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

[YavorD]

imagine Remco's. tho I know you are one of the posters that thinks crashes only affect every other rider but him.

As unlucky, as Evenepoel is with crashes, he's been quite lucky in some of his biggest wins as well.
Pogacar's mother in wall passing away and his crash gifted him 2 wins in LBL. Roglic's crash made his Vuelta win formality (yes, he could/would have won anyway, but..), MVDP's games with little girls deffo had some impact as well.
Heck, if last year someone decided to ride with MVDP, he was nowhere near that group

 

[Peyroteo94]

the Vuelta was fake news, just like 2024 TDF, just like leading the Giro in 2023 (after all, he should have gone on racing with a bad case of Covid).

Mate, I will be here to admit if I'm wrong. One thing I will tell you, my predictions are normally right when talking about Remco and Roglic.
All this talk about Remco winning another GT as a mere formality but his last (and only) GT win was 3 years ago. Let's see where he will be in 2 years.
And please, don't mention the Giro 2023 specially when he left the race before the high mountains. Of course he was leading, they just had 2 TTs. There is no surprise there, he is the best in TTs.

 

[AlpRaid]

As unlucky, as Evenepoel is with crashes, he's been quite lucky in some of his biggest wins as well.
Pogacar's mother in wall passing away and his crash gifted him 2 wins in LBL. Roglic's crash made his Vuelta win formality (yes, he could/would have won anyway, but..), MVDP's games with little girls deffo had some impact as well.
Heck, if last year someone decided to ride with MVDP, he was nowhere near that group

he won every race he entered in 2020 (at the age of 20) and was arguably on his way to win the first monument he ever raced.

if there is one top rider who's palmares has been dented by crashes and illness it is Remco's.

here's hoping he can even get back to his fall 2022 shape again.

(also, the way the worlds in 2022 worked out, MVDP would never have followed remco with 73 kms to go, and once that happened it was over -- yes, remco benefitted from having WVA and MVDP would have stayed in the peloton, as did the pre-ridiculous-2024 Pog who could achieve no separation from the pack when he desperately tried. but then again, remco has almost never benefitted from having team-mates that are a threat to the other racers, so...)

 

[Breh]

Red Bull to send the Trident to the 2026 Tour to occupy 4th, 5th and 6th behind 3rd spot Landa

 

[Salvarani]

No GT’s at all? Not even without Pogacar and Vingegaard? Wonder how he ever won a Vuelta

Because he faced neither and Rog crashed out, who was already hurt from the Tour.

He faced two very young riders at the time in C Rod and Ayuso. Their first pro season.

Mas and MAL (who would soon be out of the pro peloton).

Weak route, where he also gained a lot in the flat ITT. Especially on the above.

No Angliru. No Lagos de Covadonga. No Tourmalet.

The stars aligned perfectly.

It will be hard to replicate.

 

[AlpRaid]

Mate, I will be here to admit if I'm wrong. One thing I will tell you, my predictions are normally right when talking about Remco and Roglic.

weird (troubling even) sense of pride in benefitting in your "predictions" from others' misfortune in having their bodies broken.

 

[Peyroteo94]

weird sense of pride in benefitting in your "predictions" from others' misfortune in having their bodies broken.

Roglic and broke any bone in the Tour?

 

[Berniece]

Can definitely try E3 and Flanders as he has the engine to succeed. And should target one week WT stage races.

I think they are too scared to jeopardise Ardennes classics and TDF that they won’t let him start there.

weird (troubling even) sense of pride in benefitting in your "predictions" from others' misfortune in having their bodies broken.

Not to mention he was only right about Roglic in TDF because Roglic decided he wanted a stage win instead of top 5 placement in GC. He thought he would be *** and bad, and he wasn’t. Actually where Roglic was coming from he was quite good.

 

[Karl Merckx]

Ignoring all the useless speculation to post some tangible news :
According to Foré, he's riding tour of britain before WC, EC and italian classics.

 

[Samamba]

I don't want to, but I am forced to be on the Remco hatetrain now.

