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Remco Evenepoel (; born 25 January 2000) is a Belgian professional cyclist and Olympic gold medalist who rides for UCI WorldTeam .
Evenepoel is regarded as the best time trialist of his generation; he is a three-time UCI world champion (2023, 2024 and 2025), Olympic champion (2024), and two-time European champion (2019 and 2025). He has also found success in one-day classics, winning Liège–Bastogne–Liège twice in 2022 and 2023, the UCI road race world championship in 2022, and Olympic road race in 2024. Evenepoel also won the Vuelta a España in 2022, becoming the first Belgian to win a Grand Tour since 1978.
The son of former cyclist Patrick Evenepoel, Remco began his sporting career as a footballer, playing as a midfielder in the youth ranks of R.S.C. Anderlecht, PSV Eindhoven, and the Belgian national youth teams. After switching to cycling in 2017, he dominated the junior ranks by winning the road race and time trial in the junior categories at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships. Evenepoel elected to skip the under-23 level, turning professional in 2019 with Deceuninck–Quick-Step (now Soudal–Quick-Step). In his debut professional season, he became the youngest winner of a UCI WorldTour race by winning the Clásica de San Sebastián at age 19.
After a career-threatening injury in 2020 at Il Lombardia, Evenepoel returned to racing at the 2021 Giro d'Italia. For his achievements in 2022, Evenepoel was awarded the Vélo d'Or, given to the most successful cyclist of the season. In 2024, Evenepoel made his debut at the Tour de France, where he placed third overall behind Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, also taking home the young rider's classification. Shortly after the Tour, Evenepoel became the only male cyclist to win both the Olympic time trial and road race, achieving both at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Evenepoel played primarily as a defensive midfielder and left back. At one point, he was considered one of Belgium's most promising talents, making nine appearences for Belgium's U15 and U16 teams. Although Evenepoel himself admitted in 2020 he "didn't have the best technique", he was well regarded for his stamina and leadership, captaining both Anderlecht and Belgium's youth teams. During this time, Evenepoel also showed promise as a runner. At age 16, without any dedicated training, he entered the Brussels Half-Marathon, running the day after a football match, and finished 13th in 1:16:15. After suffering a pelvic fracture during a match, his football career took a downturn and he was released by Anderlecht in 2016. Evenepoel joined KV Mechelen, who were prepared to offer him a professional contract after another six months, but Evenepoel instead chose to quit and pursue cycling full-time.
He won both the time trial and road race at the 2018 European Junior Road Cycling Championships. The gap between him and the second place rider in the road race was 9 minutes and 44 seconds.
Later in the year, Evenepoel also won both the road race and the time trial at the UCI Junior Road World Championships.
After the extended break in the cycling calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he won the Vuelta a Burgos and the Tour de Pologne.
Evenepoel suffered a serious accident at Il Lombardia. While descending the Muro di Sormano and after a sharp curve, he collided with a low wall on the side of a bridge and was thrown over it with the impact, falling in a dirt area near some trees, roughly below the road. No other cyclists were involved in the accident and he was swiftly removed from the scene by the emergency services, being conscious and responsive all the time. Hours later, his team reported that he had suffered a fractured pelvis and a right lung contusion, also stating that he would not be returning to competition in the near future.
He competed in the rescheduled 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in both the road race and time trial earning a top 10 place in the latter. During the 2021 World Championships in Flanders he claimed his second elite level world championship medal, taking the bronze in the time trial. Evenepoel was the centre of a furore in the World road race. Ahead of the race, it was felt that Wout van Aert was the protected leader for a Belgian team that was very hopeful of a home win, and Eddy Merckx stated to Het Nieuwsblad that "If there is only one leader, you really shouldn't take Evenepoel ... He rides mainly for himself; we saw that at the Olympics". Evenepoel responded "He always has to say something and that's a shame ... Maybe it stings that I didn't ride for his son's team. I have a lot of respect for Eddy and apparently that is not mutual." On the race ahead "I'm here to work for Belgium, for Wout, because I know that it's the chance of his life to be world champion. He's in the form of his life, and it would be stupid of me to ride for myself. On this parcours, no one is stronger than Wout. I said already a lot of times that I will do everything for Wout." In the road race Evenepoel appeared to answer Merckx' criticism that he is a selfish cyclist by joining an early attack with 180 km still to race, followed by a second mid-race attack, and then created the decisive selection in the finals laps. Van Aert was unable to win the race, which was won by Julian Alaphilippe. After the race, people from the world of cycling such as Evenepoel's trade team boss Patrick Lefevere praised Evenepoel's strength and wondered if the Belgian team had made the wrong choice of leader. Lefevere asked: "Why did the Belgians want to break open the race so early? And above all, why did they throw Remco into the fray so early? For me, Remco was the best man in the race after Julian. But they just sacrificed him and rolled out the red carpet for Julian."
