Remco Evenepoel reportedly eyes 2027 Giro d’Italia return four years after leaving in pink

Remco Evenepoel is reportedly considering a return to the Giro d’Italia in 2027, four years after his last appearance at the race ended abruptly while he was wearing the maglia rosa.

La Gazzetta dello Sport reported on Thursday that Evenepoel has begun looking towards his 2027 programme and has expressed interest in returning to the Italian Grand Tour.

The Italian newspaper describes the Giro as an idea and a possible scenario at this stage, rather than a decision that has already been made.

Het Laatste Nieuws has also reported interest from Evenepoel in racing the Giro next season, citing several sources. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, meanwhile, told the Belgian newspaper that the team intends to wait until the routes of the major Grand Tours are known before deciding how to divide its leaders in 2027.

“The strategy of starting the last Tour with two leaders, Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz, was in my view also the best one in hindsight,” Red Bull CEO Ralph Denk told HLN.

“We will continue to go into Grand Tours with two GC leaders in the future, but whether that will be the Giro, Tour or Vuelta is still too early to judge. It depends on the route, which is often the big game changer.”

The reports emerge as Evenepoel prepares for the World Championships in Montreal, where he will target both the individual time trial and road race. But beyond his immediate objectives in Canada, attention is already beginning to turn towards how the 26-year-old will structure his second season with Red Bull.

A return to Italy would carry particular significance.

Evenepoel has started the Giro twice, but has never finished it.

His first appearance came in 2021 and was also his Grand Tour debut. It was an unusual entry into three week racing, coming after almost nine months without competition following his serious crash at Il Lombardia in August 2020.

Evenepoel had gone over a bridge during a descent and suffered a fractured pelvis, among other injuries. The following year, he returned directly to racing at the Giro.

The Belgian initially impressed on his Grand Tour debut. After ten stages, he sat second overall behind Egan Bernal, but his challenge began to unravel on the gravel roads to Montalcino before he lost further time in the mountains.

His Giro eventually ended after stage 17. While trying to avoid a crash on the descent of the Passo San Valentino, Evenepoel went over a roadside barrier. He completed the stage but did not start the following day.

By the time Evenepoel returned to the Giro in 2023, he had established himself as one of the world’s leading stage racers, having won the Vuelta a España and the road world title the previous season.

He immediately underlined his status by winning the opening 19.6 kilometre time trial to Ortona, taking 22 seconds on Filippo Ganna and pulling on the first maglia rosa.

His first week was less straightforward. Evenepoel lost the race lead to Andreas Leknessund and crashed twice on the rain soaked stage to Salerno, including in an incident triggered by a dog entering the road.

He responded on stage 9, winning the 35 kilometre time trial to Cesena by one second over Geraint Thomas and reclaiming pink. Evenepoel ended the day 45 seconds ahead of Thomas and 47 seconds clear of Primož Roglič.

But he never started the next stage. That evening, Soudal Quick-Step announced that Evenepoel had tested positive for Covid and would leave the race. Thomas inherited the lead, while Roglič eventually won the Giro.

Evenepoel has not returned since.

The Giro was already a serious option for Evenepoel ahead of the 2026 season. At the end of last year, he said Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe were considering two possible programmes, with one built around the spring Classics and the other including the Giro before the Tour de France.

Evenepoel was particularly interested in the amount of time trialling on offer and made clear that a Giro Tour combination was being discussed. In the end, he chose the Classics route and made the Tour his main Grand Tour objective, while Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari led Red Bull at the Giro.

That decision was followed by Evenepoel’s strongest Tour de France yet. After finishing third on his debut in 2024, he moved up to second overall in 2026 behind Tadej Pogačar, while also winning two stages in the final week. The result further underlined his ability to challenge for a Grand Tour over three weeks and strengthened his position at the centre of Red Bull’s plans.

More clarity should come once the 2027 Grand Tour routes are revealed, with the Tour presentation scheduled for October 22. For now, a Giro return remains one of the options on the table for Evenepoel, four years after he left the race in pink.