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

[Andre]

I'm not happy that he won't ride in Ronde. Also, to lose by 5 minutes next year does nothing for me; I'll be hoping for better; but then again that's how I am. I would rather he try the Giro and La Vuelta instead of Le Tour. Go Remco Go!

 

[Extinction]

I'm not happy that he won't ride in Ronde. Also, to lose by 5 minutes next year does nothing for me; I'll be hoping for better; but then again that's how I am. I would rather he try the Giro and La Vuelta instead of Le Tour. Go Remco Go!

But he can't win the Tour if he doesn't ride it. The Giro-Tour next year is the way to go. Today you can't ride RVV and hope to be competative at the Giro. He could do it, however, skip the Giro and do the Tour-Vuelta.

 

[Andre]

But he can't win the Tour if he doesn't ride it. The Giro-Tour next year is the way to go. Today you can't ride RVV and hope to be competative at the Giro. He could do it, however, skip the Giro and do the Tour-Vuelta.

I understand what you mean. The rhythm of training would not be beneficial for other races. But still I at least hop that he wins the Rode; I feel Belgium needs it. Plus he has already conceded defeat in the Tour.

 

[Berniece]

I'm not happy that he won't ride in Ronde. Also, to lose by 5 minutes next year does nothing for me; I'll be hoping for better; but then again that's how I am. I would rather he try the Giro and La Vuelta instead of Le Tour. Go Remco Go!

He expects that he would've lost this year by 5min if he had proper preparation. Evenepoel expects he has more margin to improve since he's younger, still has some weight to lose, etc, so he should be closer than 5min.

 

[red_flanders]

He's an athlete and a champion. He's not going to just give up. Of course he should ride the Tour.

 

[AmRacer]

He expects that he would've lost this year by 5min if he had proper preparation. Evenepoel expects he has more margin to improve since he's younger, still has some weight to lose, etc, so he should be closer than 5min.

But what if Pog hadn't the Giro i his legs......

 

[Berniece]

But what if Pog hadn't the Giro i his legs......

I understood during the season that this had no effect on him at all, so nothing

 

[Berniece]

When riders reach career best level of performance, especially in relative level, I find it quite hard to argue they didn't hit their best level.

Evenepoels comments, which act as if it's some new found insight that he needs to be a better climber, and who emphasizes collective performance as some sort of excuse when Landa was literally 5th and always there when needed, don't sit particularly well with me.

But he just to focus a lot on ITT too, he already said he can lose another 1-2kg. You don’t think this will influence his climbing and performance uphill?

 

[Extinction]

I understand what you mean. The rhythm of training would not be beneficial for other races. But still I at least hop that he wins the Rode; I feel Belgium needs it. Plus he has already conceded defeat in the Tour.

I understand Belgium needs another Ronde champion, but we don't even know if Remco has the stuff for it. It is remarkable, in this day an age, that a GT champion such as Pogacar beat a specialist such as MvdP on a preferred hunting ground in Flanders. Remco is an unknown and he still wants the Giro, which is impossible with a cobbled monument in the same season. Remco should ride Flanders, but for noe he prioritizes his GT season and there are still the Giro and Tour to win.

 

[Peyroteo94]

I understand what you mean. The rhythm of training would not be beneficial for other races. But still I at least hop that he wins the Rode; I feel Belgium needs it. Plus he has already conceded defeat in the Tour.

You talk like Remco could win Ronde if he raced it. He would be destroyed by MVP or Pogacar. Quickstep is no longer the best team in classics too so he couldn't play numbers card

 

[Oldermanish]

I understand what you mean. The rhythm of training would not be beneficial for other races. But still I at least hop that he wins the Rode; I feel Belgium needs it. Plus he has already conceded defeat in the Tour.

I'm not sure he's conceding anything. Every Tour gets some drama and he's well placed to take advantage of missteps and fixation between the 2 prime contenders.

 

[Berniece]

When? I thought he lost the weight before the Tour, and subsequently he won the Olympics ITT on his climbing weight.

To me it just seems Evenepoel doesn't hit his climbing weight as easily as Pogacar, Vingegaard or Roglic, and that's why he's not done as well in 2nd GTs or lesser stage races.

I find that more plausible than "Evenepoel is in his 6th year on the WT and they still don't know what weight he should be at"

The specificity argument to me only really makes sense in relation to the WC ITT and road race, where it was quite obvious to me it wasn't Evenepoels best one day performance.

When he said that? In October he said that due to his fall he still had too much muscles at the Tour, he could lose another kilo there. Also his training methods aren't purely focused on climbing, and still focuses a lot on endurance and TT. So that's why he says he can become a better climber.

 

[Extinction]

When? I thought he lost the weight before the Tour, and subsequently he won the Olympics ITT on his climbing weight.

To me it just seems Evenepoel doesn't hit his climbing weight as easily as Pogacar, Vingegaard or Roglic, and that's why he's not done as well in 2nd GTs or lesser stage races.

