Video: Remco Evenepoel reveals Tour of Flanders start was already decided in winter

Remco Evenepoel has confirmed that his Tour of Flanders debut had been planned since last winter, despite the rider and his team’s repeated insistence that he would not line up at the Ronde this year.

On Wednesday morning, Evenepoel put an end to months of speculation by confirming his participation in a post on Instagram. He has since posted a video to his personal YouTube channel that reveals he was already certain of his Tour of Flanders participation in December.

The video shows Evenepoel in black Specialized kit performing a reconnaissance of the Tour of Flanders route across two days in late December, days before the official start of his contract with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.

“We’re the 27th of December, it’s very cold outside and we’re here on the top of Koppenberg, which means that I have to reveal something. I’ll be riding the Tour of Flanders this year,” Evenepoel said in the video. 

“I’m doing a secret recon, full black, because I cannot wear my Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe clothes at the moment and also when this video comes out, I cannot be in the clothes of previous years.”

On the first day of the recon, Evenepoel focused on the final section of the Tour of Flanders towards Oudenaarde, riding for four hours in total. He was joined by Red Bull staff members, including sports director Sven Vanthourenhout and strategic advisor Allan Peiper, as well as new teammate Gianni Vermeersch for the second day of his recon on December 28, when he tackled the final 160km of the course. 

“It’s my first time racing the Tour of Flanders, therefore I want to be 100% prepared and fully ready,” said Evenepoel, who rode 32mm tubeless tyres and 56/43 chainrings on the climbs of the Ronde.

“It was a very nice weekend of recons, I’m happy with the feeling, happy with how everything went.” 

Vanthourenhout, who guided Evenepoel to his World Championships and Olympic Games victories during his time as Belgian national coach, said that the Ronde challenge appealed to the rider’s sense of history.

“Not everybody would expect him to start a race like this, but these are the races he loves, races where he can make history,” Vanthourenhout said. “He can make all this reality.”