'It was long but overall a good one' - Remco Evenepoel picks Tour de France podium as best moment of his 2026 season

Evenepoel will kick-off a season debrief and start to plan for 2027 as he undergoes a medical check-up at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center in Salzburg on Wednesday. He will then travel to the Specialized wind tunnel in California for more work on his time trial position.

The time trial world champion caught his two-minute man Jay Vine at the Chrono des Nations, with Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling) a further 16 seconds back.

"There wasn’t really a strict ‘pacing plan’ for the rolling course; I just tried to tackle the climbs as quickly as possible, while using the faster, downhill sections to recover," Evenepoel said of his 54.631 km/h effort.

Evenepoel considered the long road trip to western France as an important last day of racing. For a similar sense of dedication, Evenepoel rode for seven hours last Wednesday, as a final endurance ride of the season.

"I could have just stayed home or headed off on vacation already. But when I line up for a race, I’m there to give it my absolute all," he told Het Laatste Nieuws, looking back over his 2026 season.

"I owe that to my status as a top-tier time-trialist. It’s also a sign of respect for my entourage, the people who have made sacrifices to be here. Our bus driver had to cover 1,300 kilometres from his home in Germany to get here."

Evenepoel made his debut in Red Bull colours in late January, winning the opening team time trial and two other races in the Challenge Mallorca series. There were some incredible highs and a few lows but he ended 2026 as world time trial champion, European road race champion and second behind Tadej Pogačar in the UCI rider rankings.

"It was long but overall a good one," Evenepoel said of his 2026 season.

"There were a few ups and downs, though fortunately, the ups outweighed the downs."

His fondest memory?

"My two stage wins in the Tour and second place in the general classification, of course," he said, confirming his determination to excel at the Tour.

"The World Championship road race and Il Lombardia weren’t great but the most painful experience, both in my legs and in my heart, was during the finale of the Tour of Flanders, when I couldn’t close that final five-second gap to Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel. 

Evenepoel and the performance team at Red Bull will analyse his successes, his failures and especially his Tour de France, to try to improve in 2027. 

Evenepoel expects to make changes to his race calendar and his training after a first season working with the team and new coach Tim Heemskerk. Red Bull and Evenepoel are expected to reveal their ambitions and goals for 2027 at their media day in Mallorca on Friday December 11. 

"What is certain is that I won’t start competing as early as I did this year," Evenepoel told HLN.

"As a newcomer to the team, that was somewhat understandable; I wanted to prove myself, integrate as well as possible, and start winning quickly. Next year will be different.”

“Another thing we’ve realised and learned is that I need solid preparation periods leading up to my major goals. We’ll be scheduling those even more precisely, and avoiding the rush of jumping from one race to the next, which happened a few times in 2026." 

Evenepoel trained for 50 days before the Tour de France, opting not to race. A similar preparation would mean it is difficult for him to ride the Giro d'Italia in 2027 even if he has left the door open until the Grand Tour routes are revealed.

Before thinking of 2027, Evenepoel faces a trip to Austria for an annual medical check-up and a chance to meet his 2027 teammates, followed by more work in the Specialized wind tunnel.

"From Austria, I’ll travel to the Specialized headquarters in Morgan Hill, California. I’ll have a few commitments with our bike sponsor and spend other days in the wind tunnel, hunting for further ‘marginal gains’," he explained.

"I've got a few more weeks of ‘real work’ and gritting my teeth. And then, a two-week vacation with Oumi. That is going to be so welcome!”