Teams & Riders The Remco Evenepoel is the next Eddy Merckx thread

[Oldermanish]

Ofc they planned the olympics. Very much so. The wheels thing from WVA was being planned in the winter. Remco worked hard on his allready phenomal aero. In fact, last year, when the 2024 planning was being made for Remco, and the big TDF or not discussion was going on, people close to him and the team told me several times the olympic gold was what Remco had in mind most of all. Good route for him, close to home, only every 4 years, might not happen again.
Just both of them falling first disrupted the planned scenario's, WVA riding the tour in a desperate attempt to get up to pace again, Remco first racing to get to a 100% and then performing superbly but having to dig deep for 3 weeks....
So both of them (WVA even more) were not ideally where they wanted to be in that last week before the ITT. Remco stated he only started to get his legs back on friday.
Compare that to the route of Ganna and Tarling, they both had almost perfect prep. And ofc they would have planned for rain to, it just ads an x factor, that I think helped the riders coming from the TDF. Just my thought, not a fact.

You have some great points; both had ridden in tight fields and bad weather. That can make you fairly chill when you need to address wet pavement. In all fairness to Ganna; Remco had the splits ahead of him in his ear so he'd have an idea how hard to press. When you know who crashed or went slower in every section ahead of you it is helpful. He looked totally comfortable spinning on the straights, too. Good thing he woke up Friday.

 

[Rob5091]

Congrats to Remco for Gold - I suppose Mrs Remco thinks it makes up for having to be with the plebs at the Tour.

 

[elguapo]

Couple of years after having their Mrs. Contador and Mrs. Nibali, there was noticeable drop in performance to both the Shark and the Pistolero. I hope having Mrs. Evenopoel, Remco's future performance would debunk the trend.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Apparently Mrs and Mrs Remco senior have said Olympics win is the pinnacle of his career.
So that's the definitive answer to the question of does an Olympics win top a worlds win, mum is always right.

 

[peterfin]

Apparently Mrs and Mrs Remco senior have said Olympics win is the pinnacle of his career.
So that's the definitive answer to the question of does an Olympics win top a worlds win, mum is always right.

It's amazing how things changed. We can fairly say that the impact of his win was much bigger than his WC wins in Belgium.

 

[Rob5091]

Does Remco get to wear a golden helmet now at ITT's?

 

[Andre]

Does Remco get to wear a golden helmet now at ITT's?

I don't know

 

[Wyndbrook]

Does Remco get to wear a golden helmet now at ITT's?

He should do, Matthews is getting older, we will need a new 'bling'.

 

[Frobisher Bay]

PCS is listing him for the Tour of Britain, I found back an article on CyclingWeekly about it, but seems not certain to me.

 

[jflemaire]

Yes, according to some Belgian media he is riding Britain.

 

[houtdffan]

Lefevre maybe got paid

of course, Lefevre said this last year and Remco went to the Vuelta instead

 

[Karl Merckx]

Lefevere said so in an itw for a belgian newspaper

 

[Rob5091]

He should do, Matthews is getting older, we will need a new 'bling'.

Maybe something along these lines .... Fly baby, fly!!

 

[KoopaCycling]

It's probably very low on Remco's to do list. But I would like to see him have a go at this years EC Road Race.

If i'm not mistaken it starts 2 days after the Tour of Britain and goes through in Belgium. Given that he won't be going to the Vuelta, it could sit nicely in his prep towards WC and later parts of the season.

It's a flat race probably. But Remco has performed on flat races before.

 

[Wvv]

It's probably very low on Remco's to do list. But I would like to see him have a go at this years EC Road Race.

If i'm not mistaken it starts 2 days after the Tour of Britain and goes through in Belgium. Given that he won't be going to the Vuelta, it could sit nicely in his prep towards WC and later parts of the season.

It's a flat race probably. But Remco has performed on flat races before.

Belgian team will be built around Philipsen since it's a possible sprint and in Jasper's home town region.

 

[peterfin]

Belgian team will be built around Philipsen since it's a possible sprint and in Jasper's home town region.

Remco is in the process of checking off all boxes on the calendar. He still needs an EC RR win. He may ask to join the team.

 

[Berniece]

Remco is in the process of checking off all boxes on the calendar. He still needs an EC RR win. He may ask to join the team.

Doubt he’ll do that. EC RR isn’t high on top riders their list, so enough chances in the future when the route suits him more

 

[Karl Merckx]

Remco is in the process of checking off all boxes on the calendar. He still needs an EC RR win. He may ask to join the team.

He has other priorities now, he'll probably try when there's a harder parcours.

 

[Ulle97]

In your opinion guys, does Remco have a chance of winning this RR??

Does the parcours suit him to make one of his long raids like he has does in Liege and San Sebastian.

 

[Keldergoat]

In your opinion guys, does Remco have a chance of winning this RR??

Does the parcours suit him to make one of his long raids like he has does in Liege and San Sebastian.

You mean the Olympics? I think Evenepoel has the sheer power and talent to be a contender in any bike race so yes, he can't be ruled out. That having said, I think the route doesn't overly favour him over more classic riders like MvdP, WvA, Stuyven, Van Baarle, Pedersen. Also some parts of the Paris circuit can be quite technical which isn't his cup of tea either.

 

[mrgmyers]

Remco has the same chance as every other decent rider on the start line, no more, no less. personally, I would like to see Josh Tarling or Ethan Hayter failing that Wout v Aert or Mathieu van der Poel.

 

[Taxus4a]

All depends on how technic is the coicuit..I thin suits him better than Glasgow, but less than Australia. I will be this time with Van Aert, he deserves a win like this, but Van der Poel is the favourite, IMO.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Imho, the fact that it is a very small peloton, with very small teams (very few domestiques across all nations), the race is hard to control and favorites will need to get their hands dirty very quickly, makes Evenepoel (to me) the clear favorite for saturday. Those circumstances to me seem far more important than the parcours not being hard enough (as if the WCC and OG TT champ on flat courses needs that anyway) or the final being on a city circuit with some cobbles. It's 275km where big names can't stay out of the wind for very long because there aren't enough wheels to hide in.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Imho, the fact that it is a very small peloton, with very small teams (very few domestiques across all nations), the race is hard to control and favorites will need to get their hands dirty very quickly, makes Evenepoel (to me) the clear favorite for saturday. Those circumstances to me seem far more important than the parcours not being hard enough (as if the WCC and OG TT champ on flat courses needs that anyway) or the final being on a city circuit with some cobbles. It's 275km where big names can't stay out of the wind for very long because there aren't enough wheels to hide in.

If Evenepoel gets a gap then they probably won't see him before the medal ceremony. That being said, every big favourite knows it so he will be marked heavily and top favourites won't hesitate to jump on his wheel without playing waiting games (if they can = have power to do it of course), the way Pog marked him a few times last year.

 

[memyselfandI]

I'm wondering if it's possible for Remco to go out long solo attack, 50k? He can do it and small peloton with small teams and small countries..plus still leaving option Wout ftw?

Tour + og tt + recovery sounds like diamonds in the soles of his shoes right now.