With six wins in a Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe jersey already this season, Evenepoel will now face fierce competition from UAE teammates Del Toro and Yates at their ‘home race’.
Cor Vos
Remco Evenepoel has been the rider of the 2026 season so far. This is, of course, an overly-simplistic assessment given where the season has got to and the numerous riders yet to make their debut. However, it’s meaningful for the young – though not-so-young anymore – Belgian who has chalked up five individual wins and one team TT triumph in his first eight appearances for Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe, which as a team can boast its most successful first month in its history.
For Evenepoel, his overall win at the 2.Pro Volta Comunitat Valenciana is most significant thus far in 2026, confirming his continued dominance in the TT discipline on stage 2 – albeit on a road bike and with GC neutralised due to wind conditions – but also pitting him against some sturdy competition in João Almeida who is preparing to lead UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the Giro d’Italia.
Alas, the hoped-for showdown never really materialised; Evenepoel shot off the front on the wall-like Cumbre del Sol in the last 15 km of stage 4 after a strong lead-out from his team, and that was that. Almeida had Brandon McNulty at his disposal, but the punchy nature of the terrain put the onus on each individual, and with Evenepoel’s teammate Giulio Pellizzari and a weary or work-shy Antonio Tiberi for company, Almeida was not able to challenge the Belgian who was in time trial mode half a minute ahead.
Next up for Evenepoel, and for all onlookers hoping to see the first bonafide battle of the 2026 season, is the UAE Tour from Monday (16 February), just the second WorldTour stage race of the calendar and, while it still falls short of the multi-mountain challenges of similar-level European events, it’s the first with anything resembling the long hard climbs where serious GC difference can be made.
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