Remco Evenepoel Coach Details How Tour de France Runner up Can Improve Further

Remco Evenepoel had a career-best performance at this year’s Tour de France, taking two stages and finishing second overall in Paris. It’s a step up from his 2024 debut and vastly better than last year’s disappointment, where he took one time trial but was a non-finisher.

The Belgian rider exited the race feeling good and also fired up to do more; he won the Clásica San Sebastian for a record fourth time and has big ambitions for the remainder of the season.

But, looking longer term, his new coach Tim Heemskerk believes the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider can make further strides.

The reason for his confidence? Partly because their collaboration didn’t get off to a good start at all, cutting into the time Evenepoel had to prepare for the Tour.

The duo had just started working together, and Evenepoel had traveled to Sierra Nevada to do altitude training in advance of the Tour.

He was due to do a tough training session, but ended up ringing Heemskerk in a frustrated state.

“I was startled. A rider calling you in the middle of a training session usually isn’t to say that everything is going fantastically,” Heemskerk told Het Nieuwsblad in a long interview.

“Remco said he couldn’t finish the intervals. Not even the first set …”

Heemskerk had worked previous with Jonas Vingegaard, winner of the 2022 and 2023 Tours, and runner-up to Tadej Pogačar in 2021, 2024 and 2025.

The training session he had prescribed for Evenepoel was very similar to that he would previously do with the Danish rider.

But, with problems immediately cropping up, he had to drastically modify those plans.

‘What we saw wasn’t what you would expect’

Heemskerk explained to Het Nieuwsblad what was wrong, and how they moved to address it.

“You sometimes see this with explosive riders who are coming back from an injury or a longer rest period: they produce lactate very quickly. Remco had that too,” he explained. “But he had only rested for a few days after his podium finish in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. So what we saw wasn’t what you would expect.”

That required a complete change. The workouts were modified to reduce intensity and to focus more on endurance, riding at a level where lactate would be produced but also broken down. The intensity was gradually ramped up, with the final week at altitude reaching the level that Heemskerk wanted him to do.

“Luckily, he wouldn’t be racing anymore before the Tour. That way, we could push all the intense training,” he said.

And that’s the reason for his optimism that Evenepoel has further room for improvement.

“If he can train fully from that first week of altitude camp, I feel even more is possible,” he said. “That starts in the winter. My motto is always: do what’s necessary, but not as much as possible.”

He believes additional improvement can be gained by better structuring the season and avoiding the spree with which Evenepoel started his season.

“I also saw how Remco was already moving the stones off the street in February,” he said, referring to the power he was putting out. “The only question is: should you do that if your main races are only a few months away?”

Three years to reach the magic?

Heemskerk’s extensive work with Vingegaard enabled him to compare notes and benefit from what he had learned from his time with the double Tour winner. He aimed to bring his new rider to the level of Vingegaard, and believed Evenepoel was in the right place starting the Tour.

There are clear differences between those riders, he notes, with Vingegaard slightly more of a climber and Evenepoel more of a time trialist, and so he adjusted the training accordingly to build up strength in the uphills.

Months later, what is clear is that the collaboration has flourished. That’s reassuring, and vindicates the decision for Heemskerk to begin working earlier than planned.

He had been due to start in August, but Evenepoel himself requested that the partnership began sooner.

“His coach Dan Lorang left for Lidl-Trek and Remco didn’t want a temporary solution until August,” Heemskerk explained. “He wanted me to start right away so we could work together towards the Tour. My experience with Jonas appealed to him.”

Next up is the Grand Prix Québec and Montréal races in mid-September and then the world road championships slightly later in the month.

Can he peak again?

“I definitely believe so,” Heemskerk said. “But I still need to get to know Remco. An experienced coach once told me: ‘The magic only starts after three years.’ I hope that with my own experience and Remco’s, it can happen a bit faster, especially since we’ve already been able to work closely together over the past months, but it always takes time.”

Everything is clearly going in a good direction, though, boosting morale for Evenpeoel and also for the team.

And while Pogačar is still well ahead, Evenepoel is over a year younger and, in theory at least, has time on his side in his bid to win the Tour.