July 19, 2025. Stage 14 of the Tour de France. Suffering from a broken rib and sinus infection, Remco Evenepoel hands his bidon to a child on the roadside and dismounts his bike.Now, 12 months after his withdrawal on the slopes of the Col du Tourmalet, Evenepoel is back at the Tour de France, with a new team — and in a new situation.For the first time since making his Grand Tour debut at the 2021 Giro d’Italia, Evenepoel will not be the undisputed leader of his team — instead sharing duties with Florian Lipowitz, the man who took over and won the white jersey in Paris last year. It is a new reality for a rider who still dreams of winning all three Grand Tours — and, despite Tadej Pogačar’s dominance over the past two years, who still speaks of dethroning the reigning champion.“If Tadej is at a super high level then it’s very difficult to beat him, especially when you’re alone,” Evenepoel tells The Athletic. “So then it’s better to be with two. And we’re two completely different riders, not just our style of racing but also our body type. It can be beneficial.“We raced together in the Volta a Catalunya and that ended pretty well — he was third, I was fifth — and the collaboration was pretty good. We also won the TTT (team time trial) in Mallorca. We know what to do, and we’re happy with how it works. We’ll be fully ready.”Evenepoel’s future was one of the main stories of last year’s race, his Soudal Quick-Step team holding a press conference in Toulouse on the Tour’s first rest day in an attempt to dampen speculation of his impending move. With the deal to join Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe finalized last August, Evenepoel can at last speak freely about his decision.“Red Bull was growing, behind the scenes but also the riders,” he says when asked why he made the switch. “If you look at the riders, it’s a very strong group — during the classics, we’ve been at the front of pretty much every race. We’re second in the UCI team rankings (behind UAE Team Emirates).“I really believe in this project and what they’ve been telling me for the future. New training methods have helped lift me to another level, with new teammates, new staff members… it was the right time to move. I’ve had zero regrets.”Evenepoel and his Red Bull squad will be among the favorites for Saturday’s team time trial in Barcelona. (Eric Lalmand / Belga / AFP via Getty Images)This year, Evenepoel has been replaced by 19-year-old Paul Seixas as the favorite for the race’s final podium spot, behind Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. The Frenchman has had a fantastic debut professional season, winning Fleche-Wallone, the Tour of the Basque Country, and taking second-place finishes at Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.Making his Tour debut, Seixas is under pressure from an expectant French public — and having broken through as a teenager himself, in front of similarly demanding Belgian supporters, Evenepoel is one of the few riders in modern cycling who can truly empathise with what his opponent is experiencing.