Red Bull end speculation over Remco Evenepoel’s surprise Dauphiné plans

Evenepoel had initially planned to ride the Dauphiné – now rebranded as the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – as preparation for the Tour de France, but Red Bull announced last month that he would now forgo any stage racing in June.

It remains to be seen if Evenepoel will ride the Belgian championships, but as things stand, he is looking at a 68-day spell without racing ahead of the Grand Départ in Barcelona on July 4. His last outing came at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, when he placed a distant third behind Tadej Pogačar and Paul Seixas.

Speaking to Domestique during the Giro d’Italia, Red Bull chief of sports Zak Dempster explained that the change in Evenepoel’s programme was inspired partly by the build-up to his 2022 Vuelta a España victory, when his final stage race beforehand was the Tour de Suisse.

“If you look back to the Vuelta he won, he only really did San Sebastian on the way there, so it’s not a new thing,” Dempster said.

On Friday evening, Cyclingnews had surprisingly speculated that Evenepoel could line up at the Dauphiné, seemingly on the basis of a photograph of a prototype bike taken outside the Red Bull team hotel.

On Saturday, Red Bull formally announced their line-up for the Dauphiné. As had previously been widely flagged, there was no Evenepoel in a roster that features Daniel Martinez, Maxim Van Gils, Finn Fisher-Black, Haimar Etxeberria, Callum Thornley, Luke Tuckwell and Gianni Vermeersch.

Earlier in the year, Red Bull and Evenepoel had made a point of repeatedly making outright denials of reports that he would make his Tour of Flanders debut in 2026 before finally announcing his participation on the Wednesday before the race.

That recent precedent helped fuel the latest rumours, but Red Bull have now made clear that there is no repeat scenario this time. Klaas Lodewyck explained that Evenepoel’s bike was in France for logistical reasons rather than as a hint of a late change to his programme.

“After what happened before Flanders, people think we are going to do the same thing again, but the bike is here because it is logistically easy,” Lodewyck said to Sporza.

“His bike is in the truck. After this race, we have a few more recons planned. I am staying here, and that way we can easily take the bike with us.”

Evenepoel spent three weeks at altitude at Sierra Nevada in May, training in the company of teammates including Maxim Van Gils, Gianni Vermeersch, Florian Lipowitz and Primož Roglič. He has been training around Calpe in recent days, and he is slated to take in another altitude camp and some mountain stage recons ahead of the Tour.

“Let’s say he is on the right track,” Lodewyck said. “I think we can be satisfied with how he has developed.”

Like Evenepoel, Red Bull’s Tour co-leader Lipowitz is absent from the Dauphiné, and he has also opted against the Tour de Suisse. The German is scheduled to ride the Tour of Slovenia as his final preparation race for July.