‘We followed our pacing and we never panicked’ – Remco Evenepoel hits ground running for new squad Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe with Mallorca team time trial victory

However, even if UCI rules meant he was allowed to wear his individual time trial champion’s rainbow jersey in a team time trial for the first time ever in Thursday’s 24-kilometre race, the 60 kph dash for victory remained a collective effort.

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It’s true too, that Evenepoel was the most widely sought-after rider for interviews at the Colonia San Jordí finish line, of the seven that took part for Red Bull.

But a victory like this on day one of his racing for the squad, one of the few where the entire team got to clamber onto the winner’s podium, not just a lone individual, nonetheless represented a major boost to team morale across the board. (Not only that it also simultaneously silenced any mutterings about the wisdome of Evenepoel’s move away from top Belgian squad Soudal-QuickStep in 2025: at least, for now.)

It was a collective effort, too, which netted the team the win, as a slight deficit on surprising race leaders Movistar mid-stage on the rolling south Mallorca course was then converted by all four remaining Red Bull riders into a four-second advantage.

A narrow margin, perhaps, but with average speeds of up to 59.5 kph for the winner, such a fast, not technical, course did not permit huge gaps. And as Evenepoel said about the one moment when things looked a little wobbly late on for the team, as they dropped down to the minimum number possible of finishers after a climb, “we never panicked” – something also always crucial in a TTT, where minor setbacks can rapidly morph into major disasters if unwanted incidents are not handled calmly.

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It’s true that by July 4 and the crunch test of TTT ability of 2026 on day one of the Tour de France, the Mallorca race would be all but forgotten. In addition, the format, too, was radically different, with the first rider, not the fourth rider – as at Mallorca – being timed across the line.