Struggling at the Time Trials stage would have been a dead giveaway that something just wasn’t right. Remco Evenepoel is regarded as one of the best time-trialists of his generation. And he is just 25. After the disastrous stage 13 on the Peyragudes, the 2024 Olympic champion eventually brought his 2025 Tour de France to a premature end a stage later. And then, the big reveal came.
In an Instagram post, the Belgian shared he had entered the Tour de France with a broken rib. Well, his team, Soudal-Quick-Step, had stepped up in his absence. And former General Manager of the team, Patrick Lefevere, has come out in defense of Soudal’s actions. In fact, he has made some bold claims, which, what do you know, the fans are not taking at face value. So, what did the former champion cyclist make of the entire Remco Evenepoel fiasco?
On July 26, The Red Flame X outlet shared an article from the veteran Lefevere with the caption, which read, “Lefevere said Remco broken rib was diagnosed in TDF X-Ray van after Stage 3 and that it was never an issue before as he won a stage and was in P3 for a long time. He says the fault of Evenepoel mountain crisis is more in missing winter training.”
It’s quite a defensive statement to make, to be honest. And one that corners their own star cyclist. Evenepoel has been cordial about his team’s good fortune since his unfortunate exit. But being a World Champion and a European Champion, Remco Evenepoel is the one who is making the news. His struggles started on stage 12, the mountainous stretch which ended at Hautacam. He finished 7th, losing time to all the podium finishers.
And then came the shock. In the following time trial stage, the 2024 Olympic Time Trial Champion finished 2:39 minutes behind the winner, Tadej Pogacar. Evenepoel finished 12th on the stage. The unbelievable scenes were Jonas Vingegaard of the Visma-Lease a bike team starting 2 minutes after the Belgian and still finishing ahead of Evenepoel. On July 19, the 3rd-placed cyclist made the pivotal decision. With more than 100Km left in the 182 km mountainous stage, he dropped off and got into a team car to end his race.
Lefevere said Remco broken rib was diagnosed in TDF X-Ray van after Stage 3 and that it was never an issue before as he won a stage and was in P3 for a long time. He says the fault of Evenepoel mountain crisis is more in missing winter training.https://t.co/QlMQbzhAvS
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) July 26, 2025
Since then, a lot has happened. In his passionate post, the 25-year-old had shared how he hadn’t felt quite like himself since the horrid crash in December 2024. During a training run in Oetingen, he crashed through an open door of a postal vehicle, fracturing his rib, right shoulder blade, and hand. That man was, in four months, competing in the Tour de Romandie in April. And he participated in the Criterium du Dauphine and the National Championships Belgium before the most difficult race in the world.
Not enough rest, on top of that, more physical barrage on your body – no wonder the Olympic Champion was struggling like never before. And former Soudal GM Patrick Lefevere blames all of it very simply on missing Winter training. Yeah, it doesn’t add up, does it? Fans are also saying the same thing.
Soudal GM catches the ire of the fans after the Remco Evenepoel incident
In his article, Lefevere’s defense has been that the Soudal star was 3rd in the General classification race when Evenepoel had to give up. The latter had even won a Time Trial event in Stage 5 (Caen). So, pulling him out of the race was out of the question as per the ex-GM. But here’s the thing. Lefevere himself admitted that Soudal came to know about the cyclist’s rib fracture after Stage 3, which involved another minor crash. So, they knew their main guy couldn’t have been 100% ok.
This tweet from a fan sounds quite apt in the scenario: “The rib may not have troubled him directly but takes energy to heal. You can’t expect to be in perfect shape with it.” In fact, Remco Evenepoel shared, according to Cycling News, his discomfort since his Dauphiné race in June. “After the Dauphiné, I haven’t been able to do a single training session either,” the Olympic champion said. “I couldn’t handle any intensity. Fatigue, my body simply not being good enough this year… It could be anything, I just can’t pinpoint one thing.”
One fan could point out one thing that has definitely caused this: “And lack of race days!” We think he means rest days. Unfortunately, the Time Trial Specialist himself pushed for it. And it’s quite a herculean task that he was leading in the Young Rider classification before his race ended in Stage 14. Another fan tweeted, “Surprising that nobody criticizes Quickstep decision to make Remco go to the Tour even if he was injured. This could have endangered Remco’s health. They should be sanctioned for that.”
Credits – Instagram @remco.ev
Now, here’s where things become blurry. In his Instagram message, the 2024 National Time Trial Champion had shared how he hadn’t been overworked, but he had felt worn out. “I was running low before the Tour even started,” he wrote in the post. Didn’t the Soudal-Quick-Step not have the slightest clue about his condition? Or was it a decision taken nonetheless by both the cyclist and the team to move ahead?
One fan went, “What a lie”. Well, which part? That they didn’t know about the rib fracture before Stage 3? Or that Patrick Lefevere is deliberately shifting the focus from talks about exhaustion, lack of rest, and repeated injuries to a trivial regulation case of not having a training session. Mind you, Remco Evenepoel had himself mentioned in the Instagram post that the winter months are crucial for building “a solid base for the season.” Instead, he spent that period recovering and in rehab.
The only thing on his mind was: “I had to heal.” But as we can see, he clearly hasn’t. If anything, the early return and the repeated crashes have left Evenepoel quite physically battered. This fan thinks it can’t be just the December crash. “So blame something than happened more than 6 months prior in training for the debacle now”. It was horrible what happened in Oitengen. But with more rest, more time for recovery, he probably wouldn’t have run out of energy as he mentioned after the exit.
On the off-chance, there was also the crucial call that Remco Evenepoel would have had to sit out the Tour de France which has been won by the man himself, Tadej Pogacar. But he did say everything he did was to be available for the July event. It was his big goal. We feel he has no regrets. Both in going out there and getting a Stage win at the Tour de France, or bravely listening to his body to step back and slow it down. Now, he recovers and awaits the green light to defend his World Championship title.
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