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

[houtdffan]

After hitting a pothole his saddle dropped. He had to ride Mount Kigali on a dropped saddle and was completely cramped up by the time they reached the top, he had no choice but to stop. Had Van Wilder still been in the race, he could have given his bike. But Soler took out Van Wilder early on.

A pothole? In a major championship?

FFS. The UCI needs to make sure the roads are in racing condition!

 

[red_flanders]

did u watch his interview?

he explained what happened, nothing to do with not being able to climb (as was shown after), and he seemed very calm and settled about it after having time to recover from his disappointment.

Dominating Gold in the ITT and clear Silver in the RR, but if you can't beat Pogi, character flaws, weight, and an utter inability to climb must be to blame.

 

[peterfin]

If you combine ITT and RR

Valverde has seven in just the RR

Including the OC, he has 10 medals out of 14 attempts: 6 gold (4 TT and 2 RR), 2 silver (1 TT and 1 RR) and 2 bronze (TT). Add the EC and he has 13 medals out of 18 attempts. I think that is pretty crazy stuff.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Apparantly he was cramping up from different saddle positions.

In any case this was a vintage remco performance. Drama, seemingly close to giving up, coming good and riding like absolute class. Tears at the end.

All in all he can be proud of today's performance. Without Pogacar he becomes World Champion.
I was expecting more from Del toro (but he's young), surprised to see Ayuso made a cameo. Not surprised he could not follow through.

Without Remco this race would have been boring. With Remco there was at least the illusion of suspense.
All the reasons why some people dislike Remco were at display today. They are in many ways also a big part of why I like Remco. Full of fight, a motoring powerhouse that sits his bike beautifully.

Lets hope he'll be good next week as well, and hopefully have all the luck on his side during the EC RR. I would love it, if he wins that one. As small as the odds may be.

 

[Jan the Man]

Someone quoted Hermans saying that Remcos saddle went out of position (fell down a bit?) on Mount Kigali. So to me it seems pretty clear that he got dropped because of the mechanical (he was looking very comfortable just 10-15s before he suddenly went right out of Pogacars wheel and dropped like a stone. So the getting dropped and first bike change definitively looked like a real problem.

The second one is much more questionable. Apparently Hermans said Remco felt uncomfortable with the saddle position on the spare bike and therefore wanted to change once more. That one could definitiviely only be mental.

Disappointing for him if that’s the case- practically if he could have stayed with Pog at the top it would have changed the dynamics of the race, albeit the fact Pog kept taking chunks of time on the cobbled climb even riding solo for so long shows the reality of how it would have played out if there would have been a small group together in the last couple of circuits.

He showed great character to battle back despite his misfortune. He is clearly a level above everyone not named Pog in these sort of races. In a sense he’s unfortunate to be ridding at same time as Pog but then winning against him (when he can) means more.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Disappointing for him if that’s the case- practically if he could have stayed with Pog at the top it would have changed the dynamics of the race, albeit the fact Pog kept taking chunks of time on the cobbled climb even riding solo for so long shows the reality of how it would have played out if there would have been a small group together in the last couple of circuits.

Yes the race would've likely looked different, the result the same.

 

[AlpRaid]

Dominating Gold in the ITT and clear Silver in the RR, but if you can't beat Pogi, character flaws, weight, and an utter inability to climb must be to blame.

just checking that this was tongue-in-cheek...(?)

 

[red_flanders]

just checking that this was tongue-in-cheek...(?)

Remco derangement syndrome.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Apparantly he was cramping up from different saddle positions.

In any case this was a vintage remco performance. Drama, seemingly close to giving up, coming good and riding like absolute class. Tears at the end.

All in all he can be proud of today's performance. Without Pogacar he becomes World Champion.
I was expecting more from Del toro (but he's young), surprised to see Ayuso made a cameo. Not surprised he could not follow through.

Without Remco this race would have been boring. With Remco there was at least the illusion of suspense.
All the reasons why some people dislike Remco were at display today. They are in many ways also a big part of why I like Remco. Full of fight, a motoring powerhouse that sits his bike beautifully.

Lets hope he'll be good next week as well, and hopefully have all the luck on his side during the EC RR. I would love it, if he wins that one. As small as the odds may be.

Yes this is spot on. May he never change. Are we sure he isn’t French? Reminds me of Pinot in temperament. Such passion, such drama. Helluva bike rider, too. Really needs to work on stress control. He does not handle the unexpected well. No way to know, but does anyone doubt that Pogacar would have handled that much better? Anyways, still a good ride. Think he could have been closer to the win. Clearly top 2 rider in the world on this type of course.

 

[chickenlips]

I wonder how much of a difference it would have made if he didn't stop and wait for 30 secs/a minute for his team car at the bike exchange. Could he not have carried on a bit further until the car was closer?

 

[EddyMazzoleni]

Im not a professional bike rider, but wouldnt it be better to just ride the steeper part of the climb out of the saddle instead of sitting on the too low saddle?

It's probaly really hard to stay out of the saddle for several minutes straight, especially for some one who does not gets out of the saddle for long time as an habit.
Hopefully he is better luck next time, although I doubt he can match Pogi on the hills

 

[Berniece]

I wonder how much of a difference it would have made if he didn't stop and wait for 30 secs/a minute for his team car at the bike exchange. Could he not have carried on a bit further until the car was closer?

No, he was cramped up.

For everyone, here’s an interview in Dutch.

