I felt good and I was able to do all the work I wanted to do, so I’m in better form than this time last year. Everything is better than last year.”

Twelve months ago, Evenepoel won the time trial at the Dauphiné before struggling the mountains. The race devolved into a very public training camp ahead of the Tour, though his condition was still enough to carry him to seventh overall.

This time out, the Dauphiné is both a training exercise for the Tour and a prize worth winning in its own right. Above all, one senses that Evenepoel is relishing the prospect of going toe to toe with Pogacar and Vingegaard here before they do it for keeps in July.

“I think it’s for all of us it’s just a first test to see where we’re at in terms of shape, condition and general race feeling,” Evenepoel said. “In the Dauphiné some guys are in very good shape, and others in growing shape, like me last year. 

“But I think it’s always an important race, a WorldTour stage race. I think every team leader wants to feel where he’s at before the Tour, if he’s far away from competitors or from his own shape. For me, it’s going to be a very important week. I don’t have a specific ambition, but I am ambitious in that I want to be up there.”