Remco Evenepoel described his debut with new squad Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe as "close to perfection" after he and his teammates clinched the victory in the Challenge Mallorca team time trial in Ses Salines.
As a current and three-time World Time Trial Champion in his own right, Evenepoel's individual ability against the clock was more than well-established, and he is currently widely considered the best in the world in the speciality.
However, even if UCI rules meant he was allowed to wear his individual time trial champion's rainbow jersey in a team time trial for the first time ever in Thursday's 24-kilometre race, the 60 kph dash for victory remained a collective effort.
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It's true too, that Evenepoel was the most widely sought-after rider for interviews at the Colonia San Jordí finish line, of the seven that took part for Red Bull.
But a victory like this on day one of his racing for the squad, one of the few where the entire team got to clamber onto the winner's podium, not just a lone individual, nonetheless represented a major boost to team morale across the board. (Not only that it also simultaneously silenced any mutterings about the wisdome of Evenepoel's move away from top Belgian squad Soudal-QuickStep in 2025: at least, for now.)
It was a collective effort, too, which netted the team the win, as a slight deficit on surprising race leaders Movistar mid-stage on the rolling south Mallorca course was then converted by all four remaining Red Bull riders into a four-second advantage.
A narrow margin, perhaps, but with average speeds of up to 59.5 kph for the winner, such a fast, not technical, course did not permit huge gaps. And as Evenepoel said about the one moment when things looked a little wobbly late on for the team, as they dropped down to the minimum number possible of finishers after a climb, "we never panicked" - something also always crucial in a TTT, where minor setbacks can rapidly morph into major disasters if unwanted incidents are not handled calmly.
It's true that by July 4 and the crunch test of TTT ability of 2026 on day one of the Tour de France, the Mallorca race would be all but forgotten. In addition, the format, too, was radically different, with the first rider, not the fourth rider - as at Mallorca - being timed across the line.
But from a late January perspective, not to mention on a course just five kilometres longer than the July 4 team time trial in Barcelona, the initial omens for six months hence could not be bettered. Or as Evenepoel told Nieuwsblad, "We're on the right road for the Tour".
"We knew we could make a difference on the way back with the headwind and the uphill section," he told the newspaper and other media after the finish.
"We just followed our pacing and never panicked. I think we were a few seconds behind halfway round but we kept believing in our plan for the finale. We ended up winning, so that's a great start.
"It feels fantastic for the team to win straight away. This is also a very important discipline for us - for everyone considering what's coming up in the Tour.
"It was a good test, and it definitely worked out. We prepared well, and if things then work out, it's obviously a great feeling."
With multiple riders present who form part of the Red Bull long list for the Tour, the result was even more encouraging. As Evenepoel said, "It's still a long way off, but it's always better to be on schedule."
Regarding the actual race itself, Evenepoel said that the way the team had handled the one slight climb of the course, a kicker late on, was his responsibility. The team knew, beforehand, that it would be a close call for teammate Mattia Cattaneo - a very useful time triallist in his own right, but on flatter courses - to follow and the Italian cracked, as expected.
A star role for Denz
As it was, Belgian compatriot Nico Denz played a solid role in keeping the squad together after that, Evenepoel said, even if Denz too had briefly come unstuck at the top of the climb. Furthermore, the presence of Florian Lipowitz, third in last year's Tour and very much part of the team's game plan in the same race in 2026, all the way through to the finish alongside Evenepoel, was also a very encouraging sign for Red Bull.
"We knew the way back was going to be the most important with headwind and the small kicker at 3kms to go, more or less, and we knew there we would want to make the biggest difference and we also did, so we're very happy with that," Evenepoel said later.
"Nico was still strong enough to get back on, and he pulled it off, thankfully. It just goes to show: you can plan and prepare all you want, but in practice, things can always go differently. But overall, it went perfectly."
Evenepoel will now head to two days of climbing in Mallorca at the Trofeo Serra Tramuntana on Friday and the Trofeo Andratx on Saturday, to test himself in the mountains. But as for how he fared in the team time trial, and his start to the season, it could hardly have gone better.
"My own feeling? I was able to do what I had to. I think I was able to carry the team with my long drives. I kept the momentum going, as we say. It was good, I'm glad to be back racing. Now to recover, because tomorrow is another race."
