Defending road race and time trial Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel has already been scouting the course for the 2028 LA Olympic Games in 2028, as he continues to work into the off-season in the USA.
After ending his racing season with fourth at Il Lombardia, Evenepoel headed to California for an important trip, where he's visiting the headquarters of his and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's bike sponsor, Specialized at its Morgan Hill headquarters for wind tunnel testing.
While also participating in a community group ride and Q&A, Evenepoel also took some time to take an early look at the course where the gold medals will be decided in just under two years' time, centred around the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.
Evenepoel rode 65km in two hours, and while he was looking at the expected-to-be 35km time trial course, he completed the ride – captioned "LA 2028 ITT RECON" on Strava – on his road bike, accompanied by Red Bull teammates Jai Hindley and Luke Tuckwell.
For the Specialized sponsor events, Evenepoel and his two teammates were joined by four star riders on FDJ United-SUEZ: World Champion and Tour de France Femmes winner Demi Vollering, US Champion Kate Courtney, Paris-Roubaix winner Franziska Koch, and rising British climber Lauren Dickson.
Having captured both the road race solo and the time trial gold medals in Paris '24, Evenepoel – making history as the first man, and only second rider ever after Leontien van Moorsel (née Zijlaard), to do the road double – will be eyeing a return to the Games in 2028 to defend his crowns.
The time trials will start from LA Zoo while the road races will kick off at Venice Beach Boardwalk, both finishing at the Griffith Observatory.
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The ITTs will take place on July 19, 2028, with the road races on July 22 and 23. Due to this scheduling, the Tour de France will be shifted forward one week, with a Grand Est Grand Départ on Saturday, June 24, before the conclusion on Sunday, July 16, in Paris.
The Belgian was second behind only Tadej Pogačar at this year's Tour, and will be expected to return for the 2027 edition – especially with a suitable route, including two time trials, being announced last week – but the narrow gap between the end of the 2028 race and the Olympics could see several of the big stars skip cycling's biggest race for one year.
(Image credit: Remco Evenepoel on Strava)
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James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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