Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar favourites but Remco Evenepoel 'can win' Tour de France, says Christian Prudhomme

Published 01/12/2023 at 11:43 GMT

Will Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) challenge Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the 2024 Tour de France? Evenepoel is set to make his debut at the Grand Tour and race director Christian Prudhomme is excited by the "X-factor" he will bring. Prudhomme was impressed with the way Evenepoel bounced back at the 2023 Vuelta a Espana.

Evenepoel completes hat-trick of wins in Vuelta with solo victory on Stage 18, Kuss retains red

Remco Evenepoel could “turn things upside down” on his debut at the Tour de France in 2024, believes race director Christian Prudhomme.

The Soudal Quick-Step rider looks set to appear at the Grand Tour for the first time next season.

If he does he will be stepping into the domain of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who have both won the Tour twice over the last four years.

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But Prudhomme expects Evenepoel to "leave his mark" when he goes up against the vaunted duo, who have sparred so memorably at the Tour over the past three editions.

"Obviously Vingegaard and Pogačar will be the big favourites,” said Prudhomme, according to Sporza.

“But Evenepoel does have that X-factor, that unexpected and brilliant thing. He can suddenly turn things upside down.

"He can win. But what is certain is that he will leave his mark on the race and, therefore, also on the overall victory.”

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Evenepoel won the Vuelta a Espana in 2022 along with the road race at the World Championships.

He withdrew from this year’s Giro d’Italia due to Covid-19 when leading the race, and then was in the mix at the Vuelta before an off day saw him slip back in the standings.

Prudhomme was impressed with how Evenepoel responded at the Vuelta after having a day when his "tank was empty".

“It struck me how he was able to bounce back after a setback,” he said.

“I thought he would give up, but we saw the opposite. He made a spectacle of it with his attacks."

The 2024 Tour de France will finish outside of Paris for the first time due to the staging of the Olympic Games.

The climactic Stage 21 will be a 34km individual time trial from Monaco to Nice on the south coast.

Evenepoel completes hat-trick of wins in Vuelta with solo victory on Stage 18, Kuss retains red

The hotly-anticipated Grand Depart takes place in Florence, Italy, where the team presentation takes place, along with the start of Stage 1 on June 29.

The route for the first three stages of the 2025 Tour de France has also been announced, with the race set to begin in Lille.

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