The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (formerly the Critérium du Dauphiné) is always a hotbed of new tech. Fresh bikes get released into the wild for field testing before the Tour de France.
This year, this included the new Specialized Tarmac SL9, seen at the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe camp. While the bike was interesting in its own right, closer inspection of the images reveals a sticker under the downtube bearing the name 'Remco Evenepoel', appearing to suggest the Belgian could make a surprise return to racing earlier than planned ahead of the Tour de France.
Another clue is that the chain on the bike is gold, which Evenepoel nearly always uses as the Olympic champion. However, the Belgian was also still training in Calpe on Thursday and Friday, according to his Strava, so any arrival in the south of France would be a late one.
Red Bull released a seven-rider roster in a press release about Maxim Van Gils' return to racing on Friday, but have been very quiet on their social media. Alongside Van Gils should be Dani Martinez, Luke Tuckwell, Haimar Etxeberria, Gianni Vermeersch, Callum Thornley and Finn Fisher-Black, but not Evenepoel.
At the start of May, it was reported that Enevepoel had axed the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from his calendar, opting not to race at all for a full 69 days in the build-up to the Tour de France to focus on 'specific training'.
If Evenepoel is to appear at the race it'll certainly be earlier than planned, and while there may be a desire to get some racing in the legs it is also worth remembering that the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is the last race before the Tour to feature a team time trial, perhaps offering the Belgian specialist an irresistible final chance to tune this discipline up with a race number on before the opening stage in Barcelona and a prime opportunity to wear the yellow jersey.
Should Evenepoel line up at the start on Sunday, it will certainly give pre-race favourite Paul Seixas cause for concern, and will certainly mean he doesn't have the race all his own way. There is every possibility that if this is a surprise pre-Tour shakedown, Evenepoel will be flanked by a strong squad with a lot of firepower.
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