Philippe Gilbert not worried about Remco Evenepoel despite disappointing performance
After the time trial, everything still looked very promising for Remco Evenepoel in the UAE Tour, but the Belgian underperformed in the two subsequent mountain stages, causing his chances for overall victory to vanish. However, for his former teammate Philippe Gilbert, this is no reason to doubt the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe leader.
Remco Evenepoel was unable to take revenge on Saturday in the UAE Tour. The Belgian lost significant time again in the decisive mountain stage to Jebel Hafeet, although he felt slightly better than earlier in the week. Still, this was not enough to play a meaningful role uphill, which is surprising given his intrinsic qualities and excellent start to the season.
According to Gilbert, this is no reason to panic. "He had already raced a lot in the previous weeks, went extremely deep on Tuesday in that utterly impressive time trial, and this is his first race in intense heat: this can happen," the ex-pro told Het Nieuwsblad. "I recognized it in myself back in the day. In my first race in the heat, I always struggled too."
'Right on schedule'
"And it’s not like he lost twenty minutes. If it had been the other way around, I would arguably be more worried. Suppose Evenepoel had won on that monster climb by five minutes difference, after his earlier wins in Valencia and Mallorca, then I would have started to wonder if he reached peak form too early. Remco is still right on schedule."
Gilbert also doesn’t think any alarm bells have gone off at Evenepoel’s new team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. "I think they are mostly happy with what Remco has already shown. I know what it’s like to switch teams after six years with the same outfit. I had been with Française des Jeux just as long when I moved to Lotto in 2009."
"Believe me: it brings stress and high expectations. You want to prove yourself immediately, preferably win. You can’t say Evenepoel hasn’t done that. It confirms what I’ve long thought: six years is a long time. The relationship between Soudal Quick-Step and Evenepoel had run its course. At Red Bull, Remco finds new, fresh air. It was about time."