"Ik moést stoppen, want ik was volledig verkrampt": Remco Evenepoel verbijt de ontgoocheling na ellendig WK | sporza

"Wat als?" is een vraag die wellicht nog een tijdje zal nazinderen bij Remco Evenepoel. Wat als hij geen portie materiaalmiserie gehad zou hebben? De zilveren medaille gaf zelf na de podiumceremonie zijn kijk op zijn WK: "Ik had altijd pech op de slechtste momenten."

sporza.be

 

[yaco]

Rode exceptionally well today and I think he has a better chance in the Euro's to turn the tables on pogacar.

 

[HashRouge]

No, he was cramped up.

For everyone, here’s an interview in Dutch.

"Ik moést stoppen, want ik was volledig verkrampt": Remco Evenepoel verbijt de ontgoocheling na ellendig WK | sporza

"Wat als?" is een vraag die wellicht nog een tijdje zal nazinderen bij Remco Evenepoel. Wat als hij geen portie materiaalmiserie gehad zou hebben? De zilveren medaille gaf zelf na de podiumceremonie zijn kijk op zijn WK: "Ik had altijd pech op de slechtste momenten."

sporza.be

I still don't understand the problem with the second bike. Not that there couldn't be an issue with the saddle angle, but why was there an issue? It seems like such a fundamental thing to get wrong. The mechanic apparently said it was the same, though, so I who knows.

I do love Remco though. He's so entertaining to watch, and I honestly I like that he's so passionate. I don't really care if it was unrealistic for him to think he could beat Pogacar today, but I like that he clearly believed that he might have had a chance. I don't really understand why people were annoyed with him for being so disappointed at the end.

 

[Extinction]

No, this variety of winners has happened precisely because Peterfin's prescribed "hard but the climbing within limits and with some yearly variations in intensity so chances to win are better than zero for the heavier guys" has not been the route every year. The wide scope of winners you note happens because routes have been as different from each other as Copenhagen and Innsbruck.

Exactly what I said. And Grenoble.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Honestly, there was probably no problem with the second bike. After getting cramped up and sitting in a different saddle position it probably went into his head. He was probably still feeling the after effects.

 

[Berniece]

Rode very well, clearly was in great shape and could've won. He was unlucky again, but he showed he's still able to fight for monuments and WC's with the best.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Exactly what I said. And Grenoble.

Your

Historically this has been the case,

certainly looked like "Historically, what Peterfin described has been the case,

 

[Extinction]

Remco got cramps, so he said, at the worst possible moment, but not Pogacar. Fatal. Evereything else is fantasy. It's in his head by now. Poor Remco, in a manner of speaking, but chapeau to Pogacar.

 

[Red Rick]

No, this variety of winners has happened precisely because Peterfin's prescribed "hard but the climbing within limits and with some yearly variations in intensity so chances to win are better than zero for the heavier guys" has not been the route every year. The wide scope of winners you note happens because routes have been as different from each other as Copenhagen and Innsbruck.

It basically used to favor these 20-30 man group sprints an absurd amount due to the way cycling was at the time

Now cycling is basically the opposite in that anything past a certain difficulty because a Pogacar training ride.

I wish I could swap a bunch of the moder WC routes with a decade ago to be honest.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Yes this is spot on. May he never change. Are we sure he isn’t French? Reminds me of Pinot in temperament. Such passion, such drama. Helluva bike rider, too. Really needs to work on stress control. He does not handle the unexpected well. No way to know, but does anyone doubt that Pogacar would have handled that much better? Anyways, still a good ride. Think he could have been closer to the win. Clearly top 2 rider in the world on this type of course.

No way of knowing. Last time Pogacar had some bad luck was during the interbellum.

Remco got cramps, so he said, at the worst possible moment, but not Pogacar. Fatal. Evereything else is fantasy. It's in his head by now. Poor Remco, in a manner of speaking, but chapeau to Pogacar.

His mechanic already acknowledged during the race that his saddle in fact had dropped. That means he did the entire Mount Kigali climb like that and the Mur de Kigali as well. I can understand perfectly that he cramped up.

 

[Berniece]

His mechanic already acknowledged during the race that his saddle in fact had dropped. That means he did the entire Mount Kigali climb like that and the Mur de Kigali as well. I can understand perfectly that he cramped up.

Second one is weird though. He was cramping up, while the bike was fine according to mechanic. I don't believe you can cramp up because you are doubting mentally.

But that first one was the most annoying one. He could've followed Pogacar, and we could've had a race between the two of them. Pogacar would never have been able to drop him, so we would've had a nice sprint.

 

[HashRouge]

Second one is weird though. He was cramping up, while the bike was fine according to mechanic. I don't believe you can cramp up because you are doubting mentally.

I wonder if maybe he was uncomfortable from the first bike, and didn't immediately feel better on the second bike because his muscles were still sore. So then he became convinced there was a problem with that one too?

 

[bah]

Second one is weird though. He was cramping up, while the bike was fine according to mechanic. I don't believe you can cramp up because you are doubting mentally.

He said his lower back was hurting. Could be partly mental, could be partly a knock on effect from riding in the wrong position when the saddle dropped (if the saddle was indeed in exactly the same position).

 

[Extinction]

Your
certainly looked like "Historically, what Peterfin described has been the case,

Don't know what you mean? Merckx, Hinault, Lemond, Fondriest, Armstrong, Bugno, Cipollini, Cavendish and so forth won Worlds, not all could climb. Consequently, varried selection of talents has been always present.