Remco Evenepoel revealed he raced the Tour de France with a fractured rib, as reports return about a transfer to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and the Belgian considers his future as he recovers at home.
The Soudal-QuickStep rider won the stage 5 time trial around Caen and was third overall in the general classification for the first half of the Tour. However, he suffered in the Peyragudes mountain time trial and then climbed off during stage 14 to Superbagnères.
"That day became one of the rawest and most vulnerable moments of my career,” he wrote in a moving Instagram post that began with a photo from the stage.
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"I broke and strangely enough, I’m proud of it. It takes strength to show that things don’t always go your way. That even when you want something deeply, sometimes your body has other plans.
“Leaving the Tour was the hardest decision I’ve made in a long time. But it was the right one. For once, I truly listened to my body. and I hope that moment sends a message, especially to other young riders watching: it’s okay to stop. It’s okay to feel tired. It’s okay to be human."
Evenepoel looked back at how he rushed to prepare for the Tour after fracturing his shoulder in early December as he started his winter training. He made his season debut at De Brabantse Pijl on April 18.
"The Tour de France was my main goal. After my crash in December, I did everything with one clear objective: to be ready in time for July. The goal gave me focus, but it also created a lot of time pressure," he wrote.
"We thought the rest during rehabilitation had given me sufficient recovery. But in reality, my body had never really had a break. It was still working incredibly hard to recover from the fractures and the trauma of the fall. In retrospect, I wasn't overtrained, but I was clearly exhausted. I started the Tour with low energy levels.
"Just before the Tour, there was another crash," Evenepoel revealed.
"During the national championships, I broke another rib. Not the worst, but certainly not ideal. So I started the toughest race in the world with a broken rib and a tired body. Not an ideal combination. But I didn't want to let go of my goal, which I had fought so hard for."
Evenepoel was hit by "full-blown sinusitis" after he left the Tour, hurting him even more. He did not give any indication of when he will return to training or any end of season goals. Riding the Vuelta a España has already been ruled out by Soudal-QuickStep.
Evenepoel's 2025 season and his Tour de France were marked by constant and ever stronger esports that he will try to leave Soudal-QuickStep a year before his contract ends, with multiple sources indicating Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have finally secured his services.
Respected La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Ciro Scognamiglio tweeted that an agreement between Evenepoel and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe was reached on Monday.
However on Friday afternoon, Evenepoel played down the reports, sending a message to Sporza television commentators Renaat Schotte and José De Cauwer saying he was "seriously ill in bed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday."
Evenepoel is widely expected to sign a three-year contract if he reaches an agreement with Soudal-QuickStep by paying a suggested release fee of seven million Euro.
Soudal-QuickStep have played down talk of a deal but appear to be signing a number of veteran Classics riders rather than Grand Tour riders to help Evenepoel.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe manager Ralph Denk has long courted Evenepoel, much to the anger of former Soudal-QuickStep manager Patrick Lefevere. The German manager has recently taken a more diplomatic stance and stuck to that script on Friday.
"Remco has a contract with Soudal for next year,” Denk told Marca.
"He’s an interesting rider but if he becomes free, everyone in the peloton will talk to him and try to convince him of their project. You never know. But it’s not a current issue, because he still has a contract."
Under UCI rules, new rider contracts for the following season cannot be announced until after August 1, when the official transfer window also opens.
Evenepoel was asked on the first rest day of the Tour if he could confirm that he would still be a Soudal-QuickStep rider in 2026. He avoided a simple, clear answer.
"2026 is still far away. It’s obvious I cannot comment on these things because of course there is speculation, and we have to keep everybody happy," Evenepoel said.
“Of course, there’s a lot of things going on already for years. I read a lot of things that are not true, unfortunately. I had a big discussion with Jurgen Foré about this because he’s also worried, but we spoke about it and everything is cleared up."
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