Can Remco Evenepoel topple Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Egan Bernal at Tour de France?

As Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) closes on a historic Vuelta triumph, attention is already turning to the 2023 Tour de France.

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) clinched the title in France in July after dethroning Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in a thriller.

With Evenepoel carving up the Vuelta, and 2019 champion Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) also on the comeback trail from a career-threatening crash in his native Colombia, next year’s Tour has all the ingredients to surpass the 2022 edition.

Even if the quartet do not all feature in 2023, they are all young enough to star at the sport’s biggest race for years to come. Vingegaard and Bernal are 25, Pogacar is 23 and Evenepoel is 22.

Blythe said that it was difficult to give a firm opinion on how Evenepoel will do at the Tour, should he ride next year, because of how different it is to the Vuelta.

“I think the nice thing is the likes of Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic – they rarely race each other up until the Tour de France. But there is now such a big mix of GC riders it’s going to be so hard to avoid each other,” he said.

“From the start of the season up until the Tour de France, they are going to mix, and that’s when we’re going to get a gauge – not a proper gauge – but a good enough gauge to know how good Remco is in that situation.”

While Evenepoel has proved his doubters wrong, Blythe still thinks he has room to improve if he wants to be competitive on the sport’s biggest stage.

“I would say he’d be right up there, but there’s that little bit of a level between him and Pogacar and Vingegaard,” he added.

“They’re definitely more pure climbers than Remco is, but if he keeps progressing the way that he is, he’s going to be right on their heels, if not standing on their feet.”

Lloyd can’t wait for Evenepoel v Pogacar v Vingegaard v Bernal

Earlier in the week, Eurosport expert Dan Lloyd could also not resist hyping a potentially sensational four-way battle for the yellow jersey next year.

“I think his manager [Patrick] Lefevere has already said quite a few months ago that this year is about the Vuelta, focusing on that and seeing where he gets,” said Lloyd after Stage 18.

“And then next year the focus might be all on the Tour de France and I think we’d all love to see that.

“We’d love to see Remco Evenepoel up against Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, and hopefully a healthy Egan Bernal.”

“All these riders that are so young still to this day, up against each other battling it out for the Tour de France.”

Pogacar won the Tour in 2020 and 2021 before being dislodged by Vingegaard.

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