Remco Evenepoel stays calm after off-day: "This is not the Tour de France"

Everything looked so promising for Remco Evenepoel in the UAE Tour, but the first mountain stage went completely wrong. The Belgian hit his limits on the steep slopes of Jebel Mobrah, lost more than two minutes, and with that the leader's jersey. Still, this is no reason for panic for Evenepoel.

Remco Evenepoel has lost his red leader's jersey in the UAE Tour. More than that, he has plunged out of the top ten in the general classification. The team leader of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe cracked on the brutally steep Jebel Mobrah and lost a lot of time to his rivals. He said afterward that he had ‘no good feeling in the legs’ to the gathered press.

It’s a painful reality, but not yet a cause for concern for Evenepoel. "I had a tough moment when I had to drop back, but toward the end, I felt I was coming back a bit," he told Het Nieuwsblad. "Such a difficult moment is something I have experienced before at the start of the season."

Specific Climbing Training
"I know that for this kind of climbs, I need to train very specifically. I’ve done some climbing work already in Calpe (where he usually trains, ed.), but I haven’t tackled the real cols yet. That will have to happen during the altitude training camp after this UAE Tour. Luckily, this isn’t the Tour de France. It’s better to learn now than in July."

After his bad day, overall victory now seems out of reach for Evenepoel, but that doesn’t mean he has no ambitions left for the remaining days. "Maybe I can still do something good to move up. And I will definitely try for the stage win on Saturday on Jebel Hafeet," he remains determined.