Remco Evenepoel has started the season in a near-perfect way, and at this point it is legitimate to expect that he can — and strongly wants to — have his say in the most important race of all, the Tour de France. The problem is that, when looking at this year’s route with even a minimum of clarity, it’s hard not to think that the Tour, in reality, doesn’t truly want Evenepoel. In fact, it almost feels as if the organisers have gone out of their way to minimise the chances of him seriously entering the fight for the yellow jersey.
We are talking about the strongest time trialist in the peloton, a rider who in this discipline can genuinely make a tangible difference even against the absolute number one, Pogačar — something clearly demonstrated and confirmed at the most recent World Championships. And yet the 2026 Tour offers a team time trial of just 19 km, far from linear, and an individual time trial of 26 km that looks more like a climbing time trial than a true, “classic” one. In practice, there is no real terrain where a pure specialist can actually build a meaningful technical advantage. It is hard not to think that this course design directly penalises Evenepoel.
The message is clear: this is a Tour designed for pure climbers, not for riders who can gain time in the time trial and then defend themselves in the mountains. And it is natural to wonder whether behind this choice there is also a precise intention to steer the final outcome. After all, let’s not forget that Tadej Pogačar has already introduced a “new tradition” never seen before: stepping onto the Tour podium with his bike, a form of direct advertising that for decades had simply been forbidden. If such a symbolic rule can be broken, it is legitimate to think that other things, behind the scenes, may also be deliberately shaped.
And this is a shame, because to break this sense of monotony, this almost inevitable continuity of victories, it would have been wonderful to see a more “old-school” Tour de France again: long, true, straight time trials for specialists, where Evenepoel could have built a margin and then tried to defend it in the mountains. That Tour will not happen. What we will likely see instead, if all goes well, is yet another Pogačar–Vingegaard duel.
Personally, I regret this. Not only because it limits the spectacle — I don’t support any rider in particular, I support the idea of a real, open fight that keeps doubt over the winner until the final day — but also because it diminishes the technical value of the race. The time trial remains one of the most noble and complex disciplines in cycling, and Evenepoel is a joy to watch in this specialty. And he is not the only great time trialist of this era who would deserve a genuine chance to win.
Perhaps all of this hides some less romantic truths about the Tour de France 2026, where there is a declared desire for challenge, spectacle and competition, but where in practice the possibility of a winner not aligned with those who currently pull the strings is quietly avoided.
