Why Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe boss believes in Remco Evenepoel's Tour win

With Primoz Roglic, the team already had a multiple Grand Tour winner on its roster, and Florian Lipowitz finished third in Paris last year, but Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe wants to make a real bid for overall victory in the Tour de France in the coming years with their new signing Remco Evenepoel. Team boss Ralph Denk has rock-solid confidence in the Belgian.

Still, Evenepoel faces a daunting challenge, because to win the Tour de France, he will have to beat four-time champion Tadej Pogacar and two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard. However, Denk is optimistic about his new rider’s chances. "Because he is the youngest," he said in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad.

"Whether he can beat them one-on-one? Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not a sports scientist. You have to ask other people within the team. What I do know is that those people are absolutely convinced they can make Remco even better."

"And what I say is this: Pogacar and Vingegaard are both older than him. Look at history. Armstrong, Indurain, Merckx: even for the biggest superstars, one day it’s over. Suddenly the tank is empty. That’s when Remco has to be ready."

Face of the team
However, Evenepoel was not recruited just for the Tour de France. "I know: Remco wants to win the Tour. And so do we. But it’s much more than that. I compare it to Peter Sagan. He also won a lot for us. But Peter was mainly the face of the team. He gave our squad credibility. In his slipstream, many riders were able to develop."