The latest chapter of the long-running saga regarding Remco Evenepoel's possible signing with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for 2026 has seen the CEO of his current team, Soudal-QuickStep flatly deny rumours of a possible buyout of his contract - only for fresh and considerably strengthened claims of the opposite to emerge a few hours later.
While Wednesday's time trial win in the Tour de France has further cemented Evenepoel's reputation as the greatest racer against the clock of his generation, his future team has long been the subject of much speculation.
Evenepoel is currently bound to his life-long professional team, Soudal-QuickStep, until the end of next season and on Wednesday evening, team CEO Jorgen Foré, told Sporza's Vive le Velo show that there were no plans for that to change. However, beyond 2026, he was notably more non-committal about Evenepoel having a future with the team.
"He still has a contract until the end of 2026, and we assume he will honour it," Foré told Vive le Vélo.
"So he'll definitely be riding with us for another year. But in the longer term, we are working on a future with and without Remco."
Foré was adamant there had been no change in the overall situation since "last year or even last month." He also pointed out that it was always the same teams - widely believed to be Ineos and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe - who were reportedly interested.
However, on Thursday morning, Daniel Benson reported on Substack that it had been claimed by various anonymous sources familiar with "ongoing negotiations" between the Evenepoel camp and Red Bull, already reported earlier this week by Escape Collective, were up to 70-80% complete, and that Evenepoel's contract for the final year with Soudal, should these negotiations succeed, would be bought out by the German squad.
There is some historical precedent in the series on Red Bull's part. In 2024, they bought out Maxim van Gil's contract with Lotto, although the price tag on Evenepoel's contract would likely be notably higher.
Foré insisted that his team had little to envy compared to high-budget squads UAE or Visma-Lease a Bike, telling Vive Le Vélo, saying, "We fit in next to them."
However, he also added that the constant stories circulating about Evenepoel's future did not help the team move forward as "it is always so turbulent. To build something, you could use some stability."
Evenepoel is certainly not showing any signs of faring badly with his current team at the Tour. So far, he has already won the first time trial and, at the start of stage 6, was lying second overall behind race leader Tadej Pogačar.
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