Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe has been courting Remco Evenepoel for several years, despite his ongoing contract with Soudal-Quick-Step. Last season, the German team succeeded in convincing the double Olympic champion to leave his Belgian employer. It was during the 2025 Critérium du Dauphiné that Evenepoel himself realized he needed to make the move.
"I remember a moment in the final stage of the Dauphiné in June," the Belgian recalls during a special double episode of the Specialized podcast. "After a lot of climbing, we ended up in a valley with a select group. I looked around and there were three or four guys from Red Bull in our group. And I thought: 'Man, I’m completely alone here. And they have four riders together.' That really motivated me, already knowing what would happen a few months later. That evening after the stage, I could only think about one thing: 'Wow, imagine being surrounded like that. That the five of us would start the final climb together.'"
With the German squad, he will share the team leader role during the upcoming Tour de France with Florian Lipowitz. Alongside climbers like Primož Roglič, Jai Hindley, Giulio Pellizzari, Aleksandr Vlasov, and Daniel Felipe Martínez, Red Bull boasts several top climbers. "I’m joining a team of riders with an enormous palmarès, but also with a great future ahead. Knowing that such names — take Primož for example — will be riding around me motivates me to push myself to be the best version of myself. I simply have to be ready because there is always a teammate capable of challenging my leadership position.”
Evenepoel next to Lipowitz in that decisive stage and just ahead of Maxim Van Gils - photo: fotopersburo Cor Vos
