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

[canina82]

Remco said that he "pushed his values" but it "goes faster and faster each year". I read this as: I reached my training values and expected that it was good enoug for the UAE tour. He does have a point here. The last few years the UAE team has raised the bar. The climb times speak for themselves. It's not a race he can win anymore without proper altitude training.

He lost time to many leaders from other teams. Why UAE? For example today, Decathlon was the team who put a very hard pace.

 

[AmRacer]

Look, let's not be naive here. Do you really think that the public announcement is the first time riders know each others schedules?

The teams and riders talk to each other. They even live 300 meters apart in Monaco... Roglic and Pogacar knew exactly what races they were doing and planned to avoid each other.

Rogla doing one weeks and Tadej one days until LBL. They will meet at Romandie

 

[Pozzovivo]

Rogla doing one weeks and Tadej one days until LBL. They will meet at Romandie

I'm talking about previous years. This year, Roglic did not get to decide where he races. And they are not in direct competition anymore considering the level difference. JV, Pog and Remco knew each others plans a long time before it was announced.

 

[Cycling111]

Remco said that he "pushed his values" but it "goes faster and faster each year". I read this as: I reached my training values and expected that it was good enoug for the UAE tour. He does have a point here. The last few years the UAE team has raised the bar. The climb times speak for themselves. It's not a race he can win anymore without proper altitude training.

Decathlon set the pace that broke up the peloton

There are 14 riders ahead, only one from UAE , and riders from at least 10 other teams.

When Remco dominates the time trial, whoever finishes 15th can't use that as an excuse.
You can't use that argumente today. There are two Tudor riders there.

1	del Toro Isaac	UAE Team Emirates - XRG	60	50	10″	3:27:54
2	Plapp Luke	Team Jayco AlUla	40	30	6″	0:12
3	Gall Felix	Decathlon CMA CGM Team	30	18	4″	0:21
4	Tiberi Antonio	Bahrain - Victorious	25	13		0:31
5	Johannessen Tobias Halland	Uno-X Mobility	20	10		0:36
6	Nordhagen Jørgen	Team Visma | Lease a Bike	15	7		,,
7	Gee-West Derek	Lidl - Trek	10	4		,,
8	Tejada Harold	XDS Astana Team	8	3		,,
9	Gaudu David	Groupama - FDJ United	5	2		0:48
10	Storer Michael	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	2	1		,,
11	Svestad-Bårdseng Embret	INEOS Grenadiers				,,
12	Van Eetvelt Lennert	Lotto Intermarché				,,
13	Munton Byron	Modern Adventure Pro Cycling				,,
14	Rondel Mathys	Tudor Pro Cycling Team				0:52
15	Evenepoel Remco	Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe				,

 

[jmdirt]

But while even I would be willing to accept reasons for a diminished performance, the degree of underperformance is exceptionally worrying.

A few days ago I typed that I wasn't going to make predictions for 2026 based on a poor climb, but overall this week has been, as you typed, exceptionally worrying.

 

[Rackham]

1. Too much emphasis on weight
2. Too much emphasis on altitude.

It's probably a combinatino of not training specifically enough for this (not training long climbs), fatigue from an usually heavy January/February racing block, and possibly simply a lack of heat adaptation.

Weight doesn't make sense because if he were 2-3ks lighter his climbing performance still wouldn't be great, and altitude doesn't make sense cause you don't need altitude to do good 20 minute efforts at low altitude.

But while even I would be willing to accept reasons for a diminished performance, the degree of underperformance is exceptionally worrying.

Oh I could go full dark pessimism here and suggest the degree at which Evenepoel got blown off the wheels today was evocative of how Rog got blown off the wheels on many major climbs last year from the Giro onwards.

Aka there could be too much talk about the rider Evenepoel and not enough talk about the team he's in. As a Rog fan I'm like that hanging man meme here when watching Evenepoel struggle i.e. first time huh?

Suddenly climbs that were a doddle for Rog became an issue. And to this day I still have no idea why, even when taking Rog's crashes into account (he got dropped by Ayuso and Bernal on the first summit finish in the Giro).