I find that more plausible than "Evenepoel is in his 6th year on the WT and they still don't know what weight he should be at"

The specificity argument to me only really makes sense in relation to the WC ITT and road race, where it was quite obvious to me it wasn't Evenepoels best one day performance.

Evenepoel needs to go 2/3 kg lighter, without sacrificing his TT prowess, to climb with Pogacar/Vingegaard. Let's say his Tour weight was 63, then 61/60 at the same power would be formidable.

 

[AmRacer]

without sacrificing his TT prowess

These are the magic words.

 

[red_flanders]

I wonder why they just didn't think of that

They don't seem to be at the tip of the spear when it comes to rider training TBH.

Lots of noises over the years about how losing weight might hurt his TT. To your points, seems not to have been an issue at the Olympics.

He also cares a LOT less about the TT at this point, he's won everything. He'll zero in on climbing weight. Again, to your point I'm not convinced that was ever actually an issue, but SQS seem not to have gotten the most out of him so far.

 

[AmRacer]

They don't seem to be at the tip of the spear when it comes to rider training TBH.

Lots of noises over the years about how losing weight might hurt his TT. To your points, seems not to have been an issue at the Olympics.

He also cares a LOT less about the TT at this point, he's won everything. He'll zero in on climbing weight. Again, to your point I'm not convinced that was ever actually an issue, but SQS seem not to have gotten the most out of him so far.

Yeah, he has every big TT race. I'm thinking, if Remco can climb better in the big mountains. It might hurt his ambitions in RVV for example.

 

[Extinction]

I wonder why they just didn't think of that

At that level it's a hard balance to be worked out. Until now his staff has seemed to think, as per Belgian excellence, that too low a weight would sacrifice power. But he's not racing Flanders or Roubaix, while they haven't had a potential Tour winner in generations and the sport has totally changed. Listen, when he loses the Tour by 9 minutes, then it's worth the risk to decrease the weight. See what happens and then take notes.

 

[Peyroteo94]

I wonder why they just didn't think of that

There is a saying very interesting: "the higher you go, greater the fall". They keep dreaming about Remco getting closer to Vingegaard or Pogacar but he will never reach them. It's notorious he doesn't have and will never have Pogacar's ceilling

 

[Oldermanish]

When? I thought he lost the weight before the Tour, and subsequently he won the Olympics ITT on his climbing weight.

To me it just seems Evenepoel doesn't hit his climbing weight as easily as Pogacar, Vingegaard or Roglic, and that's why he's not done as well in 2nd GTs or lesser stage races.

I find that more plausible than "Evenepoel is in his 6th year on the WT and they still don't know what weight he should be at"

The specificity argument to me only really makes sense in relation to the WC ITT and road race, where it was quite obvious to me it wasn't Evenepoels best one day performance.

Excellent point on the Olympics Itt and, to some extent the RR. He could be lighter for the TT as it was as much a momentum management effort on slick, narrow roads as an outright power effort for him. He did it well. The RR was a demanding powerfest, by contrast on sh*tty roads. He didn't seem to lose any climbing ability at all and that might have been a bit of a revelation. It was tactical too. IMO he probably doesn't lose that much gas by being slightly lighter.
The WRR was a tactical nightmare and he spent alot of energy trying to get gaps and then give them up when he didn't have help. That was more of a mixed bag and he was at the end of demanding, injury-recovery season. Two gold medals in Paris probably felt very, very good!

 

[Oldermanish]

There is a saying very interesting: "the higher you go, greater the fall". They keep dreaming about Remco getting closer to Vingegaard or Pogacar but he will never reach them. It's notorious he doesn't have and will never have Pogacar's ceilling

Why is it notorious? He never has had it when Pogi's on. He's not alone.

 

[Andre]

You talk like Remco could win Ronde if he raced it. He would be destroyed by MVP or Pogacar. Quickstep is no longer the best team in classics too so he couldn't play numbers card

"destroyed"...that would be impossible, haven't you been following him?

 

[red_flanders]

"destroyed"...that would be impossible, haven't you been following him?

On occasion, one may run across hyperbole in this thread...

 

[Berniece]

I wonder why they just didn't think of that

Again, due to his fall he gained to much muscles.

 

[Berniece]

There is a saying very interesting: "the higher you go, greater the fall". They keep dreaming about Remco getting closer to Vingegaard or Pogacar but he will never reach them. It's notorious he doesn't have and will never have Pogacar's ceilling

And why will he never reach that? It’s ridiculous to write in absolutes in cycling. He already rode better in 2024 than those two in 2023…

Also I have no clue what you mean with your saying. It has nothing to do with aspiring for higher results and not achieving them.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Yeah, he has every big TT race. I'm thinking, if Remco can climb better in the big mountains. It might hurt his ambitions in RVV for example.

If i'm Remco i would want 1 chono des nations as well. But i understand that race has become not so important in modern cycling.