Remco Evenepoel says he genuinely contemplated early retirement during his recovery from an array of extensive injuries after being doored by the driver of a Belgian postal vehicle last December.
Evenepoel was just beginning his winter training ahead of the 2025 season when the incident occurred. He was left with multiple fractures, including a broken shoulder, hand and ribs, and suffered a serious nerve injury in his shoulder.
In an emotional and revealing Instagram post on Monday, Evenepoel shone a light on what he described as a "dark period" during the recovery process and confirmed that he would return to racing at Brabantse Pijl in Belgium on Friday. He thanked his wife, Oumi, for being by his side throughout the last few months and hinted that he had contemplated stopping his career.
Speaking in a press conference ahead of his season debut, Evenepoel was asked whether the suggestion that he could have retired was genuine.
"Of course," he said. "The injuries were quite severe with my shoulder where all the muscles and all the ligaments were destroyed. The surgery was a heavy one as well, and then you had the extra nerve problem, which completely stopped my shoulder from functioning, that was pretty hard to accept. It was just a difficult period. It's the second time with the shoulder in six months. So at a certain point you start to doubt if the shoulder will be functional again.
"The things I've written were not light in the post. I actually think it's one of the first posts that I wrote myself in the last few years, that's how personal it was. I think it's not bad to sometimes share how difficult a period really has been for you, and not always to put a mask on, but just show it to people how difficult it has been."
"But it doesn't mean that I'm not happy now," he added. "I'm really happy to race again, to train. I think my whole family, my wife, my friends, have seen me changing over the weeks since the crash. First it was going downwards, and then since I could train again, it was going upwards. So now it's hopefully only up and positive feelings."
It was the second severe right shoulder injury that he’d sustained in a year after fracturing his collarbone on the same side at Itzulia Basque Country.
"After a few weeks with the injury, we discovered a nerve injury," Evenepoel explained. "This one has not healed yet. There's a part of the shoulder muscle that is not working at all for the moment. But luckily, that muscle is not the most important one for cycling. If I were a tennis player, or a volleyball player, then my career would have been over. So luckily, I'm a cyclist.
"My hand is 100% again, the ribs, the scapula, the lungs as well. The ligaments and the muscle are still a bit sensitive, let's say, and we need to use a lot of tape tomorrow in the race to stabilise the shoulder, especially with the cobbled sections that we are having. It's not optimal, but of course, my legs are turning, that's the most important thing."
While on the sidelines and training in recent weeks, Evenepoel said he watched most of the major Spring Classics and explained that the performances of Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel in Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix gave him extra motivation to get back to his best.
Before facing Pogačar at the Amstel Gold on Sunday, Evenepoel has the small matter of coming up against an in-form Tom Pidcock at Brabantse Pijl, a race the Brit has won before. The Belgian said that while his own form is obviously unknown, he felt ready to make a return to the top level.
"Now, I think I'm ready to race. I've tried to train long, lots of long endurance rides, and then the last few weeks some intensity training. For sure, I'm behind my top shape, but I'm still in a good shape, like I always try to start in. But will it be enough to be guys like Pidcock and Pogačar, who are in the shape of their lives, this I don't know. We will see after Sunday."
