'On the right track' - Evenepoel tunes up for Worlds with show of force

The Tour of Britain has doubled as a very public pre-Worlds training camp for Remco Evenepoel, and the Belgian showcased his form with a fine victory atop The Tumble on stage 5.

A headwind on the ascent saw Evenepoel opt to rely on his sprint rather than attempt to attack from distance, and the decision proved to be a sage one. After Soudal-QuickStep teammate Ilan Van Wilder worked to control affairs in the headwind in the finale, Evenepoel powered to victory ahead of Thomas Gloag (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL).

It was Evenepoel’s first win since he abandoned the Tour de France in July and since it was confirmed that he would leave Soudal-QuickStep for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe next season.

“We made it a bit a tactical in the end,” Evenepoel told reporters afterwards. “We tried on the first time up the climb to go really fast from the bottom, but we quickly felt that with 3km to go, the wind was too strong to really tear things apart. 

“I quickly realised that maybe the sprint was going to be the best option for today, and in the end, it was a good tactic and the right way to win.”

As in 2024, Evenepoel has been using the Tour of Britain to fine-tune his preparation for the World Championships. He will defend his time trial title in Rwanda, and he will also go head-to-head with Tadej Pogacar in a bid to regain the road title he won in Wollongong three years ago.

Evenepoel acknowledged that his victory here, along with his work across the week, was a solid indication of his condition ahead of the trip to Rwanda.

“I've done quite some work for the team already for our sprinter and I’ve sometimes been riding a bit more after the stages too,” Evenepoel said. “I’m not here only for the racing, I’m really here to improve myself and to test myself. So, for the moment, all goes well, and I feel that I'm on the right track, so it’s very positive.”

Although Evenepoel has designs on grander prizes – as well as the Worlds, he is set to ride the European Championships and Il Lombardia – the Belgian is now firmly in the hunt for overall victory at the Tour of Britain.

Ahead of Sunday’s finale in Cardiff, he lies second overall, just two seconds down on leader Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ). Despite the rainy forecast, he indicated that he would try to wrest the jersey from the Frenchman.

“Well, of course. I mean, we have to,” Evenepoel said. “It’s two seconds. There’s a GC win for grabs. It's going to be really difficult, and there’s only one big opportunity for that, I think, in the final. It’s going to rain a lot, so it might be very tricky tomorrow. I’m not going to risk my life for it, but I’m going to go for it.”