Soudal-QuickStep CEO says Evenepoel's future to become clear in August
The transfer window opened on August 1, but there is no white smoke on Remco Evenepoel's future just yet, despite a further shake-up of the management structure at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
Soudal-QuickStep CEO Jurgen Foré has insisted there has been no major development in the Remco Evenepoel transfer saga in recent days, though he suggested that there would be more clarity about the rider’s future this month.
Although Evenepoel has a contract with Soudal-QuickStep until the end of 2026, he has been heavily linked with a move to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in recent weeks, with La Gazzetta dello Sport reporting that a deal had been agreed.
That speculation mounted further this week after Red Bull hired former Belgian national coach Sven Vanthourenhout as sports director. They have also announced the departures of Rolf Aldag and Enrico Gasparotto from the staff as part of an overhaul of the team.
In an interview with Sporza at the Tour de France Femmes, where his AG Insurance-Soudal team hold yellow through Kim Le Court, Foré declined to confirm or deny Evenepoel’s reported departure.
“I thought I wouldn’t get any questions about Remco in this Tour? No, we didn’t want to or couldn’t make an announcement about that in the Tour,” Foré said. “There hasn't been much development yet. We’ll discuss this and announce things in due time.”
Foré downplayed the significance of Vanthourenhout’s move to Red Bull. Vanthourenhout, who guided Evenepoel to Worlds and Olympic gold, reportedly held talks with Soudal-QuickStep last winter, but no deal was reached.
“We have many experienced sports directors such as Tom Steels and Davide Bramati. Our performance manager consists of several people,” said Foré, who added cryptically: “Many people see everything written in the stars, but those stars can also change.”
Asked when there was likely to be firm news about Evenepoel’s future, Foré said: “Sometime in August. But he has a contract, right? There’s not much to say at the moment.”
Evenepoel won the stage 5 time trial on the Tour de France, but he struggled when the race reached the Pyrenees. He abandoned the race on stage 14 despite beginning the day in third place overall.
The Olympic champion later revealed that he had started the Tour with a broken rib sustained at the Belgian Championships. Evenepoel will not ride the San Sebastián Klasikoa this weekend, and it is not yet known when he will return to competition.
On the final weekend of the Tour, Evenepoel took the step of messaging Sporza’s commentary team to refute reports that he had already agreed a move to Red Bull.
