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

[Charlyghoul]

Pidcock still has the potential of someone to win a gt.
Maybe it’s his fault if he wanted to do cx and mtb at Ineos, but he did win everything there was to win in those disciplines, what if instead of those he had concentrated only on gts?
I think it’s fair to say he could have been top-tenning a few by now?

 

[CyclistAbi]

In terms of stage racing and his career so far i don't feel Remco can be considered one of the greats. It's other type of races, mainly one day events, on where he achieved this status. So it will be interesting to see, at RBH, will he continue as is or will there be more emphasis on and results in terms of stage racing. And if that will be GC or stage wins and similar. The main idea likely is to try to win more GC and to balance it out a bit more, stage racing results compared to one day racing events. Before somebody says but he won Vuelta and was third at the Tour. Rogla won LBL and was third at Il Lombardia too, and nobody is saying he is one of the greats in terms of one day racing event. Although if you add in Olympic gold and similar, and as he is not done yet, i do see the appeal. Anyway. Point is this could change in the future but saying Remco is currently a stage racing powerhouse, now that really depends on who you ask.

P.S. As for bike riding skills note that van der Poel is rather frequent crasher plus he rather suck at stage racing beyond going after some specific stages. And with all that shortcomings he is still great.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Remco is an all around talent. Truth is, he's been good in both.

A quick look at wiki tells me, Remco has 12 GC wins. 12 one day race wins. and 6 TT wins (not counting TT stages,...)
It's just that he managed 3 of the biggest one day race wins (WC, LBL, Olympics), and only the Vuelta.
His other GC wins came in less prestigious stage races.

I would like to see remco win a major 1 week stage race. it would close down quite a few arguments. If he wasn't so focused on Roglic, he may have won PN. Then there was Catalunya against Roglic. Whatever the reason he has not managed to bring one of them across the line. Which is a major gap in his palmares.

When we're talking palmares, he should actually focus more on GC. Lombardi will not go away. It's the end of the season. Nothing other left to compete for. LBL he already won. Rest of the monuments are possible to have a go at. But he never mentioned wanting to win those. It was more Soudal wanting him to have a go there.

 

[CyclistAbi]

I would like to see remco win a major 1 week stage race. it would close down quite a few arguments. If he wasn't so focused on Roglic, he may have won PN. Then there was Catalunya against Roglic. Whatever the reason he has not managed to bring one of them across the line. Which is a major gap in his palmares.

IMHO he will achieve that at RBH and Rogla this time around might again turn out to be a factor involved. We'll see.

 

[Berniece]

Rest of the monuments are possible to have a go at. But he never mentioned wanting to win those. It was more Soudal wanting him to have a go there.

In April 2024, it was Remco who texted Lefevere that he wanted to try for the cobbled classics in 2025. That was before he crashed in Basque though.

 

[Extinction]

Probably fair to say you missed my point. I'll chalk it up as a language thing.

As an aside, I think they'll get along just fine, and certainly should have tons of mutual respect. The weird animosity between some of their respective fans, aimed toward the other rider, seems to be a fan thing, and not an issue between the two champions.

Scorpio/Aquarius relationship can be difficult.😝

 

[Berniece]

It's time to lock in for Remco. A big, big talent who, realistically, has never been close to winning against the big boys or is a real danger realisticaly to donkeykong in any races now, thats just the truth, either improve drastically climbing wice now or its time to readjust expectations I hate to be the bearer of reality my friends.

Will he remain just an overrated Belgian prospect by some belgians(his talent is undeniable good), or will he take the next step and become a true challenger? which he isnt at all now. That's the reality, wether or not fanboys like that, thats just the reality based on results cause he isnt.

Time to lock in, sink or swim, time is up for pretending and having a talent is not enough anymore if he cant next year its time to readjust the expectations even for fanboys. Reality and time wait for no man.

You are only talking about GT's right?

 

[James M]

You are only talking about GT's right?

Mainly yes, but realistically, hes not close to Donkey Kong in the classics either.(dont give me all previous results where all his big wins are mainly vs no Pog i cba about coping) While hes arguably the second-best in the world for now in ardennes, he’s clearly not close to him at all. Fact is he needs to take a next step or simply time to readjust expectations for his fans thers no point sugarcoating it.

Pogacars crazy rise isnt necessarily Remco’s fault and im not holding him against that but nevertheless it’s still the reality he has to face and by that what I mean time to readjust some expectations if he cant improve drastically next year, climbing wice mainly he has some serious questions mark to prove consistently.

 

[James M]

Above all, I value/like two things: talent and performance. Remco has or had an intriguing talent, but he's too old now to be judged purely on potential.

Its simple, it's time to grow up and become a man among men, or settle into being a good rider which he clearly is. But if he wants to be great, it's time to step up its not hard at all to say he reaslistically isnt close at all to challenge donkeykong.

I want to see improvements not necessarily expect him to win vs the best ever or judge him on that, but performances that are seriously impressive and at least close. Right now, he’s nowhere near that level and thats not this years excuses alone, I hope his change of team makes him into a demon and seriously impressive.

 

[Berniece]

Mainly yes, but realistically, hes not close to Donkey Kong in the classics either.(dont give me all previous results where all his big wins are mainly vs Pog i cba about coping) While hes arguably the second-best in the world for now in ardennes, he’s clearly not close to him at all. Fact is he needs to take a next step or simply time to readjust expectations for his fans thers no point sugarcoating it anymore.

With a botched build up Remco single handedly brought Skjelmose to victory in AGR, at the cost of Pogacar. So I don't agree that he's far behind.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Sorry, can't read. Eyes just rolled out of their sockets.

