There aren’t many riders like Remco Evenepoel. Not only for the things he does on the bike — winning some of the biggest road races and time trials in the sport — but also the way he is off it. He wears his emotions heavily. He is stoical, vulnerable, combative, and raw. There are certainly not many riders who have suffered the same misfortune as the 25-year-old. The Belgian superstar lines up at Friday’s De Brabantse Pijl, his first race of 2025, having fractured the same shoulder twice in the space of nine months — the first time at the Itzulia Basque Country last April and the second in December after being doored by a car in training. The latter caused a significant delay to a season where he is looking to return to the Tour de France and improve on his third-place finish from last year.
Contrasting to his ‘younger’ self (he is still only 25), who was impatient to achieve the success he was obviously capable of, the 2025 Evenepoel has developed a stoicism. This is not his first setback. Far from it. Admitting “it’s not the first big crash that I have had”, Evenepoel knows how to come back from adversity, and he clearly speaks from experience. When he talks, people listen, and with reason — he is a serious bike rider and a contender in almost every race where he pins a number on. He returned from his April Basque Country crash to that Tour podium on debut and a career highlight of road and time trial Olympic gold medals. Despite his difficult build-up, he starts as a contender for Friday’s De Brabantse Pijl and Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race.
Read more: Amstel Gold Race Men’s 2025 contenders: Will a returning Evenepoel challenge Pogačar?
However, behind his resoluteness, there is a vulnerability. Poignantly, he admits: “For the moment I’m back ready to race, so [I have] positive feelings now.” He’s happy now, but as he carefully chooses his words, which hang in the air, it’s clear the last couple of months have been enormously challenging. Unlike some of the copy-and-paste sportstar interviewees, Evenepoel is unique. He is an open book — he speaks candidly about how he at one point considered quitting the sport. In an Instagram post this week, he said coming back from his latest injury was “definitely the hardest battle of my life so far”. Notably, he mentions that the social media post was the first he had written himself, rather than by a PR manager, for a number of years. It is pure, unfiltered Evenepoel where it’s in his nature to be unbarred. He is also personal, speaking of the importance of his Islamic faith, which he shares with his wife, saying: “It’s something that helps me go through life and it’s something very, very beautiful.”
Remco Evenepoel with his wife Oumaïma Rayane after winning the time trial at the Paris Olympics (Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Despite his words captivating the audience of journalists at the press conference, Evenepoel is an athlete and prefers to do his talking on the bike. Being injured and out for a significant period is bad enough for any professional athlete, but for a rider whose raw competitiveness is unparalleled, like Evenepoel, lying on the sofa watching rivals like Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel tear up the Spring Classics is agonising. He concedes: “Coming out of the period of the off-season did not make it any easier knowing that everybody was starting to train again,” and admits that he doesn’t know if he will be able to compete at the Ardennes. “I am behind my top shape but I’m still in good shape, like I always try at the start, but will it be enough to beat guys like Pidcock and Pogačar, who are in the shape of their lives, this I don’t know — we will see after Sunday and next week as well.”
His respect for his rivals is clear, particularly regarding Pogačar, who he believes is the best rider since his compatriot Eddy Merckx: “It’s inspiring to watch him race.” Just like that, you think you have figured out what state of mind Evenepoel is in currently after a disrupted winter facing the almighty challenge that Pogačar poses — Remco the Realist. However, he then quickly metamorphoses into Remco the Warrior, saying his team pays him to win and that he will do everything he can to battle the world champion at the Ardennes.
It’s clear, the current world time trial champion is a fighter. Evenepoel, an Arsenal fan, was asked if the Gunners are more likely to win the Champions League than he would be to beat Pogačar at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He responds dryly: “I know for sure City will not win the Champions League.” Then, after a pause, more seriously: “Liège is still a week [away], so I can still improve in three other races, so let’s say that Arsenal win the Champions League and I will win Liège.”
Fiery. Sarcastic. Relentless. The Belgian is many things, but one thing is for sure: there is only one Remco Evenepoel.
