Remco Evenepoel 'wants to be better' than Tadej Pogacar and believes he can win 2026 Tour de France with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
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Published 22/12/2025 at 18:35 GMT
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Remco Evenepoel believes he can steal Tadej Pogacar's crown and win the 2026 Tour de France. The Belgian, who abandoned the 2025 edition on Stage 14, is hoping that a move to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe can catapult him to yellow jersey glory. He will have stiff competition, however, with new team-mate Florian Lipowitz emerging as a genuine general classification challenger on his Tour debut.
'Really frustrated' - Evenepoel tells cameras to 'go away' as he exits Tour de France
Video credit: TNT Sports
Remco Evenepoel is moving on to pastures new for the 2026 season, but his ultimate ambition remains the same: beat Tadej Pogacar to the Tour de France crown.
After pledging his services to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Evenepoel is set to share leadership at the Tour de France with burgeoning talent Florian Lipowitz, who finished on the podium on his Tour debut in 2025.
Pogacar has won the last two editions of the Tour de France and overcoming the Slovenian was one of the major motivating factors for Evenepoel's move to Red Bull.
"I want to be better than him [Pogacar]. That's very difficult; we all know that. But that's why I came here. To take those steps. To go for it, on it and over it," he told Flemish broadcaster Sporza.
"That will take a lot of effort, but I'm very motivated, and I really needed this new step to completely break through a ceiling. I hope to be able to boom this year."
Evenepoel finished third at the 2024 Tour de France but this year abandoned the race on stage 14, later revealing that he was carrying wounds from a crash at the Belgian championships, namely a broken rib and sinusitis.
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Stage 5 highlights: Evenepoel dazzles in time trial, Pogacar takes yellow, Vingegaard falters
Video credit: TNT Sports
His departure promoted future team-mate Lipowitz into third on the general classification.
While his answer was slightly reluctant, according to Sporza, Evenepoel believes the yellow jersey is a reachable goal in the new year.
"Yes," replied Evenepoel when asked whether he could win the 2026 Tour de France.
"If everything continues to go well and if I can have a really good winter, good training camps and the points I'm looking for in the races in the spring, if I can show in Catalonia that I am there to win, like I was in 2023, for example, heading into the Giro, then I definitely think I will be able to reach that level.
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"Also, with the support I have here, the support and the team-mates who are here, all the scientific aspects involved, I think there's still a lot of room for improvement.
"Your foundation needs to be there before you can work on those high-intensity workouts, the real VO2 max workouts. That's where I can improve the most.
"It also makes sense: if Tadej attacks, I can keep up for a while, but not for too long. That's what I have to work on now. Of course, that's easy to say, but I have learned to enjoy training more again.
"It took a long time to do that because I was too far behind, but now I can train hard again, and that's what you need to be able to push yourself beyond your limits."
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Highlights: Evenepoel humbles Pogacar to take TT glory
Video credit: TNT Sports
In preparation for his Tour de France push, Evenepoel will not ride the 2026 Giro d'Italia, a race he was on course to win in 2023 until a positive Covid-19 test scuppered his designs on the maglia rosa.
Instead, the 25-year-old's lead-up is expected to have a distinctly Iberian flavour, with the Challenge Mallorca, the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana and the Volta a Catalunya all on the cards.
Then the Grand Depart in Barcelona will see him link up with Lipowitz, and Evenepoel sees no problems with the pair as Red Bull co-leaders.
"If we go with a plan, we just have to think about the benefits. Florian and I are both very ambitious, but we're two different riders," explained Evenepoel.
"I'm more explosive; Florian has to get going like a diesel. We're polar opposites, and together that can only work out well. We need to complement each other and not work against each other to achieve the goal of this team: to win the Tour one day."
Watch and stream the 2026 cycling season live on TNT Sports and discovery+
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