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World Champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) has confirmed that he will not line up at the Tour de France following his early exit from the Giro d’Italia, explaining that his state of form, Belgian pressure, and respect for his teammates all influenced his decision.
“There were talks,” Evenepoel revealed during a weekend press conference ahead of the Tour de Suisse. “But it was pretty soon a ‘no’.”
Evenepoel abandoned the Giro after testing positive for COVID-19 in the wake of the stage 9 time trial victory that put him back into the overall lead of the race. Having faced criticism from former Italian pros for his withdrawal, he underlined the fact he was “very sick”, but has since worked his way back into racing shape via a training camp in the Ardennes.
He has chosen to ride the Tour de Suisse, which begins on Sunday, ahead of the Belgian national championships towards the end of the month, but any excitement he could take the rainbow jersey into a Tour de France debut has been quashed.
“Not this year, that’s my answer,” Evenepoel said when asked about the Tour.
“You have to understand, I did six months of preparation for the Giro, and three months on a naked mountain [Teide in Tenerife], so I was in peak shape at the Giro. Then with my illness I was 10 days off the bike, and it’s not easy to get back into top shape for a race like the Tour de France.
“If I start the Tour de France it’s all-in, I want to be at 150%. For sure now that wasn’t going to be possible, so it was just a logical decision not to take the start of the Tour.”
Evenepoel was asked about the idea of going to the Tour to hunt stage wins and gain experience, but he argued that was effectively impossible due to external forces.
“It is an option, but you guys would be sad about that. If I drop on the first mountain stage, it would be like a big bomb explosion in Belgium. With the goals and the way of racing I have, it’s almost impossible to go to the Tour de France without expectations.”
Lastly, Evenepoel reasoned it would not be fair on his teammates who have been preparing for the Tour, to swoop in and change the team’s shape and strategy in the blink of an eye.
“They guys preparing for the Tour having been preparing it from April after the Classics. It’s very difficult to just turn everything around and fuck up their preparation. Also it’s something that’s not honest to do.”
Evenepoel was definitive, but assured that his time at the Tour will come: “For sure in the future…
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