No rest for Remco Evenepoel as he keeps the off-season kilometres ticking over with his running shoes in Tokyo

With the road cycling off-season now in full swing, Remco Evenepoel is still not sitting still, heading from wind tunnel testing, sponsor commitments, and an early look at the 2028 Olympics course in California to Tokyo in Japan.

During his trip to the US, Evenepoel took time at Specialized HQ in Morgan Hill to fine-tune his time trial skills, but also took the time to complete a 65km recon of the Griffith Observatory course in Los Angeles, where he will defend both of his Paris 2024 road gold medals in two years' time.

Evenepoel has been off the bike on his latest trip, but is keeping the kilometres ticking over with his legs, running 10.6km on Sunday and 11.8km on Monday around the capital city in Tokyo at a brisk 4:45/km pace as he took in views of the skyline and Imperial Palace.

Running is far from uncommon among the big names in the peloton, including those from the past, with former Giro d'Italia winner Tom Dumoulin clocking in a 2:27:12 marathon personal best in New York this past weekend.

Having come to the end of a long first season with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in which European champion Evenepoel won 14 times across his 54 race days, the Belgian has already said he is eyeing a later start to his 2027 season. In 2026, he got going in Mallorca in January and raced all the way through to Il Lombardia in October.

"What is certain is that I will not enter competition as early as I did this year," he said last month. "As a newcomer to the team, that was somewhat normal. I wanted to prove myself, integrate into the group as well as possible, and win as quickly as possible. Next year will be different."

Evenepoel's plans for 2026 are all but certain to include a return to the Tour de France, following his runner-up finish to Tadej Pogačar in July, especially with 71km of individual time trials on the route and without an abundance of brutal mountaintop finishes – where he is likely at a disadvantage to Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard.

Dumoulin is one of several commentators to note how the route brings the balance towards the favour of Evenepoel, saying that, "I think the Tour organisers are clearly keen to find some way to keep the dominance of UAE and Pogačar in check. By designing a route that keeps things competitive until quite late in the Tour. The only way to beat Pogačar is through time trial kilometres."

The question mark that remains is whether he will also combine the Tour with the Giro d'Italia. He didn't rule out a first return since 2023 to the Italian Grand Tour, speaking before Il Lombardia, but his team boss Ralph Denk has already said his preference would be for his star rider not to do the double.

On Tuesday, November 3, the route for the Giro d'Italia will be revealed in Rome, and while there are expected to be two time trials on the route – the same as the Tour – the total number of ITT kilometres is reportedly set to be less than 60km, with one flatter day against the clock in Monza, and the other being a mountain ITT from Sulmona to Campo di Giove.

Evenepoel's full schedule for the Classics, one-week stage races and Grand Tours will be revealed at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's media day at their first training camp for 2027 on December 11 in Mallorca.

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