Remco Evenepoel outlines 'healthy, realistic' ambitions for Tour de France

Same again, please. Remco Evenepoel’s career has been defined by boundless ambition, but he struck a pragmatic tone when he met the press ahead of the 2025 Tour de France, acknowledging that a repeat of last year’s third place would mark a successful July.

Twelve months ago, Evenepoel impressed in finishing on the podium of his debut Tour behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), but the recent Critérium du Dauphiné underlined that he remains firmly behind them in the hierarchy of the favourites for this year’s Tour, which gets under way in Lille on Saturday.

Evenepoel will privately harbour grander dreams, of course, but at Soudal-QuickStep’s pre-race press conference on Wednesday just over the Franco-Belgian border in Waregem, his stated aim was to close the gap to the men who have won the past five Tours. 

“That ambition is definitely there, but it won’t be easy,” Evenepoel said, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. “We saw how strong they were in the Dauphiné. I always go for the highest possible, and that will be no different now. Stage wins and a podium place, just like last year, is a healthy and realistic ambition.”

Indeed, given the ominous strength of Pogačar’s 2025 vintage, Evenepoel knows that he could surpass his own performance from last year and still finish further away from the yellow jersey. With that in mind, perhaps, he preferred not to dwell too deeply on what he might or might not achieve over the three weeks. The early focus will be on the stage 5 time trial in Caen, where the world and Olympic champion in the discipline has an obvious chance to take possession of the yellow jersey.

“It’s always easy to talk before the Tour de France,” Evenepoel said. “The only objective for the moment is to win the stage 5 time trial. From there, we’ll see how the race unfolds. It’s long, so you have to go day by day and be patient.”

Learning to be patient has been a recurring theme in Evenepoel’s career, as he gradually refined his no-holds-barred style into a more pragmatic approach that would allow him to compete over three weeks. That process carried him to overall victory at the 2022 Vuelta a España, and he came through last year’s Tour without enduring any noticeable jour sans across its 21 stages.

“I think I will be able to race more aggressively now and then than last year,” Evenepoel said, though he noted that surviving the frenetic opening week would be key to his ambitions.

“It's going to be a matter of staying out of trouble in the first ten days,” Evenepoel said. “Everyone knows that the Tour really starts in the second week, in the Pyrenees. And then there’s week three. It’s going to be about patience.”

Evenepoel lines up for the Tour without key climbing domestiques Mikel Landa and Louis Vervaeke, both absent through injury, while there is also room in the Soudal-QuickStep team for sprinter Tim Merlier and lead-out man Bert Van Lerberghe – a marked difference from the strict GC focus on Pogačar and Vingegaard’s teams.

“It’s logical to bring them,” Evenepoel said of the sprint unit. “It’s not up to us to take on the weight of the race and that’s why we’re going in with two objectives.”

A year ago, Evenepoel’s preparation for the Tour was interrupted by a crash at Itzulia Basque Country in April. This time out, the start of his season was delayed until April after a heavy training crash in December, though he began his campaign on a winning note at Brabantse Pijl.

The Belgian also won stages at the Tour de Romandie and the Critérium du Dauphiné, though he could only manage fourth overall in the latter event. Evenepoel’s final pre-Tour outing came at the Belgian Championships, where he won the time trial and finished a frustrated second in the road race.

“I think I just have to do my own race, especially after the winter I’ve had,” Evenepoel told RTBF  in a television interview after the press conference. “I have to be realistic and keep my feet on the ground. I’m going to try to aim for the highest possible, but if I feel I can’t compete with them [Pogačar and Vingegaard], then I’ll have to do my own race and focus on the podium or something else.”