No holidays just yet for Remco Evenepoel as TT testing and Tour de France ambitions take priority

Remco Evenepoel will end his 2026 season at the Chrono des Nations time trial in France on Sunday, but his holidays will have to wait, as he does some extra work in preparation for the 2027 season, with the ambition of winning a Grand Tour, and especially the Tour de France, stronger than ever.

Evenepoel is the world time trial champion and the natural favourite for the 45km time trial around Herbiers in the Vendee region of northwest France. The Chrono des Nations is a key test of his time trialing equipment before he heads to the Specialized wind tunnel in California for more testing.

A well-deserved holiday comes after a final block of work. 

"Unfortunately the off-season always passes very quickly," Evenepoel admitted at Il Lombardia. 

"Before any holidays, I have to go to the Specialized wind tunnel in California. We have the new TT bike and so there are things to be tested."

"Before you know it's the end of November and you have to start training again. But I'll have a proper two-week holiday and then I'll start training again slowly."

Evenepoel made his much awaited debut with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe at the Mallorca Challenge in late January and will have raced for 54 days, including his second place and two stage victories at the Tour de France.

Everyone at Red Bull knows not to call him when he finally goes on holiday.

"Obviously during my two weeks off, I can really switch off completely and if anyone from the team is texting me or calling me, I will not answer,” he said, also keeping his holiday destination a secret to avoid the Flemish paparazzi.

"I deserved to have two or three weeks without anything. But once it starts again, I always commit completely to whatever is being said. Then we go again."

Evenepoel teased that the door was open to him riding the Giro d'Italia in 2027, with any decision based on the parcours. However he seemed inspired by his strong Tour de France.

If Tour director Christian Prudhomme reveals a balanced 2027 Tour route next Thursday in Paris, possibly with two time trials amongst the 21 stages, Evenepoel is likely to again focus on the Tour.

"The biggest learning of 2026 was my stable Tour de France and the way I grew in the race and was still on a very good level in the third week. That is something we'll take to the future. It was a big motivation to keep going for the Grand Tours," he said when Domestique asked him about his 2026 season.

"In this year's Tour Jonas crashed, but there was only one guy ahead of me. The victory is quite close, not super close but that's something that motivates me and the team, to keep dreaming for that."