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

[BlueRoads]

Also I don't think his team is feeding the hype. He really is that good. There have been enough voices wanting him to do the Tour this year already and the team has never considered doing that, even in this time when the sponsors are pushing things.

 

[CyclistAbi]

One of the reasons i like pro cycling is mature men do usually win important races. In a lot of sports i see a lot of forcing of young boys/men and only to get replaced soon by other young boys/men. If you are good in cycling, you can win a GT race at 35. You can be a father by then, can be fully developed as a person. Imagine Remco would win a GT race at 20. He would then need to win around 15 GTs in his career? That is just way over the top and in the end it is boring. Let this young guys mature and evolve gradually and if they are great cyclist, they will for sure win a lot of cycling races in their career.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

He told his team he had his best legs ever, so I think he would have won quite easy, remember how strong he already was compared to Fuglsang in Poland.

Fuglsang may have just secured a 2nd place in a prep race with lots of points up for grabs. Why go all out if it's not a race you target. Evenepoel would have won Poland regardless, so why go at 100%.

Fuglsang also knows how to peak for a race.

 

[Salvarani]

Remco is riding with the big boys now, it's a serious racing, on the highest possible level.
His team has an obligation to tell him when some part of the road is dangerous, like this decent (which I believe they did). They could also do the recon of this part (which I also think they did). They could even tell him to not put the pressure on himself on that decent too much, considering his age and experience (which I think Bramati did).
And that's about it.

Yes. So they probably made all the preparation needed. And it was just an accident and a mistake on his part. Things that happen.

Nothing more to see here. Hopefully he recovers and is back next season.

 

[dutchdescent]

Saying you were gonna win after crashing out, if anything, is mostly disrespectful to the actual winner.

another rookie mistake imo

 

[Panda Claws]

Saying you were gonna win after crashing out, if anything, is mostly disrespectful to the actual winner.

Dude. He said it internally to the team just after a very intense crash. Unless you believe that even having the idea that you would have won is disrespectful then I don't see how you can hold this against him. Perhaps Nibali even said something similar in-house after he crashed in Rio. Not exactly Remco's fault that QS Brings it to the press immediately.

Boonen never stops whining about the RVV's and PR's he could have won. Van Avermaet was bitter about RVV 2017 even though he could only win in Rio because of a crash. All things said to the press.

 

[LesDiablesRouges]

One of the reasons i like pro cycling is mature men do usually win important races. In a lot of sports i see a lot of forcing of young boys/men and only to get replaced soon by other young boys/men. If you are good in cycling, you can win a GT race at 35. You can be a father by then, can be fully developed as a person. Imagine Remco would win a GT race at 20. He would then need to win around 15 GTs in his career? That is just way over the top and in the end it is boring. Let this young guys mature and evolve gradually and if they are great cyclist, they will for sure win a lot of cycling races in their career.

Nobody has been forcing him to grow up unnecessarily. He’s the one that has been so good so far. 99.9999% are never good enough to win a GT and he was almost even money to win the Giro this year before the accident. His timeline was pushed up because he was so good that you couldn’t hold him back.

Hopefully the crash does not have any career threatening effects. Much better odds if surgery is not needed, but with this type of injury sometimes surgery comes about as there are residual issues (pain and paresthesia) that occurs that end up forcing surgery.

If it is merely a three month set back then it will be a miracle.

He’s best talent I’ve seen 40 years of watching cycling and I’m sure those who are older than me would say he invokes the same feelings as Merckx did or perhaps even stronger feelings.

Much harder to dominate today than it was 50+ years ago as the gap from being at the top to rider 250 is much much smaller.

 

[RedheadDane]

Dude. He said it internally to the team just after a very intense crash. Unless you believe that even having the idea that you would have won is disrespectful then I don't see how you can hold this against him. Perhaps Nibali even said something similar in-house after he crashed in Rio. Not exactly Remco's fault that QS Brings it to the press immediately.

Besides, he was probably in a lot of pain (physical, of course, but perhaps also from the disappointment) when he said it; can't exactly expect people to think clearly in such a situation.

 

[Red Rick]

Dude. He said it internally to the team just after a very intense crash. Unless you believe that even having the idea that you would have won is disrespectful then I don't see how you can hold this against him. Perhaps Nibali even said something similar in-house after he crashed in Rio. Not exactly Remco's fault that QS Brings it to the press immediately.

Boonen never stops whining about the RVV's and PR's he could have won. Van Avermaet was bitter about RVV 2017 even though he could only win in Rio because of a crash. All things said to the press.

Then it's on DQS, obviously. And by the way Nibali said crashing was part of descending.

I for one can't wait for Lefevre to watch the Giro and just go 'nah Remco woulda won this'

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I for one can't wait for Lefevre to watch the Giro and just go 'nah Remco woulda won this'

Tbh, most likely he would be right

 

[slosada]

Dude. He said it internally to the team just after a very intense crash. Unless you believe that even having the idea that you would have won is disrespectful then I don't see how you can hold this against him. Perhaps Nibali even said something similar in-house after he crashed in Rio. Not exactly Remco's fault that QS Brings it to the press immediately.

Boonen never stops whining about the RVV's and PR's he could have won. Van Avermaet was bitter about RVV 2017 even though he could only win in Rio because of a crash. All things said to the press.

I don't think Nibali felt that confident on winning Rio 2016 He wanted to push in the downhill to drop Henao and Majka. If those 3 were to sprint, Henao would have won by 10 bike lengths, barring any strange circumstances .

EDIT: Year was wrong

 

[RedheadDane]

I don't think Nibali felt that confident on winning Rio 2014.

I don't think anyone was...

