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

[Tricycle Rider]

What about Grischa Niermann? I must confess I'm not totally indifferent.
(Let's be honest, riders still in activity are a little too young for me.)

Niermann looks nice as he's aging. (Gotta check out the DSes myself because the riders are just too young for me also, even Rogla.)

 

[houtdffan]

Remco is an 80s type rider, who would have performed well in the classics, monuments, stage races and grand tours, with great climbing skills and a wicked TT. But we aren't in the 80s. Now, there are monsters about: MvDP on the cobbles, Vingegaard for climbing and Tadej for everything. So what can he do as the next Merckx? Merckx wouldn't have been up to snuff today. I would say he's a shy short of metric greatness. He was born at the wrong time, otherwise he'd be a Hinault-Lemond-Kelly combo. Alas.

I'd say Remco has done quite well for himself. Afterall, he has won 3 majors (Pog has 5). Majors being the GTs and WCRR plus Olympic RR

 

[SHAD0W93]

I'd say Remco has done quite well for himself. Afterall, he has won 3 majors (Pog has 5). Majors being the GTs and WCRR plus Olympic RR

What are monuments in this?

 

[Extinction]

I'd say Remco has done quite well for himself. Afterall, he has won 3 majors (Pog has 5). Majors being the GTs and WCRR plus Olympic RR

Not if you consider he was destined to be number one. It's looking increasingly unlikely he will ever win the Tour and that in itself is a fatal blow. Even his monument chances now seem scarce. WCRR too.

 

[Oldman]

Remco is an 80s type rider, who would have performed well in the classics, monuments, stage races and grand tours, with great climbing skills and a wicked TT. But we aren't in the 80s. Now, there are monsters about: MvDP on the cobbles, Vingegaard for climbing and Tadej for everything. So what can he do as the next Merckx? Merckx wouldn't have been up to snuff today. I would say he's a shy short of metric greatness. He was born at the wrong time, otherwise he'd be a Hinault-Lemond-Kelly combo. Alas.

Maybe not Lemond. He could ride a wretchedly dangerous crit and survive or win. Almost none of these guys except MvP have those handling and pack skills. Except Kelly who made half of his season's nut racing post Tour crits for cash. Hard money, hard MAN.

 

[Oldman]

Not if you consider he was destined to be number one. It's looking increasingly unlikely he will ever win the Tour and that in itself is a fatal blow. Even his monument chances now seem scarce. WCRR too.

Unfairly or due to his family's hype machine the Belgian hope was saddled with expectations before his true skills could be developed. The Olympic RR was the best all-around test under a ridiculous media microscope. He had the right mixture of skills, tactics and luck to pull it off in style. Definitely a proud accomplishment. The OR TT was a skill test and he beat the big wattage beasts with tactical riding and little waste of momentum; another great accomplishment. The WCRR where MvP skilled the world showed the true heirarchy of that type of event. He even crashed and finished with a f*cked up shoe and won. That's not Remco's level yet or maybe never. As for a closely contested GT we have to give him time to recover, again. At his current best he's not in the top 3 and new riders are coming.
All that said, he's already had a legendary career and could get confidence from that. He should pick his goals and ignore everyone else except Umi.

 

[houtdffan]

What are monuments in this?

those are like masters 1000 events, below majors

 

[Cookster15]

Not if you consider he was destined to be number one. It's looking increasingly unlikely he will ever win the Tour and that in itself is a fatal blow. Even his monument chances now seem scarce. WCRR too.

Destined by whom? Belgian fans are entitled to nationalistic bias but who else? The now departed OP started this thread in May 2018. Pogacar was 19 then and hadn't even ridden Tour de l'Avenir of that year (which he won).

I too think Remco has done very well already. He had a superb 2024. Two Olympic gold medals, a world TT title, and podium at the Tour de France where he was at a much higher level than when he won the 2022 Vuelta. I hope he can recover quickly from his unfortunate crash.

 

[Berniece]

Article in De Standaard with his coach Koen Pelgrim. Hè expects him to be competitive but not able to challenge Pogacar these races. They are building up towards bigger goals in the season.

 

[Kwaremonster]

Wish him all the best. Was never a fan in the beginning, but he grew on me. Being one of the galacticos his dominance can sometimes be boring, but with other galacticos dominating it feels like cycling needs him . Especially the Ardennes classics. Hopefully the cobbled classics one day. If he's not at the required peak level for Liege yet than that's too bad. I also don't want to put too much pressure on him after all he's been trough. My main hope for him now is no crashes I guess.

