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

[mariosommelier]

My logic is that he keeps improving YoY as he has been doing since he started riding a bike. Yours is that this will now suddenly stop. Which is more likely? That he keeps going on the current trend or that this just stops at the age of 24?

Pogacar is only 25 buddy.

You talk like Pogacar just stops as well.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

He could improve significantly next year, simply by not crashing at Itzulia, working on his positioning and descending. That's multiple minutes right there. Even if he somehow wouldn't be able to improve physically.
Him starting cycling late, being only 24 and having lost a season due to a big crash, makes it more likely that he still has room to grow physically than not. But there are no guarantees either way.

 

[Red Rick]

He could improve significantly next year, simply by not crashing at Itzulia, working on his positioning and descending. That's multiple minutes right there. Even if he somehow wouldn't be able to improve physically.
Him starting cycling late, being only 24 and having lost a season due to a big crash, makes it more likely that he still has room to grow physically than not. But there are no guarantees either way.

Hard to make a strong case that Itzulia affected him this Tour where he hit a career high form.

Also hard to make a case descending cost him multiple minutes. In total it's likely to be under a minute altogether

 

[Berniece]

So....Pogacar stops improving at 25 but Remco will keep improving for an infinite number of years. Seems legit.

Pogacar is only 25 buddy.

You talk like Pogacar just stops as well.

Where did I say that? I’m not saying that, I’m saying that Evenepoel has more margin due to being younger and lost time due to crash.

 

[red_flanders]

Hard to make a strong case that Itzulia affected him this Tour where he hit a career high form.

Same for Vingegaard then? I mean I don't know, but I don't see how having a broken scapula and clavicle didn't negatively impact his prep at least...somewhat, no matter what level he ended up on. How much? Impossible to say. Clearly not in a major way. Could he not have been 2% better? Would that not have made a minute difference?

Again, I don't know. But I just can't see how (for either rider, and Vingegaard more) how it had zero effect.

Also hard to make a case descending cost him multiple minutes. In total it's likely to be under a minute altogether

Probably a minute in the last TT alone. Energy expended which didn't have to be on Stage 4 and other stages? Has to add up. How much? Some, more than anyone wants. If his descending was at the level of Pogi, I have a very hard time imagining that would be under a minute. I would say 2 mins is likely.

 

[Extinction]

Remco Derangement Syndrome has become worse since he won double gold.

Imagine how bad it ill be after he wins a tour...

He can only win the Tour if he is better than a healthy Pogacar and Vingegaard, or they crash out. It's a big challenge.

 

[Red Rick]

Same for Vingegaard then? I mean I don't know, but I don't see how having a broken scapula and clavicle didn't negatively impact his prep at least...somewhat, no matter what level he ended up on. How much? Impossible to say. Clearly not in a major way. Could he not have been 2% better? Would that not have made a minute difference?

Again, I don't know. But I just can't see how (for either rider, and Vingegaard more) how it had zero effect.

Probably a minute in the last TT alone. Energy expended which didn't have to be on Stage 4 and other stages? Has to add up. How much? Some, more than anyone wants. If his descending was at the level of Pogi, I have a very hard time imagining that would be under a minute. I would say 2 mins is likely.

Wildly different injuries. Like timelines were completely different and this is well documented.

As for the final ITT, definitely not. Did a faster split downhill than Vingegaard for example, and that's also a section where just pacing and freshness made a big difference as well.

 

[red_flanders]

Wildly different injuries. Like timelines were completely different and this is well documented.

As for the final ITT, definitely not. Did a faster split downhill than Vingegaard for example, and that's also a section where just pacing and freshness made a big difference as well.

Not making an equivalence of their injuries, assumed that was clear. Just saying it's not possible it had zero impact.

He lost time to a lot of riders on the downhill.

Look, I like the guy. But his bike handling is a major problem, and by far the easiest thing to fix in his competitive deficiencies vs Pogi and Vingo. He definitely wastes time and energy because of it, we saw it on almost every meaningful mountain stage. Don't really get how anyone could watch the race and think he didn't lose well over a minute because of it. One has to factor in the energy wasted catching back up, over and over.

He did do a great job of being at the front whenever it mattered during the bulk of the race (when not descending). Far better than I'd have hoped. So it's a mixed bag, bike handling and positioning-wise.

 

[houtdffan]

Not making an equivalence of their injuries, assumed that was clear. Just saying it's not possible it had zero impact.

He lost time to a lot of riders on the downhill.

Look, I like the guy. But his bike handling is a major problem, and by far the easiest thing to fix in his competitive deficiencies vs Pogi and Vingo. He definitely wastes time and energy because of it, we saw it on almost every meaningful mountain stage. Don't really get how anyone could watch the race and think he didn't lose well over a minute because of it. One has to factor in the energy wasted catching back up, over and over.

He did do a great job of being at the front whenever it mattered during the bulk of the race (when not descending). Far better than I'd have hoped. So it's a mixed bag, bike handling and positioning-wise.

Yep, the Galiber and Puy Mary were excruciating to watch when Remco went downhill

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Maybe Remco can train a bit of downhill with some other riders that Are better downhillers? What about Isac del Toro @Unchained ??

