Patrick Lefevere: Knowing Remco Evenepoel, he goes to the Tour de France to win

Belgian team boss draws a line after a rocky period with the Evenepoel family, following interest from Ineos Grenadiers

09:41, Wednesday 10th January 2024

Daniel Benson

Editor in Chief

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Remco Evenepoel during a Soudal Quick-Step training camp in Spain

Remco Evenepoel might have used the Soudal Quick-Step press conference to lower expectations surrounding his Tour de France bid but team boss Patrick Lefevere was clearly not singing from the same hymn sheet, stating that his rider was going to the race to win.

Evenepoel told the gathering media in Calpe, Spain, that his ambitions for his maiden Tour de France centred on winning a stage, with the young Belgian once again repeating the opinion that he was one step below the likes of Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).

That is almost certainly true in terms of palmarès and Tour de France experience but a wry Lefevere emphasised the fact that while a stage win would be a baseline, it was far from the ceiling when it came to the rider’s and the team’s expectations.

"Remco himself remains very modest about this, he would be happy with a stage victory. But knowing my character and that of Remco, he wants to win. He’s a winner, a killer. He is going for a stage victory as a starting point, but he wants more,” Lefevere told Het Nieuwsblad.

What’s striking, however, is just how packed Evenepoel’s pre-Tour de France race schedule is compared to his key rivals. Roglič, for example, doesn’t race until March, when he will clash with Evenepoel at Paris-Nice.

Following that outing, the Slovenian will race just two more stage races before taking on the Tour. Evenepoel, on the other hand, will race six days before Paris-Nice, take on both the Tour of the Basque Country and the Dauphiné with Roglič but also cram in the Ardennes and two more one-day races before the Tour.

From an analytical point of view, Roglič’s approach is far more targeted - understandable given his age and what he’s already achieved - while Evenepoel is aiming for two main peaks of form in the first half of the year in a bid to win before the Tour and not let the race entirely define his season.

“I haven't ridden much in France with the pros yet. So I want to explore. Hence the choice to ride the ASO programme, Paris-Nice, Liège and the Dauphiné in the run-up to the Tour de France, to get to know the French landscape, the roads, the bends, the buildings on the road and the surfaces," the Belgian said.

"I will try to win Paris-Nice. The course suits me well, with shorter and more explosive bumps, and a team time trial where we aim for victory. The Tour? Wearing the yellow jersey would mean that I have worn the leader's jersey in the three Grand Tours. But one day I especially want to take the yellow jersey home. My dream is to fight to Nice with Vingegaard, Pogačar and Roglič."

Ineos links subside and tensions ease

One of the most striking storylines of 2022 and 2023 has been the links tying Evenepoel with a move to Ineos Grenadiers. The British WorldTour team have been admirers of the rider since his junior days and have been desperate to land a Grand Tour winner in recent times. Evenepoel ticks several boxes for them but is tied to a contract until the end of 2026.

That hasn’t stopped the speculation and has been one of the factors that has created tensions between the rider, his father who represents him as an agent, and Lefevere. According to the team boss, however, all of that is in the past and the three parties have put aside any differences. Lefevere admitted that the situation reached a nadir during the World Championships in 2023, when he openly criticised the stance taken by several people involved in the situation.

“Things were said in Glasgow that perhaps I should not have said,” Lefevere said according to Het Laatste Nieuws.

“And there was something, but I have no issue with Remco today. It happens at some point in every 'ménage', but I'm not being vindictive: I've drawn a line under it. Our relationship is fine.”

That’s not to say that the rider and his team boss are the best of friends.

“That is not possible in my position. It's difficult for me to get emotionally involved. As a team boss, you want that bond with your rider because you always want to know what's going on in his mind, but as a manager distance is necessary. When riders have reached the end of their contracts, they have no compassion for me at the negotiating table."