 

[Berniece]

Wish him all the best. Was never a fan in the beginning, but he grew on me. Being one of the galacticos his dominance can sometimes be boring, but with other galacticos dominating it feels like cycling needs him . Especially the Ardennes classics. Hopefully the cobbled classics one day. If he's not at the required peak level for Liege yet than that's too bad. I also don't want to put too much pressure on him after all he's been trough. My main hope for him now is no crashes I guess.

I really want to see him 2 whole seasons without crashing, and how he develops based on that. I still have high expectations of him, that's he's able to contest any race for the win

 

[Jan the Man]

Article in De Standaard with his coach Koen Pelgrim. Hè expects him to be competitive but not able to challenge Pogacar these races. They are building up towards bigger goals in the season.

He is always competitive.

He is also a step ahead of everybody in Ardennes type races other than Pog. Even Lombardia he was clear of all other than Pog, even when he was not quite at his best. He may not win tomorrow because the parcours not as challenging as the upcoming races. However i expect him to be challenging next week.

I would be pretty surprised if the can realistically challenge Pog (particularly as he probably needs to drop Pog as his sprint is good) if Pog maintains Flanders/Roubaix form but Remco will be a big protagonist.

 

[peterfin]

Not if you consider he was destined to be number one. It's looking increasingly unlikely he will ever win the Tour and that in itself is a fatal blow. Even his monument chances now seem scarce. WCRR too.

Why? In hilly classics and WCRR he is the favorite if Pogacar is not riding. The Tour is difficult but with some luck on his side it might happen one day.

 

[KoopaCycling]

MVDP is extremely good at what he does. He is also a multi-discipline champion. Given his palmares I can understand why people would put him above Evenepoel. However I would not say that there is a level difference between him and Evenepoel. MVDP will never win a mountain stage, or the overall GC of a bigger Stage Race. (PN, Tirreno, Basque, ...)
Now Evenepoel hopefully starts winning some of those. But he has already proven that he can win those GC. MVDP might make for a good Prologue TT'er, and even a good TT'er but he has never shown he can win a 30+ km TT. Evenepoel has basically swept all thing TT when it comes to Road Racing. The fact that Evenepoel palmares is comparable to MVDP despite being 5 years younger proves that he ain't lower level than MVDP. Now do I see Evenepoel winning as much monuments as MVDP. probably not. But he'll win stuff that MVDP can't win.

 

[AmRacer]

MVDP is extremely good at what he does. He is also a multi-discipline champion. Given his palmares I can understand why people would put him above Evenepoel. However I would not say that there is a level difference between him and Evenepoel. MVDP will never win a mountain stage, or the overall GC of a bigger Stage Race. (PN, Tirreno, Basque, ...)
Now Evenepoel hopefully starts winning some of those. But he has already proven that he can win those GC. MVDP might make for a good Prologue TT'er, and even a good TT'er but he has never shown he can win a 30+ km TT. Evenepoel has basically swept all thing TT when it comes to Road Racing. The fact that Evenepoel palmares is comparable to MVDP despite being 5 years younger proves that he ain't lower level than MVDP. Now do I see Evenepoel winning as much monuments as MVDP. probably not. But he'll win stuff that MVDP can't win.

The age thing, Mathieu started race on road 2019.

 

[KoopaCycling]

The age thing, Mathieu started race on road 2019.

No he started his first road race in either 2014 or 2015. It's just that his inital races where not on the biggest stage. He took his time growing stronger.

The whole cycling world needs to slay the dragon (Pogacar) in order to win stuff. No getting around that. Evenepoel and the rest of them. But I would never suggest Evenepoel failed his potential. He already proven himself. So many other tales of potential wonderkids. So many who do not even reach the starting line of Evenepoel current achievements.

 

[AmRacer]

No he started his first road race in either 2014 or 2015. It's just that his inital races where not on the biggest stage. He took his time growing stronger.

The whole cycling world needs to slay the dragon (Pogacar) in order to win stuff. No getting around that. Evenepoel and the rest of them. But I would never suggest Evenepoel failed his potential. He already proven himself. So many other tales of potential wonderkids. So many who do not even reach the starting line of Evenepoel current achievements.

He didn't race professionally on the road before 2019.

