Patrick Lefevere hints at Tour de France debut for Remco Evenepoel in 2024 as Grand Tour finishes in Nice
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Published 05/12/2022 at 11:03 GMT
Remco Evenepoel impressed in 2022 as he won the Vuelta a Espana on just his second appearance at a Grand Tour. He has confirmed he will be riding the Giro d'Italia in 2023 and is not expected to compete at the Tour de France, which features plenty of sprints and climbs but not much time trialling. However, Evenepoel could be in line to appear at the 2024 race, which finishes in Nice.
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QuickStep-AlphaVinyl team manager Patrick Lefevere has suggested Remco Evenepoel will make his Tour de France debut in 2024.
The 22-year-old won the Vuelta a Espana in the summer on his just his second appearance at a Grand Tour.
His only other Grand Tour showing came at the 2021 Giro d’Italia, which he didn’t finish. Evenepoel has confirmed that he will ride the Giro again in 2023.
Next year’s Giro features 70km of time trialling, one of Evenepoel’s strengths, and the 2024 Tour de France is breaking from tradition by finishing with a time trial in Nice.
“It’s nice to see the Tour finish with a time trial,” Lefevere told Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure.
“That can lead to some nice scenarios, we all remember Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon in 1989 and this could be spectacular too.
“A time trial for Remco is good. But it all depends where he’d be lying overall at that point.
“Will Remco Evenepoel be at the 2024 Tour de France? It’s obviously too soon to say. But our plan with him has always been that he should do the Vuelta and Giro before the Tour. Given how he’s raced in the Vuelta this year, and how he’ll do the Giro next, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about 2024.”
The 2023 Tour de France includes just 22km of time trialling and looks set to favour climbers for the general classification.
Evenepoel has been in Italy recently doing some preparation work ahead of the Giro.
He is likely to be one of the favourites for the race, although it is not known who else will be there.
Former Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas has suggested he will be racing the Giro rather than heading to France.
“That's what I was thinking anyway,” Thomas told CyclingNews last month.
"The Giro is a lot less intense - just the atmosphere and everything. I'd like to ride it another time.
"It's a race I've always enjoyed, even if I've crashed out the last two times I've done it. It would be nice to go back and finish it."
Thomas has failed to finish the Giro in his last two starts in 2017 and 2020, suffering injuries on both occasions after crashes.
"There is a bit of ['what might have been']," he said. "In 2020 I felt in really good shape. Even one before that with the motorbike parked on the road... I really would have loved to have seen how I'd have done."
Tadej Pogacar has revealed his hope of competing in the 2023 Vuelta a Espana and explained there is more chance of him lining up at Spain's Grand Tour than at the Giro d’Italia.
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