I bolded some parts for better readability:
“The body works as a coordinated system, with all parts connected diagonally through fascial chains. If your legs, like Evenepoel’s, are less powerful or efficient, the cause sometimes lies higher up.”
In the Olympic champion’s case, it concerns two inactive parts of the deltoid muscle in his right shoulder. “As his team doctor already said: the deltoid is controlled via the axillary nerve. If that nerve doesn’t function properly, the muscle remains anatomically intact, but it receives too few stimuli. In effect, it’s asleep.” According to Deckx, this can lead to arthrogenic muscle inhibition: when one joint is impaired (in Evenepoel’s case: his shoulder), other muscles become disrupted due to the negative effect on the entire nerve and fascial chain.
From Shoulder to Hamstrings
Stefan Deckx explains that the force a rider applies with their arm doesn’t stop in the upper body. “When you pull on your handlebars with your right arm, that force travels through your torso to your left pelvis. That also affects the power and energy delivery of your left quadriceps and hamstrings.”
If that diagonal chain falls out of balance, subtle deviations begin to appear after a few weeks or months. “It’s like the lights on a Christmas tree: if one bulb goes out, the others don’t get any current either.”
“For Remco, that could mean his left leg—diagonally opposite his weaker right shoulder—produces slightly less output. Not a huge difference, but enough to matter during repeated efforts.”
That could explain the reduced explosiveness he showed on the hilly finishes of this Tour. “As long as the tempo stays steady, it’s still manageable. But when he has to respond with maximum explosiveness, the instability becomes apparent,” says Deckx.
Not Less Power, but Less Efficiency
Explosiveness requires precise coordination and timing between muscles and nerves. One weak link can already disrupt that balance. “That doesn’t mean you can’t produce the same power, but your body has to compensate—perhaps with a tilted pelvis—so the power doesn’t get transferred to the pedals as effectively,” says Stefan Deckx.
According to him, this also carries a second risk: “An increasing asymmetry, where one leg structurally produces less power. At first, you barely notice. But by the second week of a Grand Tour, you feel it: stiffer muscles, less suppleness, and slower responses during peak efforts.”
That Evenepoel still won the time trials in the Dauphiné and the Tour fits exactly into this biomechanical picture, according to Deckx. “Time trials are stable, symmetrical, and controlled. You rest your arms on the time trial handlebars, your torso barely moves, and the rear deltoid bundles are hardly engaged.” That Evenepoel sustained 390 to 400 watts for nearly 37 minutes in the Tour time trial on day five shows that his fitness is more than fine. “The problem likely isn’t what Remco can do, but how his body produces that power,” says Deckx.
Evenepoel Recovers Less Well
Why then couldn’t Evenepoel hold on during longer climbs, even though he could ride at a steady, high pace—just like in a time trial? According to Deckx, his shoulder also plays a role there.
“If it doesn’t form a stable anchor, other muscles—in the neck, torso, and hip region—have to compensate. That creates chronic tension throughout the body. It accumulates and disrupts recovery, even at night.”
Even his breathing is affected. “The back of the shoulder and the diaphragm—your main breathing muscle—are innervated through the same region in the back. If the tension in the shoulder girdle increases, your chest moves less smoothly.”
“Then the diaphragm can’t contract and relax as effectively, and your breathing becomes more shallow. Not dramatically so, but enough to eventually undermine endurance, recovery, and sleep quality.”
That could also explain why Evenepoel spoke of a high Training Stress Score of almost 1800 after just the eight-day Dauphiné. And why, after two intense weeks of Tour racing, he recovered less and less.
What Can Evenepoel Do About It?
The possible solution to this issue? According to Stefan Deckx, strength training won’t help. “You need to restore the deltoid’s neural activation. That can be done through electrical stimulation, to reactivate the nerve pathways to the shoulder region. At the same time, you need to rebalance the chain system between the shoulder and hip regions.”
Deckx emphasizes that this is not a definitive diagnosis and likely not the only explanation for Evenepoel’s underperformance.
“It’s a scientifically grounded hypothesis, based on the medical information he and his team have shared. Nerve issues are often viewed in isolation—in Remco’s case, in the shoulder. But their effect on the whole body, explosiveness, and recovery is rarely acknowledged, let alone treated.”