 

[Berniece]

Team for Tour of Britain has been announced. They supposedly going for stage wins, and Van Wilder is their backup plan for GC. They still have to race of course, but if Evenepoel isn't easily close to the win I don't expect much for WC.

Line up
EVENEPOEL Remco
HAYTER Ethan
LAMPERTI Luke
PEDERSEN Casper
SVRČEK Martin
VAN WILDER Ilan

Soudal Quick-Step to the Tour of Britain | Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team

Remco Evenepoel is back in action at the six-day event.

www.soudal-quickstepteam.com

 

[CyclistAbi]

Its simple, it's time to grow up and become a man among men, or settle into being a good rider which he clearly is.

Agreed and i said it before, perfect time to consider fatherhood.

 

[red_flanders]

This thread has gotten deeply weird.

 

[Peyroteo94]

This thread is just weird for 2 reasons.
Some here can't tolerate the fact other people don't consider Remco a future TdF winner and call him unreliable in the high mountains.
The other is claiming Remco isn't nowhere near Pogacar on hilly classics. Some here can't also tolerate this which is very weird IMO. There is no doubt he is the second best (by far IMO) but he is not close to Pogacar even if for example he made Pogacar lose AGR. One race is not enough when we look to the last 2 years, specially when we saw Pogacar destroying Remco in almost every classic they rode together (e.g. LBL 2025, FW 2025, GdL 2024, Emilia 2024, WC 2024). Those were not even close contests. How can someone be upset when some people say they are not close in hilly classics? But this change of teams will tell us more. Maybe he can decrease the gap (he will have one of the best coaches - Dan Lorang) but UNTIL THIS MOMENT, they are not close in classics, let alone stage racing.

 

[Berniece]

Whats weird?

Pushing Remco into fatherhood is weird.

Pogacar fans that try to discredit him is normal

 

[Ripper]

Roglic can but some of his crashes have come by trying to force the outside edges too much. It's better than trying to stay in the middle where chaos reigns. I'm not sure he's the guy to teach Remco to be more comfortable as much as Remco needs to watch guys that always seem to be where they should, when they should. It takes experience doing the right things as second nature without wasting excess energy and he doesn't have alot of time to waste if he wants to maximize his physical talents as a GC guy

Agree 100% on all points.

 

[Charlyghoul]

Women weaken legs, Remco getting his end away is bad for his climbing, I don’t recommend it sorry

 

[Ripper]

Pidcock still has the potential of someone to win a gt.
Maybe it’s his fault if he wanted to do cx and mtb at Ineos, but he did win everything there was to win in those disciplines, what if instead of those he had concentrated only on gts?
I think it’s fair to say he could have been top-tenning a few by now?

In what way has Pidcock ever shown he has GT winner potential?

 

[peterfin]

The weird thing here is that so many people jump in, give their opinion on Remco and the reasons why he is not at the level of Pogacar, that he better starts to improve etc, and direct all of this to an imaginary group of diehard Remco fans that they assume populate this thread and will never believe anything they say. We talked about it before but it remains interesting how Remco triggers that kind of behavior.

 

[red_flanders]

Pushing Remco into fatherhood is weird.

Pogacar fans that try to discredit him is normal

Thank you.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Some here can't tolerate the fact other people don't consider Remco a future TdF winner and call him unreliable in the high mountains.

This is such a ridiculous take🤣🤣
It’s the “Remco can’t climb”, “Remco has never shown he can climb” and “Remco isn’t a GC rider” that some can’t tolerate.

It’s not the “people calling him unreliable” that causes discussions, because even the people that are seen as the biggest Remco fans in this thread are regularly criticizing him for his inconsistency (and his weight, which likely is a huge factor in the inconsistency).

 

[Berniece]

The weird thing here is that so many people jump in, give their opinion on Remco and the reasons why he is not at the level of Pogacar, that he better starts to improve etc, and direct all of this to an imaginary group of diehard Remco fans that they assume populate this thread and will never believe anything they say. We talked about it before but it remains interesting how Remco triggers that kind of behavior.

But when people give an explanation on why he’s not at that level they are “delusional”

 

[Charlyghoul]

In what way has Pidcock ever shown he has GT winner potential?

Well, he is best result is what 15th or 16th in a gt ? So it doesn’t seem great
But he had a hell of a lot success in mtbing, cross, junior road results , people forget he won both Roubaix as a junior and u23, junior world tts etc

Now maybe that all doesn’t immediately say gt winner, but what about cadel evans coming from mtb? Wiggins coming from 4 minute efforts in the track ?

Pidcock basically has done road cycling as a second career since he started, he’s shown he can do everything else on a bike, he’s can climb well on shorter climbs.

I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say if he went all out to train for gts he could get pretty close.

To be honest it’s Pidcock himself that decided he didn’t want to focus on gt’s. Didn’t sky want to try to do gt’s with him? So even they thought he could. He just doesn’t seem interested and seems to prefer mtb to anything else.
But he has or had all the credentials to be a gt rider. Instead he focused on and won back to back Olympic mtbs.
The hate for Pidcock here is real

 

[Oldman]

It explains why he doesn’t have an engine for a GT, but that doesn’t explain why he would have one if he trained differently

Has he ever dedicated 2 seasons for pure GT prep? In my experience even the most talented riders need more than one well-prepared big race to a)be strong enough to comfortably know what happens, what could happen and how well they're able to respond b)be confident enough in yourself and know how to use your team to best highlight their efforts to better your results.
One day races are more straightforward as overwork doesn't impact the next day and the next and so on. It isn't just Remco; it's who helps Remco be where he should with minimal effort. And then how to deal with a situation where plans go sideways. You also need a DS that has a related plan so we'll see how that goes.
The hard part for Remco is sacrificing form for his favorite events in favor of the long game. The same discussion applies to Pidcock to some extent.