 

[stekelegel]

Remco being a top football prospect until 15-16 yo makes it harder to judge if there is a lot of untapped physical potential left. He probably has trained and lived at a more serious level from a younger age then many of his peers. Just look at his incredible junior levels where he was superior to Vinge and probably even Pog.
Bike handling and descending are much more clearly in need of improvement, not only is he slower, he probably spends even more energy to catch up and dont forget the stress factors of having to take more risk then you are confortable with.... I feel we are taling minutes here over 3 weeks, not just seconds.
His body is the least suited of the big three for GT riding / climbing, just having this more developped upper torso really doenst help in climbing. This I thinks requires him to be the most dependent on ideal prep for a GT. I also think that it will be easier for Pog and Vinge to have a long GT career, because its more their natural habitat. So for outlasting those two.....
His burning ambition will help, he has shown that he can really dig deep to achieve top goals.
I feel he would also benefit most of the big three of the best climbing train. Being able to set the perfect pace would suit him and limit loss time on steep mountain finishes...
And hopefully for him, some serious tt miles would not hurt.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Just look at his incredible junior levels where he was superior to Vinge and probably even Pog.

This is an understatement. His junior level was outstanding, basically winning every single race in his last junior year. Pog won Lunigiaga and got a bronze at the European Championship, but at junior level he was nowhere near the level Remco showed two years later, which perhaps is the single best junior season of modern cycling?

Otherwise you have a lot of interesting points, and that’s some of the beauty with sports: the future is unpredictable, we don’t know the roof of the athletes and we don’t know if athletes can keep improving or even staying at the same level. And it goes for all the top riders.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Hard to make a strong case that Itzulia affected him this Tour where he hit a career high form.

Also hard to make a case descending cost him multiple minutes. In total it's likely to be under a minute altogether

I don't think it's hard at all, looking at his Dauphiné form, while bouncing around like a ball of lard. You can have your own opinion on that, but that was a result of his Itzulia crash and hardly a perfect prep for the Tour. Unless you can point out other TDF contenders recently who were hugely off the pace in Dauphiné vs b/c-tier climbers, looking like Meat Loaf, as part of their plan.

He lost 45 seconds in the downhills of just both TT's alone. In the Galibier stage, he was a few seconds behind Vinge on the top. Had he been able to descend faster, he would have caught Vinge a lot sooner than he did now, would have lost less/no time to Pog in the downhill, and they could have closed the gap together on the flat section. That's another 30s. He got boxed in on the final kms of Pla d'Adet when Pog attacked and had to bridge a gap to Vingegaard, which cost him dearly. He lost 30s to Vingegaard and 1m10 to Pog on the shalower parts of the climb which should favor him more.

Take into account small gaps here and there, moving up for positions due to losing them to begin with and the overall wasted energy expenditure over 3 weeks.

 

[Andre]

when will Remco race next?

 

[houtdffan]

when will Remco race next?

heard both belalux and britain. Depending who pays more

 

[Didinho]

 

[Netserk]

Good. Now he just needs the helmet.

 

[KoopaCycling]

I saw the golden bike as well. I think I would rather have a bike with some golden touches instead of a completely gold bike. Same for the helmet. I would rather have a helmet with golden accents than a full on golden helmet like van avermaet had. Then again not sure how that would actually work and look like. I have to admit, this completely golden bike looks surprisingly quite nice.

Remco def. looked happy with it. If he races with that golden bike, he'll def. be very visible.

This year San sebastian('24) once again underlined what makes Remco (& Pogacar) special. I could not help but think that if I was watching remco and not Sivakov, I would expect him to go all the way. Instead i always assumed Sivakov would be caught by the chasing group.

 

[James M]

The golden boy. My hope for next season is that Remco takes even another leap then were F talking.

 

[Didinho]

It was a ride with his development “team” and a gift from Specialized. Don’t know if he will actually ride with it. I guess it’s heavier than without the extra paint.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Nice of Remco to lend the classica San Sebastian title to somebody else. Hopefully he takes back what is his in 2025.

 

[Andre]

تسجيل الدخول إلى فيسبوك

قم بتسجيل الدخول إلى فيسبوك لبدء المشاركة والتواصل مع أصدقائك وعائلتك والأشخاص الذين تعرفهم.

www.facebook.com

 

[steffr222]

RSCA 1-1 OH Leuven | RSC Anderlecht

© Photonews (Tomas Sisk)

www.rsca.be

 

[peterfin]

It was a ride with his development “team” and a gift from Specialized. Don’t know if he will actually ride with it. I guess it’s heavier than without the extra paint.

I think so. I was at the event. The bike has a real gold foil layer. They should use gold paint instead. I think it would be a great bike for a Remco museum with all his trophies.

 

[Berniece]

Went a week on holiday where he did nothing and just laid on the beach. Now focus on WC and Lombardia. It says nothing on how he’ll prepare for it.

Evenepoel is nog niet verzadigd: "Volgende week is die hyperfocus er weer, alles op het WK" | sporza

Op zijn fandag gisteren in Schepdaal maakte Remco Evenepoel ook even tijd voor de pers. "Een week vakantie was hoognodig, maar ook genoeg om de batterijen weer op te laden", vertelde de dubbele olympische kampioen aan onze man.

sporza.be