NOS Cycling•
The fact that Pascal Eenkhoorn would be in the Tour selection of the Soudal-Quickstep team, with leader Remco Evenepoel, was not a big surprise for those directly involved. In fact, Evenepoel did not want to be at the start without the Dutchman. “I insisted that he would be in the team.”
For the 28-year-old Eenkhoorn it will be the second Tour de France in his career. He made his debut in the Tour in 2023. “I am really looking forward to it,” says a delighted one -core during a press moment of his team, three days before the Tour de France starts in Lille.
“It will be very different from my first tour,” thinks the Dutchman, who will act as a servant of the Belgian Evenepoel, who, together with Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, belongs to the favorites for the final victory.
In the spring, Eenkhoorn and Evenpoel have already driven many races together. “The Brabantse Pijl, the Amstel Gold Race; they all went very well,” Evenepoel sums up. “He is someone I can trust and with whom I can get along very well.”
“We feel good each other,” says Eenkhoorn. “Until now we have been able to work well every course. And he also has the Dutch identity, is right for his turnip. Perhaps because he has played football in the Netherlands for a while.”
“I think we understand each other so well,” says Evenepoel, who finished third in the Tour last year behind Pogacar and Vingegaard. “And he is someone who is always committed to 150 percent. I would like to have such a person.”
‘Is going to be difficult’
But whether Evenepoel with servant Eenkhoorn can actually beat Pogacar and Vingegaard this tour? “That is going to be difficult,” the Belgian is realistic. “Everyone was able to see how good they were in the Dauphiné, those men are not going to be reduced now.”
Evenepoel in the Tour versus Pogacar and Vingegaard: ‘is going to be difficult’
In the French preparation race, where the three drove against each other last month, Pogacar showed that it is a good size bigger than Vingegaard and Evenepoel uphill. The Dane of Visma was always able to last the longest, Evenepoel had to drop out before when triple tour winner Pogacar accelerated.
Also Eenkhoorn does not immediately expect Evenepoel after three weeks of races through France to be the winner of the yellow jersey. “He is a super big champion, everything is possible. But we also have to be realistic. If he reaches the stage again, just like last year, that is perhaps the highest attainable.”
Evenepoel himself says it wants to stay calm. “That’s why I look at it day a day. Everything can happen, especially in the Tour. There are more surprises than in other competitions.”