 

[KoopaCycling]

He didn't race professionally on the road before 2019.

A quick wiki search shows otherwise. Tour of Belgium ain't professional? National Road Race in 2018 of no importance?
By that logic , Evenepoel road career only truly began in 2022, as that is the year he started given monuments and bigger stage races a real crack. That would mean cherry picking over Evenepoel 2020 Lombardi race (which he was racing well in before crash), and his rushed comeback in the Giro. But given his crash and the rushed comeback, one could make the argument (by the same flawed MDVP logic you used) that remco only truly began his big stage racing and big one day racing in 2022

 

[Wvv]

He didn't race professionally on the road before 2019.

That's weird, for someone who had his first pro win (yes, 1.1) in 2014. And in 2017 he won a stage at the Belgium Tour (2.HC) during his third (!) appearance there.

Sure, he didn't aim for big cycling races at the time, but what you are saying is wrong as well.

 

[Berniece]

A quick wiki search shows otherwise. Tour of Belgium ain't professional? National Road Race in 2018 of no importance?
By that logic , Evenepoel road career only truly began in 2022, as that is the year he started given monuments and bigger stage races a real crack. That would mean cherry picking over Evenepoel 2020 Lombardi race (which he was racing well in before crash), and his rushed comeback in the Giro. But given his crash and the rushed comeback, one could make the argument (by the same flawed MDVP logic you used) that remco only truly began his big stage racing and big one day racing in 2022

So during his first real season he won the Vuelta? That's even better than Pogacar. He really might be the next Eddy Merckx.

All jokes aside, he has press interviews at 16:00 today.

 

[Barkintheeye]

You also mean stuff that Remco cannot win such as PR, MSR, RVV, WC CX, WC Gravel, MTB etc? To say Remco’s palmares are even comparable to MVDPs… 🤔

Let’s revisit after LBL. Can he give Pog a fight for the win at least it shows he belongs to that second tier of challengers. And TT. Nobody cares just like velodrome racing 😂

 

[Red Rick]

You also mean stuff that Remco cannot win such as PR, MSR, RVV, WC CX, WC Gravel, MTB etc? To say Remco’s palmares are even comparable to MVDPs… 🤔

Let’s revisit after LBL. Can he give Pog a fight for the win at least it shows he belongs to that second tier of challengers. And TT. Nobody cares just like velodrome racing 😂

Pretty sure when their careers are over I'd rather take Evenepoels.

 

[Berniece]

Let’s revisit after LBL. Can he give Pog a fight for the win at least it shows he belongs to that second tier of challengers. And TT. Nobody cares just like velodrome racing 😂

Speak for yourself. You might not care about TT or racing in velodrome, others do. Let's see if Pogacar goes for WC ITT this year, and wins the double. How important it suddenly is then.

 

[Extinction]

Why? In hilly classics and WCRR he is the favorite if Pogacar is not riding. The Tour is difficult but with some luck on his side it might happen one day.

If Pogi isn't riding? He'll likely always be at Liege and Lombardia, where, then, is his chance? MSR, Flanders? He's not even ridden them. Look, I'm hoping he ups his game and Remco is an incredible talent, but the trajectory of his career, with all these devastating crashes, is a huge setback. I hope he rebounds and returns to the promise he was/is, but time goes on, while others keep winning big. As for the Tour, as long as Tadej and Jonas maintain there advantage, only crashing out gives him a chance. The writing is on the wall. He's not the wonderkid at 17 anymore.

 

[Extinction]

Destined by whom? Belgian fans are entitled to nationalistic bias but who else? The now departed OP started this thread in May 2018. Pogacar was 19 then and hadn't even ridden Tour de l'Avenir of that year (which he won).

I too think Remco has done very well already. He had a superb 2024. Two Olympic gold medals, a world TT title, and podium at the Tour de France where he was at a much higher level than when he won the 2022 Vuelta. I hope he can recover quickly from his unfortunate crash.

He did very well at the last Tour, despite his injuries, but was still 9+ minutes off. That's a huge margine to overcome. Jonas was even worse off after Itzulia, but still did better. Remco was not just touted as a generational phenomenon in Belgium, but everywhere. He only arrived in a moment of super talents, the real dimension of which nobody understood at the time. When Pogacar stunned the world winning the Tour as he did in 2020, many thought even this Evenepole could overcome. Now it seems most admit he cannot.