Evenepoel responded to the criticism of Belgium's tactics by revealing that he felt he could have won the race but that "on Friday evening before the World Championships there was a meeting with everyone. It was very unclear to me what exactly was expected of me. So after sleeping on it, the next day I went to coaches Sven Vanthourenhout and Serge Pauwels and asked: 'What do you expect from me in concrete terms?' "I also said straight out that I thought I might be able to win the race in a certain scenario. 'Do I get a chance or not?' I asked. 'No,' was the answer." This caused a rift in the team; Van Aert said "I expected to hear criticism because we didn't win but that it came from someone on the team is not smart and only serves to add fuel to the fire. It's a shame, and I regret it. Remco issued more criticism on TV than in the team meeting" and "He was the one who agreed with the tactics, who agreed with the selection. He has been preaching for weeks on end how he was looking forward to it so I think it's really weird to turn 180 degrees now".
Days after the race Belgian team-mate Jasper Stuyven said that Evenepoel had failed to show up for the team debrief: "Everyone was there, except Remco ... He was aware, but didn't think it was necessary. I think that is a shame, especially because he thought it necessary to say things on TV. That stuck with some of us. ... I think that Remco should sometimes be slowed down by his entourage. He still has to learn when he can and cannot say things. Also, a super-strong rider – which he certainly is – should realise that some things should remain internal."
In early September, Evenepoel won the 2022 Vuelta a España, his first Grand Tour triumph. Evenepoel took the red jersey after stage 6 of the race, which finished with a 800m climb to a mountain-top finish in San Miguel de Aguayo. While the stage was won by Jay Vine, Evenepoel managed to finish second, putting significant time into his general classification rivals, including Primož Roglič, the pre-race favorite. Evenepoel extended his general classification lead to 2 minutes and 41 seconds after a dominant performance on the stage 10 individual time trial, finishing the 30.9 km course in 33 minutes and 18 seconds, 48 seconds ahead of second-place Roglič. The following challenging mountain stages saw Roglič and Enric Mas claw back some time, reducing Evenepoel's general classification lead to as little as 1 minute and 26 seconds. However, following Roglič's withdrawal from the race after a crash at the end of stage 16, Evenepoel won stage 18, another mountain-top finish, securing a 2-minute and 7-second advantage over Mas, which would prove unassailable over the final 2 stages. Arriving in Madrid, Evenepoel's margin of victory was 2 minutes and 2 seconds over second place Mas and 4 minutes and 57 seconds over third place Juan Ayuso.
In September, Evenepoel competed in both the Individual Time Trial and Road Race at the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia. He finished 3rd in the time trial, 9 seconds behind winner Tobias Foss. One week later, he won the road race, finishing two minutes and 21 seconds ahead of France's Christophe Laporte. Having made it into a breakaway with 32 km to go, Evenepoel managed to break free from Alexey Lutsenko with 25 km to go and ride solo to the finish for his first World Championship victory at the Elite level.
In May, Evenepoel competed in the Giro d'Italia as one of the main favourites for victory. In the opening day time trial to Ortona, he won the stage to take the race leader's pink jersey, in the process gaining significant time on his general classification rivals. After losing the race lead to Andreas Leknessund during the first week of the race, he reclaimed it following his victory in the stage 9 individual time trial. However, following a positive test for COVID-19 that same evening, Evenepoel was forced to withdraw from the race, handing the race lead to Geraint Thomas.
Following his recovery, Evenepoel competed in the Tour de Suisse. Here, he won stage 7 of the race, attacking on the last part of the stage neutralized for times on the general classification, following Gino Mäder's death due to a crash on a descent two days prior. Evenepoel dedicated his victory to Mäder. He eventually finished the Tour de Suisse in third position overall. After the Tour de Suisse, Evenepoel contested the national championships. In the time trial, he placed only fourth following a crash on a wet course. On 25 June, he won the road race championship for the first time in his career, outsprinting Alec Segaert () at the finish line. Later that summer, he took his third victory at the Clásica de San Sebastián, coming out ahead in a two-man sprint against Pello Bilbao.
