Remco Evenepoel unveils Tour de France focused race programme

Belgian to ride Amstel Gold Race for first time, as Mikel Landa looks to Vuelta a España and Julian Alaphilippe eyes one-day success

16:53, Tuesday 9th January 2024

Daniel Benson

Editor in Chief

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Remco Evenepoel has previously stated his ambition for the Tour de France is to achieve a top 5 placing

Soudal Quick-Step have set out Remco Evenepoel’s path to the Tour de France with the Belgian taking on a mix of stage races and one-day Classics ahead of the July Grand Tour.

At the team’s presentation in Calpe, Spain, the rider’s complete schedule was shared with the media. Evenpoel’s first batch of races in 2024 will come in Portugal with the Figueira Champions Classic one-day race followed by the Volta ao Algarve.

Evenepoel will clash with Tour de France rival Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) at Paris-Nice in March before racing all three of the Ardennes Classics in April. His participation in the Amstel Gold Race will be a first for the two-time Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner.

Like Roglič, and Tour de France defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), the Belgian will use the Critérium du Dauphiné as his final stage race preparation race ahead of the Tour. Evenepoel will sandwich in two final one-day outings before the Grand Départ with the national time trial championships and the BK Zottegem less than a week from the Tour.

"I am quite satisfied with my programme. It has been a search for a well-balanced program in which I can start the Ardennes Classics with fresh legs," Evenepoel told VTM News.

“Then follows a quite tough route towards the Tour. Therefore there will be no altitude training in the first months of the season. It's all quite 'low key' up to the Ardennes. San-Remo? That race will certainly not be added to my programme. I'm going to make Paris-Nice my first big goal. The run-up to the Tour will be special. I will have to start there with a fresh head to overcome the hectic pace every day.”

This will be the first time that Evenepoel has started the Tour de France in his career. He won the Vuelta a España in 2023 and had spells of success in recent editions of the Giro d'Italia, but the Tour will see him compete against the very best stage racers in the world. For now, he's playing down his chances.

“I put guys like Vingegaard, Pogačar and Roglič one step higher than myself, but purely for ourselves we know what is in the body and what can come out. It's just time to ride the Tour, I will be 24 in two weeks. Every year you skip the Tour, there is one less. I am now in my sixth year as a professional and it is time to discover the Tour. Mentally and physically I am ready," he told VTN.

While the first few months of Evenepoel’s season will be stacked with races, the second half is far less congested with just the Olympic Games and the World Championships on his current race programme.

Joining Evenepoel at the Tour de France will be new teammate, Mikel Landa. The 34-year-old signed a two-year deal from Bahrain-Victorious in the winter. Landa will work as a super domestique for Evenepoel in July before being tasked with leading Soudal Quick-Step at the Vuelta a España later in the year.

“We have already broadly mapped out my program. I will support Remco Evenepoel in the Tour de France and then I hope to be able to compete in the Vuelta a España,” Landa said, according to Wielerflits.

Meanwhile, Julian Alaphilippe’s complete race programme for 2024 has started to take shape too. The Frenchman is currently in Australia, where he will lead the team at the Tour Down Under. The Frenchman will then make his way back to Europe and race on the cobbles at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in February. Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo - both races that Alaphilippe won in 2019 - are also on the rider’s schedule, along with the Tour of Flanders.