The 2026 Tour de France does not seem to be in Remco Evenepoel’s favor. Johan Bruyneel analyzed the course and sees few opportunities for the Belgian time trial champion to play to his specialty. Despite the presence of a team time trial, Evenepoel lacks the right weapons to make a difference compared to Pogacar and Vingegaard, according to Bruyneel.
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“There is no part where he really benefits”
For the first time since 2022, the Tour will start again with work against the clock, but unlike in Copenhagen, this time it will not be an individual time trial. A team time trial awaits the riders in Barcelona, which means that Evenepoel is dependent on his teammates at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.
“Remco would have preferred an individual time trial,” says Bruyneel THE MOVE. “In a team time trial he is one of the engines, but he cannot make maximum use of his personal strength. He has to count on his team.”
The 2026 edition of the Tour also includes only one individual time trial, in the sixteenth stage over 26 kilometers. And that part worries Bruyneel.
“The first ten kilometers are uphill”
According to the former US Postal sports director, that time trial is also not suitable for Evenepoel. “The course is not good for Remco,” says Bruyneel. “The time trial is only 26 kilometers long, and the first ten kilometers are uphill.”
“It is a ride for classification riders, not for pure specialists,” he continues. “In such a scenario, guys like Pogacar or Vingegaard have an advantage. Time trial specialists are not in their element here.”
A painful realization, because in the previous two editions of the Tour, Evenepoel always won the flat time trial in the first week. In 2026, that weapon appears to have been largely neutralized. “Last year’s final time trial had a similar profile,” Bruyneel recalls. “Then Remco lost more than a minute on Pogacar.”
