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to be fair to QS and Remco: last season the three targets before the season was Liege, Giro and WC ITT. Vuelta was a late add-on after he DNF’ed Giro. So it’s fair to say that the WCITT was the main goal and Vuelta a secondary target of the autumn season.
Right, but in terms of confidence building, once the Giro went up in smoke, I'd have either done WCITT as planned and skipped the Vuelta or ditch it to go to the Vuelta best prepared. That seems to be smarter than making both attempts to win.
Ah no my heart is ok actually........ thank God.
If we indeed learn from our mistakes, then Soudal would at least learn a little bit about something. Let's have faith. Go Remco Go!
You seem discouraged. Soudal, for the team it was, should have signed a WVA or a MVDP, but chose Evenepoel, a gamble they may come to regret. You see, Don Pat's squadra knows how to win classics and monuments, but GTs have been mostly unchartered territory, yet for other teams are bread and butter. So Soudal must reinvent itself. But have they been able to do it?
Then also get the proper directors. It's not only about the riders, you also need the right staff for a GT team.
They already won a GT in 2022.
Ah, but they have not done that, too much too soon? Who knows, perhaps Evenepoel shall be the catalyst for the next Belgian phenomenon to win the Tour, but history, with all those beautiful classics, is not working in favor.
The Vuelta 2022 though came with a big GT fart in the 2023 Spanish edition. And Landa used to be a GT contender, but has now assumed the domestique-delux role. He's good, but has always been when not having to be the leader (which evidently weighs upon him). Let's see where Remco is at ITZULIA.
If he is omniscient, he would know how to ride a bike. But as a non-physical being, he would not be able to ride a bike.
Soudal squad is not that vast in quality, they can't make 3 good teams like Visma or Emirates, for each GT, but they have enough quality to go with a very good team to help Remco in the Tour.
That's a rather optimistic outlook, no? Cattaneo is hit or miss, Van Wilder too, Landa is an old fox, Vansevenant a lucky charm at best. However, if the cards fall into place and the team strategists don't plan things wrong, then maybe. There are too many variables to predict much, but have doubts yes.
Yes. It is probably the most fitting of all classics for him. He has been dominant on such profiles since he was a junior. But he has to break guys like Pogacar and Van der Poel on the flats in order to be able to drop them, because if he only tries on the hills, he won't win, as they are also faster at the finish.
Other than Pogacar having a better sprint, Amstel is far more Evenepoel territory than it is Pogacar. He'll have to lose the Slovenian, which is in the latter's advantage. But the race itself is more tailored to Evenepoel's skillset.
I thought Eddy was the lord almighty!
I think the previous thread titles were to mock those who still do not understand that the original title was chosen tongue in cheek based on his results as a junior (which were indeed better than Merckx at that age), those who are still triggered to point out he is not the new Merckx while it is abundantly clear there will never be another rider to match Merckx his palmares.
I see. That sounds about right. It was too over the top for me.
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