'Not normal' – Evenepoel has no clear explanation for Tour abandon

It was a chastening day for Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), who abandoned the Tour de France during stage 14 on a monstrous day in the Pyrenees, which finished atop Superbagnères on Saturday.

Before the start of the Pyrenees on stage 12, Evenepoel sat in a strong position in the general classification, lying third behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), who was in yellow after his breakaway exploits on stage 10. Even after two very tough Pyrenean days, where it was clear that the Belgian wasn't quite at his best, he remained third in the standings ahead of the Saturday's stage.

On the lower slopes of the Col du Tourmalet, however, things began to look drastic for Evenepoel, who was distanced early. Unlike when he recovered from falling behind on the Col du Soulor on stage 12, it quickly became clear that he wouldn't return to the GC group this time, and he eventually abandoned the race. In the space of no more than 48 hours, his Tour de France aspirations were shattered, and it serves as a sharp reminder about the brutal nature of professional cycling.

"It just wasn't working. There was nothing in it. You can have a bad day, but three in a row, that's not normal," Evenepoel explained to reporters from the Soudal-QuickStep team bus after the finish of stage 14, visibly emotional after his withdrawal from the Tour.

The world time trial champion stepped off his bike during stage 14 following a discussion with his team, with sports director Klaas Lodewyck making the final call.

"It was the best option to quit. Actually, it was Klaas who told me," Evenepoel explained.

Evenepoel didn't have a definite explanation for why he had struggled in the Pyrenees, but suggested that a difficult winter's preparation certainly didn't help. The 25-year-old's 2025 preparations were significantly hindered by a crash he suffered in pre-season training, where he was taken out by a delivery driver opening a vehicle door on him. 

"I have no idea, we have to investigate that now. Everyone knows I've had a terribly bad winter, but... Who knows, maybe there's something wrong with my body? I can't say," said Evenepoel.

Evenepoel's first race of 2025 was De Brabantse Pijl on 18 April, which he won, but it was a considerably later start to the season compared to both Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), who began their seasons in February. Consequently, the Belgian was already playing catch-up to the majority of riders in terms of his preparations for July.

"It's already been a seriously difficult year. I've had to stay off the bike for a long time. I built up my form to get to the start in the best possible condition. But in the end, it all collapsed again. Yet another disappointment," he said, frustratedly. 

Despite a dissapointing end to his 2025 Tour, Evenepoel still comes away from the race with another stage win, having won the individual time trial on stage 5 to Caen, and he reflected on this when asked if it was a good idea to come to the Tour considering his disrupted preparations.

"Well, I won a stage, and I was in third place for a long time. Until today, everything looked pretty good. But it went from bad to absolutely terrible. Today it really didn't work."

"I could have finished with a gruppetto, but who knows, maybe that would just exhaust my body even more. Then I wouldn't be there in September either," Evenepoel added.

The reference to September indicated that the Belgian will turn his attention to the upcoming World Championships in Rwanda, where he is the defending time trial champion, and a former road race champion also. As a double Olympic champion and national champion multiple times, Evenepoel will look to revive a dissapointing Summer with a successful end to the season, and this was a part of the thinking when it came to his decision to abandon the Tour.

This was also reassured by another of Evenepoel's sports directors at Soudal-QuickStep, Tom Steels, who spoke to TNT Sports after the stage finish.

“Yeah, it was the third day in a row that he didn't feel great. Like I said this morning, you hope for the best, and he was just, he didn't have the legs to suffer also," Steels said. 

"I think it's wiser also, not to continue on and just recover well. He also still has some goals this year. Maybe, if he continued in the condition he had, then maybe the rest of the season is lost.”

Steels reflected on the disappointment for his Belgian team leader, but also acknowledged the importance of his recovery and getting back to his best to try and capitalise on the further goals to come in the season, particularly those world championships in Rwanda in September.

“He was very disappointed he had to leave the Tour, I mean, he was world champion on the road and is time trial world champion. I think that's his next goal that he has to aim for, and you just have to call it in time, because you feel something is wrong," said Steels

"I mean, he is not himself, already the third day in a row that he doesn't feel great, and then you have to be really careful not to go over the limit and lose months instead of days," he added.