Evenepoel Confirmed for Shock Tour of Flanders Debut

Remco Evenepoel will line up alongside Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel on Sunday for a surprise debut at the Tour of Flanders.

And no, that’s not an April Fools.

Tour of Flanders officials confirmed the news on Wednesday via social media in a post subsequently shared by Evenepoel and his Red Bull team.

The news ends a wave of recent “will-he won’t-he” debate among Belgian media.

Multiple outlets reported this week that the 26-year-old would add the race to his program ahead of a blitz on the Ardennes classics later in the month.

Nonetheless, team Red Bull repeatedly pushed back against the speculation.

Team management held the line that their Belgian megastar would follow a familiar route through his first season with the team. The Ardennes, Tour de France, and Montréal worlds were his three pillars for 2026.

Evenepoel has not raced a marquee cobblestone classic.

Nobody will be expecting him to hang with Pogačar and Van der Poel in their monument clash this weekend.

However, many believe Evenepoel’s climbing punch and one-day prowess make him a future winner of the Ronde van Vlaanderen.

Evenepoel added to the hype about his Flanders potential this winter when he was spotted riding the race’s kingmaker Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg climbs.

Could Evenepoel stun the world and win the Tour of Flanders on debut?

He’d be the first Belgian winner since Philippe Gilbert in 2017 if he did. Flanders would be drunk for weeks.