Emmanuel LANGELLIER, Media365: published on Sunday January 12, 2025 at 3:14 p.m.
Victim of a fall at the beginning of December, Remco Evenepoel is aiming for a comeback to arrive in great shape at the 2025 Tour de France. His team has a precise plan.
With Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel was one of the great leaders of the 2024 season. Author of the double line race and chrono at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and crowned world champion in the time trial, the Belgian was then seriously injured in a fall in early December. Victim of a broken rib, right shoulder blade and right hand, Evenepoel should return in April. After 11 weeks without cycling between the injury and the holidays, the Soudal Quick-Step training rider began his rehabilitation at the start of 2025. In order to get back in shape, his training established a precise plan.
A return outdoors hoped for February 3 or 4
The latter is structured around 4 stages. There will first be 3 weeks of gentle recovery, at the physiotherapist and on the rollers. “During the first two or three weeks, it will mainly be mobility work on his shoulder and a few easy sessions on the home trainer, indoors. Just to turn your legs,” detailed Klaas Lodewyck, the sports director, to La Derniere Heure. After strengthening his shoulder, a return of Remco Evenepoel outdoors is hoped for on February 3 or 4, then a preparation block of 8 to 9 weeks is planned to “build a large base, essential to resist difficult races”. The Belgian prodigy will then be able to really work on the short efforts by adding intensity to the training for 2 or 3 weeks.
The boss of Evenepoel: “I am convinced that he will be 100% at the start of the Tour”
The date of April 18 is marked for the hoped-for return to competition at Flèche Brabançonne. “But we will adapt our program if necessary. We are not going to force things. Everything has to go well. If this is the case, I think he will be able to win the Ardennes classics. But if he only feels 85 or 90%, it won’t make sense to go there,” underlines Lodewyck about his foal who will not be at the start of the Giro and who will then carry out the same preparation for the Tour de France than last year. There will of course be work at altitude and long climbs to approach the level of Pogacar and Vingegaard. If all goes well, Remco Evenepoel will arrive in good shape for the Grande Boucle. “I am convinced that he will be 100% at the start of the Tour and that he can even be stronger than last year. These 2 mentally difficult months will ripen in him a hunger for performance which can allow him to come back stronger,” predicts the boss of Soudal Quick-Step.
