Remco Evenepoel's highly anticipated 2026 season debut with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe arrives on Thursday at the Trofeo Ses Salines in Mallorca, but he's also added two more races for his time on the Balearic island.
His road to the Tour de France begins with a team time trial in Ses Salines, a crucial test for the Tour's first stage in Barcelona, where he'll partner up with his co-leader for July for the first time, Florian Lipowitz.
"Starting the season with a TTT is something special. In a road race, you usually have a few hours to ease into it before the finale. Here, it’s straight into it: around 25 minutes of full gas and pain in the legs," he said on the team's website.
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"Thursday is an important day, but not the most important one of the season. It’s no secret that we’re here to prepare for the Tour de France. If we can draw the right conclusions for July, it’s okay to make mistakes now. At this stage, it doesn’t have to be perfect."
Making the most of his trip, he revealed in an interview with Daniel Benson's Substack on Wednesday that he would also take on Friday's Trofeo Serra Tramuntana and Saturday's Trofeo Andratx-Pollença, enticed by the latter's key climb, the Coll de Puig Major (14.2 at 5.9%).
"The schedule is to do the TTT, and then I’ll add Friday and Saturday. That wasn’t the plan, but the weather seems to be okay, and while I’m here, it’s better to race a little bit instead of coming here for just 25 minutes of racing, so I’ll add two more days of racing," he told Daniel Benson, with the 154km and 148km days offering a perfect chance to test his early season shape.
"That’s the goal. I’m the type of rider who gets better from racing, so that’s actually the goal here. The parcours here should suit me, and it’s a good up and down terrain that’s always a bit punchy.
"On Saturday, we have the Puig Major as well, and that’s a long climb. I can find a bit of everything and some answers on how my winter went."
Evenepoel has started three of his past four seasons with a victory on the road, so expect his very best in the team time trial and on the tougher days across Mallorca's undulating terrain, especially after going through the off-season without any issues.
From Spain, he'll build up to a UAE Tour face-off against Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) by racing at the five-day Volta Comunitat Valenciana.
It's a big moment for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe CEO Ralph Denk – after years of chasing Evenepoel's signature to his team – finally, he has him on his roster, and now the team has to make him ready to take on Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France.
The German remains confident in his man's chances to come good and deliver the yellow jersey he so strongly desires, but it's a project that could take years.
"He's the youngest. Can he beat them one-on-one? Honestly, I don't know. I'm not a sports scientist," said Denk in an extensive interview with Het Nieuwsblad.
"You have to ask other people on the team. What I do know is that those people are absolutely convinced they can make Remco even better. And what I'm saying is: Pogacar and Vingegaard are both older than him.
"Look at history. Armstrong, Indurain, Merckx: even for the biggest superstars, one day it's over. Suddenly, the tank is empty. Then Remco will have to be ready."
Drawing on shared inspiration from his big-money energy drinks brand sponsor, Denk drew comparisons between Evenepoel and Dutch Red Bull Formula 1 star Max Verstappen, expressing how the Belgian could have a similar impact on his sport.
"It's different. Max Verstappen came from Red Bull's own academy and has since become the superstar he is. Remco is with us now, but he wasn't trained by us," added Denk.
"In that sense, there are currently guys in our U-19 team who fit more into that Verstappen story. But can Remco have the same impact on cycling as Verstappen did in Formula 1? I think so. After all, there aren't that many iconic riders around at the moment. I count three: Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar, and Remco."
