Are Remco Evenepoel’s accidents too common for him to compete with Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard?

Remco Evenepoel’s 2024 season was important in many ways. The young Belgian had a rough spring because he was hurt in a crash in the Itzulia Basque Country. But he came back stronger than ever and had the best year of his career so far. Not only did Evenepoel finish third in his first Tour de France, he also won a stage and won the coveted young riders’ classification. After that, he made history at the Olympics in Paris by becoming the first man to win gold in both the time trial and the road race. This season put many doubters to rest and proved that he is Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard’s main rival.

The year didn’t end on the same high note, though. In late November, Evenepoel crashed during what should have been a normal training ride. He may have broken his collarbone, and his bike was badly damaged. This accident not only cut short his time to heal and get ready for 2025, but it also raised new questions about his ability to avoid problems that could ruin his career.

Primoz Roglic has been called the “crash-prone” star of cycling, but Evenepoel has also had his fair share of accidents. The question is whether these events are just bad luck or a sign of a bigger problem. More importantly, could the fact that he seems to be prone to accidents stop him from regularly competing with Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard for the title in the coming years?

Other important events in Evenepoel’s work so far

Evenepoel’s obvious skill and meteoric rise have been overshadowed by a series of high-profile crashes, or at least have slowed them down. The scariest of these happened at Il Lombardia in 2020, when he missed a turn while going down and fell over a guardrail and into a gorge. Luckily, he only broke his hip in the crash and had to spend months recovering. He was lucky not to have been hurt more seriously.

The next year, at the 2021 Giro d’Italia, Evenepoel had another bad luck on his first Grand Tour. He crashed on Stage 17 during a technical downhill and hurt himself so badly that he had to drop out of the race. The accident made people wonder about his handling skills, especially in rough conditions.

Over and over again, Evenepoel has been in accidents. The most recent one happened earlier this year in the Itzulia Basque Country. He hurt himself badly in a high-speed crash that stopped his spring campaign. Even though he came back very well later in the season, these repeated events show a worrying pattern. But, of course, getting hurt while riding is just part of the fun, and sometimes it’s not even a matter of if you crash, but when. Is there anything else Evenepoel could do?

How do peers of Evenepoel stack up?

Evenepoel isn’t the only top rider who has had bad luck with crashes, but how does he stack up against his biggest rivals?

In 2023, Tadej Pogacar had a similar problem when he broke his wrist in a crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The accident made it very hard for him to train for the Tour de France, and Jonas Vingegaard easily beat him that summer, despite all of his best efforts. Pogacar himself said he wasn’t playing his best, and he still had problems with his wrists during the off-season.

In 2024, Jonas Vingegaard had his own problems. He broke several ribs and collapsed a lung in an accident at the Itzulia Basque Country. He couldn’t race for a few weeks and his Tour de France effort was in danger. Even though he came in second place at the Tour, it was clear that he wasn’t good enough to compete with Pogacar’s comeback.

Evenepoel’s competitors have also had crashes, but the ones they’ve had are less common and happen at different times. Pogacar and Vingegaard’s crashes have been hurdles from time to time, but Evenepoel’s career has been full of things that may not have been his fault but could still keep him from catching up to the top two.

What’s wrong with Remco?

There are a number of reasons why Evenepoel seems to be more likely to crash.

First, it’s important to note that Evenepoel didn’t start cycling until he was 17. He had been a promising football player until he hurt his pelvis badly when he was 15 years old, ending his professional goals. This late start means he hasn’t had as much time to build the natural positioning and handling skills that most cyclists have when they started in their early teens.

Positioning of Evenepoel in the pack has also been a problem over and over again. When Pogacar launched his race-winning attack at the 2024 World Championships in Zurich, Evenepoel was not in the best situation to respond. In the same way, he had to spend a lot of energy making up ground on Stage 2 of the Tour de France up the San Luca hill because he wasn’t in the best position.

To avoid crashes, you need to have a lot of experience in the pack. To get through a tight group of riders at high speeds, you need both skill and a deep understanding of how the pack moves. Yes, crashes are going to happen, but Evenepoel may be more at risk in chaotic situations where quick choices can mean the difference between staying upright and hitting the pavement because he is less experienced than his competitors.

Is Evenepoel’s season in 2025 in danger?

It couldn’t have been worse that Evenepoel crashed again. During the off-season, professional cyclists need to rest, heal, and get in shape for the tough races that come during the season. The boss of the Soudal–Quick-Step team, Patrick Lefevere, says that Evenepoel could be off the bike for up to eight weeks, which would make it harder for him to get ready for 2025. There should have been a break for Evenepoel after his great 2024.

This time of not doing anything could have long-term effects. Cycling is a sport that honors consistency. If riders miss important training blocks during the off-season, they may have to play catch-up all year. Evenepoel’s main goal for 2025 is likely to be to win both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. The extra time he needs to prepare could make it harder for him to reach his peak at the right time.

Getting hurt also hurts your mind. Evenepoel’s mental strength was amazing and much better in 2024, but the repeated crashes may make him less sure of himself and less able to make good decisions. But the Belgian still has time to change his plans so that he can get back to the level he was at in the Olympics, which is the level he needs to be at to compete with Pogacar and Vingegaard.

Everyone can see how talented Remco Evenepoel is, and his 2024 season showed that he can play with the best. His career, on the other hand, has been marked by a series of accidents and incidents that make it hard to believe that he can regularly compete with drivers like Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.

Accidents happen in cycling, which isn’t Evenepoel’s fault. However, he may be more likely to crash than his competitors because he started riding later than his competitors, has trouble with positioning, and is still “inexperienced” in the peloton. Evenepoel is working hard to become a constant force at the top of his sport, but his latest injury could make it harder for him to get ready for 2025. He needs to find a way to limit these injuries.

In the end, how well he handles these problems will decide whether he becomes one of cycling’s greats or stays the third-best rider of his generation, unable to catch the top two. We really hope that Evenepoel makes it a three-way race for yellow in 2025. Only time will tell.