On 11 August he won the time trial at the 2023 UCI Road World Championships in Scotland, becoming the second cyclist (after Abraham Olano) to win both the road race and the time trial at the World Championships.
In Paris-Nice, held from March 3 to 10, Evenepoel won the points and mountains classifications, while finishing second overall. He won the final stage 8, but despite repeated attacks, wasn't able to distance himself from Matteo Jorgenson, the general classification winner.
During the Tour of the Basque Country, from April 1 to 6, Evenepoel abandoned the race due to injury following a serious crash on stage 4. The incident occurred during a high-speed descent and led to the neutralization of the race, affecting several other favorites, including Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič. Despite the severity of the crash, Evenepoel managed to walk to medical assistance on his own. He sustained a broken collarbone and scapula, requiring surgery, which was successfully completed on April 6.
Evenepoel made his race debut at the 2024 Tour de France, held from June 29 - July 21. He was initially viewed as one of the three favorites to win the overall classification, alongside Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar. Evenepoel won one stage, the individual time trial on stage 7, where he bested Pogacar and Vingegaard by 12 and 37 seconds respectively. He finished the Tour third overall, 3 minutes behind Vingegaard, 9 minutes behind Pogacar, and secured the best young rider's white jersey.
On July 27, just 6 days after the conclusion of the Tour de France, Evenepoel won gold in the Olympic Time Trial at the 2024 Paris Olympics, finishing 15 seconds ahead of Filippo Ganna. A week later on August 3 he also won Olympic gold in the road race despite suffering a tire puncture near the end of the race, becoming the first man to win gold medals in both road cycling events at the same Olympics. The 273 kilometer course through the streets of Paris was the longest Olympic road race to date.
On September 22, almost 2 months after the conclusion of the Olympics, Evenepoel won the time trial at the World Championships in Zürich, finishing 6 seconds ahead of Ganna. His chain dropped before the start and he rode without a power meter. Evenepoel finished fifth in the road race. Evenepoel finished his 2024 season with a second-place finish at Il Lombardia.
On 3 December, Evenpoel collided with an open door of a postal vehicle, during a training ride in Belgium. He suffered fractures to his ribs, shoulder blade and hand, as well as a dislocated collarbone and contusions to both lungs as a result of this. He underwent a successful operation the following day.
In his first race back from injury, Evenepoel won the Brabantse Pijl in a two-up sprint against Wout van Aert. Evenepoel finished third in the Amstel Gold Race, despite a crash midway through, and came ninth in La Flèche Wallonne. Despite being listed by analysts as a pre-race favorite, Evenepoel finished a disappointing 59th at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, saying after the race "I can't expect miracles" and that it would take time to return to his best form.
At the Tour de Romandie, Evenepoel struggled in the high mountains but won the final stage 5 time trial by 11 seconds over João Almeida, finishing in fifth place overall. Evenepoel finished fourth overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné, again winning the lone time trial on stage 4. Next, he rode the Belgian championships, winning his second time trial by over a minute, before finishing runner-up to Tim Wellens in the road race.
In July, Evenepoel started at the Tour de France. He won the stage 5 time trial, moving into second overall behind Tadej Pogačar, but struggled as the race moved into the mountains. After a 12th place finish on the stage 13 uphill time trial, which Evenepoel called "a really bad performance," he abandoned the next day. At the time, he was third overall and leading the young rider classification. After leaving the race, Evenepoel revealed he rode the Tour with a broken rib and sinusitis, a result of his crash at the Belgian championships. He called his abandonment "the hardest decision I’ve made in a long time"
In August, following months of speculation, Evenepoel announced he was signing a contract with starting from the 2026 season. Evenepoel's existing team agreed to release him from contract a year early, reportedly in exchange for $5 million compensation.
At the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Evenepoel won the elite time trial in a "dominant" performance, passing his rival Pogačarwho started two minutes beforeon the final climb. It was Evenepoel's third consecutive world title, joining Michael Rogers and Tony Martin as the only male cyclists to do so.
Following Evenepoel's December 2024 injury, he stated on social media that he drew strength from his wife's Islamic faith, saying "it’s something that helps me go through life and it’s something very, very beautiful."
Evenepoel is fluent in Dutch, French, and English.
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