 

[slosada]

I don't think anyone was...

Sorry about that. I put the right year. I always confuse the years between Brazil 14 and Rio 16.

 

[memyselfandI]

View: https://youtu.be/7YCuQsGVV20


Had forgot this completely when my friend reminded today..Happy that Remco and all wear helmets these days.

 

[RedheadDane]

But that's the thing; helmets don't always help...

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1295412743097454594

View: https://twitter.com/deceuninck_qst/status/1295412743097454594

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

https://sporza.be/nl/2020/08/17/cip...an-instinct-record-voor-nibali~1597671232021/
Cipollini: "With Remco Evenepoel we're talking about a boy of 20 years old. He has only been racing for 3 years. He has a hard time following the others and we do have that instinct, because of our habits. I started cycling when I was 6 years old. I can react in any situation through my instinct. "

https://sporza.be/nl/2020/08/16/jos...aakte-onder-druk-een-stuurfout~1597564011206/
De Cauwer: "You learn handling skills of a sport as young as possible. If you start a sport at a later age, a certain part of that learning process is over. Is that the reason for Remco's fall yesterday? That might seem a bit far-fetched, but there is something to it. "

https://www.hln.be/sport/wielrennen...-je-experts-als-nibali-laten-rijden~aa7f6315/
Jurgen Van den Broeck gives Evenepoel one golden advice: “Don't try to follow experts like Nibali downhill”

https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/r...nepoel-moet-werken-aan-zijn-stuurvaardigheid/
De Vlaeminck: "Look, all due respect to Remco Evenepoel, but that boy only rode his first race in 2017. That was three years ago. So it is not abnormal that he is still missing bike handling skills and that he makes a mistake. ”

 

[Breezy1985]

View: https://youtu.be/7YCuQsGVV20


Had forgot this completely when my friend reminded today..Happy that Remco and all wear helmets these days.

Johan did have some very good doctors to help him after

 

[Big Doopie]

Nobody has been forcing him to grow up unnecessarily. He’s the one that has been so good so far. 99.9999% are never good enough to win a GT and he was almost even money to win the Giro this year before the accident. His timeline was pushed up because he was so good that you couldn’t hold him back.

Hopefully the crash does not have any career threatening effects. Much better odds if surgery is not needed, but with this type of injury sometimes surgery comes about as there are residual issues (pain and paresthesia) that occurs that end up forcing surgery.

If it is merely a three month set back then it will be a miracle.

He’s best talent I’ve seen 40 years of watching cycling and I’m sure those who are older than me would say he invokes the same feelings as Merckx did or perhaps even stronger feelings.

Much harder to dominate today than it was 50+ years ago as the gap from being at the top to rider 250 is much much smaller.

I soooooooooo agree with this.

not trying to outdo LesDiablesRouges, but just for emphasis, I have been watching this since 1971 when I lived in Belgium (when I was an Anderlecht fan when they had Paul Van Himst, Ludo Coek (sp?) and Van der Elst). I was blown away by the exploits of a certain Eddy Merckx. But, quite frankly, I thought/think Remco was/could be better still. And he was showing it so far... I understand the fear to overhype, but I also don’t want to stymie an opportunity to see history!! Seeing such dominating cycling is truly exciting if you love the sport.

 

[Carols]

I’m sure those who are older than me would say he invokes the same feelings as Merckx did or perhaps even stronger feelings.

Well I'm 70 and have followed cycling my entire life. He is undoubtedly a major talent with a tremendous future.

But so far he hasn't invoked any feelings even remotely close to Merckx or a host of others. Maybe I'll fall in love but it sure isn't there yet .

Why anyone thinks they're 'sure' how others feel is beyond my comprehension.

I wish him a speedy recovery and a grand career!

 

[kingjr]

Thing with Remco is, as far as one-day races and stages are concerned, he basically needs to arrive at the finish alone in order to win. Merckx aside from his other qualities also had a decent sprint, not great, but he could win from a group of riders if he had to.

 

[Red Rick]

At the very least he's not Dutch enough for Dutch falling disease

 

[Berflamand]

New update by his team:

"Additional examinations in the AZ Sint-Elisabeth hospital in Herentals have not revealed any new elements. As suggested earlier, Remco Evenepoel's fractures in the pelvis will be treated conservatively, meaning surgery is not necessary. Remco will need to rest as much as possible in the coming weeks to allow his fractures to heal."

 

[Panda Claws]

That's good news!

 

[Volderke]

Many has been said in this topic, but I honestly have difficulties to understand some opinions.

First of all, Remco made a mistake. A stupid one.

There was a long straight before the sharp right hand curve, immediately followed by that left-hand turn to the bridge. There was NO pressuring by Nibali on that long straight just before the crash. It was a section of road where everybody could lower their heart rate and even drink. At the end of the section, before the curve, there is even a period of some seconds without pedalling, before riders are forced to brake from 70K/hr to around 35 K/hr. With that speed, they take the left hand turn to the bridge, and they only start pedalling once on the bridge, a full 110 seconds from the right hand curve to the bridge without pedalling, only steering and braking. Not exactly the situation that Remco would be cooked and seeing black spots in front of his eyes because of fatigue.

So crashing on that bridge was a bit silly and a bit stupid, because as seen from the footage, all riders except Remco were following wheels, there was no pedalling, speed was 'only' 35K/hr. I have taken uphill corners faster than that. The only reason Remco crashed was not taking the ideal line and he was clearly taken by surprise once he saw the bridge narrowed and he couldn't correct anymore. If there would be only some protection on the bridge where it got narrow, he would probably just have bumped into the bridge without falling over the edge.