One of the longest transfer sagas of the last few years has finally come to an end as Remco Evenepoel is confirmed to be moving from Soudal-Quickstep to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for the 2026 season.
From a performance standpoint, the timing makes sense. Evenepoel, now 25, has won the Vuelta a España, a road race world title, and Olympic gold in both the time trial and road race. But despite consistent results, his Tour de France campaign in 2025 ended prematurely, exposing lingering questions about his durability over three weeks against stronger climbing specialists. Red Bull is willing to back his potential not just as a stage hunter or time trialist, but as a genuine GC leader — if supported with the right environment and personnel.
Rouleur takes a look at the implications for the two teams and the rider himself.
Can Evenepoel challenge for the yellow jersey at Red Bull?
A few years ago, after his triumph at the Vuelta, many cycling fans out there would have suggested that Evenepoel would at least come close to winning the yellow jersey at some point in his career. But times have changed since 2022. As Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) has experienced over the last two Tours, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is now on a different level to the rest of the field.
Winning the Tour has always been Evenepoel’s aim, but it currently looks like it would take Pogačar, and Vingegaard for that matter, not to be on the startline for the Belgian to win it. That isn’t to say it’s impossible, but things would have to change a lot for him to conquer his biggest goal.
On an individual level, the move away from Quickstep makes sense. He had probably achieved the most that he could at the outfit. But how much will he gain from moving to Red Bull? His time trialling, a discipline that he is the best in the world at, is unlikely to improve as he has already turned over every stone in his pursuit of TT supremacy. He will also be riding on the same bike brand, Specialized, at Red Bull. The continuity will be helpful but it means a drastic improvement is not going to happen.
It’s in the mountains where the Tour is won and the biggest change for Evenepoel will be the potential abundance of climbing domestiques available. Evenepoel produced his best Tour performance of third last year, when he was supported by Mikel Landa and he could get even more support at his new team. However, Evenepoel’s transfer to Red Bull is unlike his soon-to-be teammate Primož Roglič’s move away from Visma in 2023, which came about because he wanted sole leadership status at the Tour. Evenepoel has not had to deal with being one of a number of GC options within one squad before.
Too many chefs at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe?
The German team is looking to break into the superteam status, alongside the likes of UAE and Visma. Of the 17 Grand Tours so far this decade, UAE and Visma share 12 wins.
From a tactical perspective, Evenepoel’s time‑trial prowess and capacity to ride solo fits well into Red Bull’s evolving strategy. But, the team will now have to consider how they handle having multiple leaders — all on a similar level — in one team.
Despite finishing on the Tour de France podium through Florian Lipowitz, the team played some strange tactical cards at the race, with Roglič at times putting his teammate’s podium spot at risk.
With another rider added into the mix, things could get fraught. Strong management calls, clear common goals and separate racing calendars will be vital. It’s something Visma, on the whole, has been able to do well and UAE have got away with because Pogačar is so dominant. By the evidence of the 2025 Tour, this is not the case at Red Bull.
But the squad does have the talent to support Evenepoel in the high mountains. The team has a number of strong climbing domestiques to help including Aleksandr Vlasov, Daniel Martínez, Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari — the latter could move into a leadership role in the coming years too. It’s quite the line-up for the high mountains.
If Lipowitz continues his rise, and Roglič’s role recasts into more of a lieutenant than GC captain, we might see a reshaped pecking order at the Grand Tours. The recruitment of Sven Vanthourenhout, Evenepoel’s trusted national coach, signals a broader alignment behind his leadership ambitions.
Back to familiar roots for Soudal-Quickstep?
After a few years of focusing on Evenepoel’s general classification at Grand Tours, the best results being the Vuelta win in 2022 and the third-place at the Tour in 2024, will Soudal-Quickstep go back to their previous guise as a Classics-focused team? The Spring races and hunting stage wins at Grand Tours is part of the DNA for the team, who have had stars like Tom Boonen, Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel, and Julian Alaphilippe, each with a hatful of Tour stages and a number of Monuments between them.
Apart from the disappointment of Evenepoel’s abandonment, this year’s Tour was a successful campaign for the Belgian team. Instead of bringing a roster entirely dedicated to Evenepoel’s GC bid, they assembled a varied team for the Grande Boucle and it paid off: four stage wins, the second most behind UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s tally of five.
If rumours are to be believed they seem like they are reinvesting in their Classics roots. Recent rumours of signings such as Dylan van Baarle and Jasper Stuyven suggest a deliberate pivot away from Grand Tour GC investment toward cobbles and sprint terrain — suggesting a retreat to the Wolfpack’s core DNA after Evenepoel’s departure.
