"Have to learn to deal with it": Ullrich recommends cycling superstar Evenepoel "mental help"

It's a bitter moment: On the 14th stage of the Tour de France, Remco Evenepoel is forced to dismount, and the Belgian superstar drops out of the race. The moment is captured by a cameraman, which the Belgian rider doesn't handle well. Jan Ullrich doesn't like it.

Remco Evenepoel is one of cycling's biggest stars; last summer, the Belgian won two Olympic gold medals. But at the Tour de France, Evenepoel experienced a dark moment: On the 14th stage, while in third place overall, he was forced to drop out. The disappointing moment was captured on camera and broadcast worldwide – and it pissed Evenepoel off, so he shooed the cameraman away with vigorous hand gestures.

A reaction that Jan Ullrich doesn't like at all: "He's a superstar and he's trailing behind, so of course the cameras are on him. He has to rise above it," Ullrich said in his podcast "Ulle & Rick." "He has to learn to deal with the fact that he's being observed and documented, even when things aren't going so well," added the 1997 Tour winner, presenting a suggested solution: "Remco needs to get some mental help." Evenepoel had already attracted attention in a similar way at the spring classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège: "He stopped because there was a camera on him when he was dropped," Ullrich recalls.

Evenepoel had a strong start to the Tour, dismantling the giants Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard in the first time trial and claiming the stage victory. Even after the seventh stage, when Pogacar had moved into the yellow jersey, Evenepoel sent a challenge-filled message to the all-powerful Slovenian: "The Tour de France is not over yet!" But shortly thereafter, the 25-year-old Belgian showed signs of weakness, losing a lot of time to the German rising star Florian Lipowitz in the mountain time trial to Peyragudes.

Evenepoel's withdrawal itself came as no surprise to the German cycling legend: "The foundation isn't enough, he's missing thousands of kilometers. The foundation wasn't big enough, and then his form suddenly collapsed." Evenepoel broke several ribs and a shoulder blade and suffered a contused lung in a serious training accident in December 2024 – the cycling star collided with a postal vehicle. The previous year, Evenepoel finished third behind Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard in his Tour debut; until his withdrawal this year, he rode in the white jersey of the best young rider.