Remco Evenepoel's racing schedule for 2026 is beginning to take place, after he presented two potential plans to his new team, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, with either a block at the Classics or racing the Giro d'Italia serving as his build-up to the Tour de France.
The German team will provide feedback on his plans A and B, with the Giro's route presentation on December 1 set to guide their decision. Evenepoel will be at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's training camp in Mallorca in December, where an initial plan for 2026 should be finalised.
Speaking before the Kristallen Fiets end-of-year Belgian cycling awards, Evenepoel confirmed to Het Laatste Nieuws that his season will start in February, either at the Volta a Algarve or the UAE Tour, and no earlier.
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"At the moment, we have a plan A and a plan B on the table," Evenepoel told HLN, as part of a joint interview with Johan Museeuw.
"The first includes a Classics campaign, the second the Giro. Based on the Giro d'Italia stage schedule, which will be revealed soon, we'll assess internally and in consultation what's physically and training-wise feasible.
"We're also keeping the World Championships at the end of the season in mind, because I want to be at my best there. So, after the Tour, I'll pull the plug again and then, via the GPs of Quebec and Montreal, among others, and prepare for the Canadian rainbow races."
The team's new Chief of Sports, Zak Dempster, confirmed when the Tour route was announced in October that no leadership decisions had been made yet for cycling's biggest race, and Evenepoel similarly spoke of how it wasn't "100%" certain yet that he would return to the Tour, though it seems more than likely.
Evenepoel won a stage and finished third in his debut Tour in 2024, and followed this up with another ITT stage win this year, though he abandoned after 13 stages.
The Olympic champion broke his contract with Soudal-QuickStep a year early to be brought in as a marquee signing for Red Bull. In 2026, he could link up with the team's recent Tour podium finisher, Florian Lipowitz or former runner-up Primož Roglič, though Grand Tour leadership will likely be split among the three.
"In principle, yes [I will ride the Tour], although that's not 100% certain yet," he said, before commenting briefly on the route, which features Alpe d'Huez twice from different routes up as the highlight, but only one individual time trial.
"A bit atypical for the Tour. Difficult, a bit of everything, everywhere. But attractive. It will be another fun challenge. But there are other worthy goals."
Admitting that "sacrifices will have to be made for certain matches", Evenepoel didn't rule out debut appearances at either Milan-San Remo or the Tour of Flanders to the Belgian newspaper, but a one-week stage race will have to be completed somewhere in the spring to build familiarity with his new teammates.
Evenepoel is already a two-time Monument winner from Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and has twice finished runner-up to Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at Il Lombardia.
"Even with a Giro-Tour combo, something is possible in terms of one-day work, but then the margin for error is smaller," said Evenepoel.
"As long as it doesn't come at the expense of the ideal route to the Tour. I also need to get used to my new teammates as quickly as possible. And vice versa. In that sense, it will be important to be able to ride a Paris-Nice and/or Volta a Catalunya with them, for example. Once the Giro route is known, decisions will be made."
If he is to race the Giro-Tour double, he could have a double appointment with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), before they both try to figure out how to prevent Pogačar from winning a record-equalling fifth Tour de France.
Evenepoel has raced the Giro d'Italia twice in his career already, though he has yet to finish it. In 2021 on debut, he abandoned after crashing on stage 17, while two years later, after winning a stage and moving into the pink jersey, a COVID-19 positive forced him to go home early again.