 

[Lequack]

So no more Remco vs Roglic rivalry? We've been robbed.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT9s64HLG8Q

 

[AmRacer]

quote? I have never said that. lol. the pog fans that appear weirdly obsessed with remco really make stuff up.

in fact I thought pog's crash would affect him in the TDF. silly me. It either did not, or he is so ridiculous since he was psychologically damaged by Combloux and suddenly transformed himself, that literally nothing can bother him.

I have never said what you accused me of.

 

[Berniece]

I don't want to, but I am forced to be on the Remco hatetrain now.

Why? SOQ is being paid fairly according to Foré. Because he forced a leave?

 

[ColonelKidneyBeans]

Do you really expect a useful response when putting forth an absurd straw man?

I guess that's a dumb question on my part...

The amount of dumb stuff Merckx has said and will say about modern cycling is second to none anyway, trust me (You have to be exposed to the Belgian media to know the extent of it, and it's quite something)

 

[red_flanders]

The amount of dumb stuff Merckx has said and will say about modern cycling is second to none anyway, trust me (You have to be exposed to the Belgian media to know the extent of it, and it's quite something)

For sure. It was just irrelevant to my comments.

 

[Links2003]

Remco will quickly settle in at RBH, especially with all the people he's bringing along. He's already familiar with most of the equipment as well. I'm curious whether the team will manage to bring out the best in him—and whether the new sporting management can establish a sense of “we” within the squad. Remco is the new star and brings a lot of change with him. For many of the riders already there, things will be shifting quite a bit.

Remco surely wants to win the Tour, and RBH wouldn't bring in a rider like him just to target small stage races. That said, I don't think the Grand Tours are where his greatest strengths lie. He’s definitely capable—he’s a top-class rider and can perform really well in them. But he also tends to have weaker days during those races. Yet Remco could win so many races for the team if he shifted his focus. Races where time trials are crucial. Time trials in general. One-day Classics. That’s where I’d put the focus. I’m afraid, though, that everything’s going to revolve around the Tour. And there, I believe the team might actually have better options.

 

[Didinho]

Hope they try all the right clothing and bars/gels as soon as possible. Remember Roglic was struggling with it in the beginning of the season. Should be cleared up before the season starts. Won’t be a problem with the colder rainy days in Belgium and the warmer sunny days in Spain.

 

[Samamba]

Why? SOQ is being paid fairly according to Foré. Because he forced a leave?

Breaking contract to join a super team means going on my naughty list.

That and I think it would actually be good for cycling if he fails there. Would stop people from screaming for every big talent to go to a super team (while at the same time complaining about every big talent being at the super teams).

Also 2 to 3M for Remco is peanuts.

 

[Extinction]

Honestly for one reason or another, Ineos have limited success with "natural" talents IMO.
So I don't think they would be a better fit for Evenepoel.

It's a show, so the money nets results. I'm sure Remco at Sky/Ineos could have exploded.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

So no more Remco vs Roglic rivalry? We've been robbed.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT9s64HLG8Q

Don't worry yet. During the next Tour there will be an epic rivalry regarding who should carry bidons for the Lippopotamus.

 

[Peyroteo94]

So next year, it will be the same old schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice or TA
Volta a Catalunya
Ardennes
Dauphiné
TdF
Some minor races
WC TT
WC RR
Italian classics

Can he finally win a one week stage race?

 

[Krzysztof_O]

So next year, it will be the same old schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice or TA
Volta a Catalunya
Ardennes
Dauphiné
TdF
Some minor races
WC TT
WC RR
Italian classics

Can he finally win a one week stage race?

He'll have to contend with two strong GC guys in his own team so may be a co-leader in some of those races, not necessarily a sole leader like it's been so far.

 

[houtdffan]

So next year, it will be the same old schedule:
Volta ao Algarve
Paris Nice or TA
Volta a Catalunya
Ardennes
Dauphiné
TdF
Some minor races
WC TT
WC RR
Italian classics

Can he finally win a one week stage race?

how do we know it is the same as usual?

 

[Extinction]

With any rider, you have to get into the head of another. Pogi did this to Remco, but I'm not sure Remco can do this to Lipowitz (Roglic is no longer a factor, he's too old).

 

[CyclistAbi]

Welcome.