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Remco Evenepoel will pin on a number Friday at Brabantse Pijl for the first time in 2025, but it might not have been.
In an emotional message posted on social media, the two-time Olympic champion revealed just how harrowing the physical and mental toll was on him after being “doored” in December.
After a winter of soirées and celebratory dinners, Evenepoel said he was suffering behind all the smiles.
Injuries and mental stress pushed the popular Belgian cycling superstar to the edge, and he hinted that he considered quitting cycling.
“Mentally and physically, I can honestly say that I have been under the ground and really doubted a lot of my future,” he wrote in social media. “Loads of tears and frustration were present in our life.”
Evenepoel, known for his swagger and showman mentality, admitted he hit rock bottom.
He wrote that if not for support from his inner circle, he may have hung up his wheels for good.
“I just want to tell, that without you, I would probably have stopped my career. That is from where you helped me crawling back up,” he wrote, signaling his wife, Oumi.
Evenepoel said only unfaltering support from family and friends helped him push through the setback.
A renewed Evenepoel will be clicking into the pedals for the first time in six months.
Which version will show up?
‘Hardest battle of my life’
With the likes of Mathieu van der Poel headed to the beach after winning Paris-Roubaix, Evenepoel is finally dipping his toes back into racing after a harrowing comeback.
Rather than risk rushing his return from a potentially complicated shoulder injury, Soudal Quick-Step kept its star on a slow track.
Now he’s unleashed just in time for a rematch with Tadej Pogačar across the Ardennes later this month.
“Finally my comeback week has arrived,” Evenepoel said. “After days, weeks, months of waiting and waiting, I can finally look towards my first races.”
Look who’s back
After being out since sustaining multiple fractures in a training crash in December, Remco Evenepoel has been named in Soudal Quick-Step’s team for De Brabantse Pijl on Friday, April 18.
Sam Baguet pic.twitter.com/6uShCu2nPq
— Velon CC (@VelonCC) April 15, 2025
The double Olympic champion has made a habit of bouncing back from adversity, but this time was different.
In 2020, he suffered a potentially career-ending crash into a ravine at Il Lombardia that left him with a fractured hip, only to roar back even stronger. Back then, he was only 20.
Not that he’s over the hill — far from it — but even at age 25 the body reacts differently as an athlete ages. The December spill left him with fractures to his ribs, right shoulder blade and hand, official said.
With the mental toll as well, Evenepoel’s moving comments suggest things were much worse than initially reported.
“The way to where I am now has been very hard and challenging,” Evenepoel said. “Definitely the hardest battle of my life so far.”
‘Counting the days’
Quick-Step sport director Tom Steels told Velo in January that the team wasn’t taking any risks, and that Evenepoel’s comeback “started at zero.”
He recently joined his teammates in Sierra Nevada, and he’s hoping to hit the ground flying Friday at the one-day semi-classic in Belgium that transitions from the cobblestone classics into the hillier courses looming in eastern Belgium and southern Holland.
Dear peloton, ready to be calling again soon. pic.twitter.com/xeGuxti4RI
— Remco Evenepoel (@EvenepoelRemco) February 26, 2025
He’s coming in cold while everyone else is at the boiling point.
“I am counting the days until I can race with the guys again for the first time in more than six months. It’s been a long time since my previous outing with the team, but I am happy to be so close to my return,” Evenepoel said Tuesday.
Brabantse Pijl is just the warm-up act.
Evenepoel will also race Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he’ll face off against a razor-sharp Pogačar.
‘I’ve worked hard’
Looking to make up for lost time, he’s added Tour de Romandie to his schedule and will hit the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, with altitude camps laced in.
All roads lead to the Tour de France, where he’ll make his second tilt at the yellow jersey and improve on third in 2024.
“I’ve worked hard all these months, I’ve been on a solid training camp in Spain, and I feel good and motivated for Brabantse,” he said.
“I’m not going there with any specific goals, as the most important thing will be to get the race rhythm back after all this time.”
He’s tamping down expectations, but don’t be surprised if one of the members of the “Big 4” club in elite men’s cycling to make an immediate impact.