 

[Netserk]

if they are not completely clueless, he should still podium catalunya

this is still just the preseason

 

[Berniece]

I just checked and, sure, he won Algarve in 2024, but he finished at s.t. second to Dani Martinez on both climbs, and didn’t beat anyone of note. So not sure he was better at this point in the year, and that was before his crash.

I meant in TDF 2024. Wanted to say that he is able to climb.

He was really good on that Valencia 2 km wall. It seems that for him 5-minute climb vs 20-minute climb makes bigger difference than for other climbers (it's mainly aerobic system in both cases).

Well his whole training was on those 5min. They want him to get closer in LBL to Pogacar

 

[AmRacer]

I meant in TDF 2024. Wanted to say that he is able to climb.


Well his whole training was on those 5min. They want him to get closer in LBL to Pogacar

Or was.

So LBL is the big big number one target then?

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

I meant in TDF 2024. Wanted to say that he is able to climb.


Well his whole training was on those 5min. They want him to get closer in LBL to Pogacar

No I know, I just mean he’s no worse now at this point in the 2026 season than he was at this point in the 2024 season, so no reason to despair. Unless you’re expecting him to reach Pogi levels.

 

[Berniece]

No I know, I just mean he’s no worse now at this point in the 2026 season than he was at this point in the 2024 season, so no reason to despair. Unless you’re expecting him to reach Pogi levels.

I expected him to win here really… the idea was to get better, close the gap to Pogacar. This didn’t show that to me. Otherwise what’s his further potential, podium places in monuments, WC and winning TT’s…

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

I expected him to win here really… the idea was to get better, close the gap to Pogacar. This didn’t show that to me

Brand new team. It’s normal to have some friction. Roglic looked terrible at the start of his time with RB.

 

[Gianetti_Is_The_Goat]

1. If you finish 2nd in Lombardy, WC and EC last year, this climb isn't too steep, nor too long.
2. The guys he beat last week, performed really well this week. Tiberi in UAE, Almeida in Algarve. Evenepoel in in Valencia should always have been a podium contender in UAE. At least.
3. He mentioned a lack of freshness. Give me a break.

Either way, there's cause for concern.

 

[Gianetti_Is_The_Goat]

Brand new team. It’s normal to have some friction. Roglic looked terrible at the start of his time with RB.

That isn't true. His Paris-Nice wasn't great, but he started winning shortly after.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Right. Hence he started poorly but then (this was implied) found his form and put up some good, even great, performances.

 

[Berniece]

1. If you finish 2nd in Lombardy, WC and EC last year, this climb isn't too steep, nor too long.
2. The guys he beat last week, performed really well this week. Tiberi in UAE, Almeida in Algarve. Evenepoel in in Valencia should always have been a podium contender in UAE. At least.
3. He mentioned a lack of freshness. Give me a break.

Either way, there's cause for concern.

I agree, but also last year pre-altitude was Tour of Britain which was underwhelming. Post-altitude was everything you just said

 

[CyclistAbi]

Remco is know to fluctuate a bit in term of week long stage racing so i wouldn't put too much thought into it, one race. He has to improve, though.

 

[Oldman]

Remco is know to fluctuate a bit in term of week long stage racing so i wouldn't put too much thought into it, one race. He has to improve, though.

It does speak to the added challenges and training necessary to be relevant in a GT. The top 3 steps for all major tours always reveal those that can endure and recover even if they are not judged the strongest.

 

[LookProGoSlow]

I read he thinks he may have been a little bit ill the past few days.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

I agree with the general consensus that he's not a natural climber and he will always fight an uphill battle trying to win grand tours. The 2022 vuelta was very very easy. One of the great attacking classics riders and time triallists of all time.

At the same time, I think people read a bit too much into a race in February. Vingegard was dropped by a bunch of teenagers on malhao last year and still won a GT

There's way too much disrespect to Quickstep in the last 2 years. They know how to get riders in shape, they are not amateurs. Bora meanwhile doesn't know what to do with all their new money. Remco has not joined some super team with better methods, that part is clear.

 

[AmRacer]

Remco has not joined some super team with better methods, that part is clear.

Remco maybe felt he needed something new, getting a new start and different methods to be a better rider.
It's too early to judge if it was a smart move.

 

[Pozzovivo]

Remco maybe felt he needed something new, getting a new start and different methods to be a better rider.
It's too early to judge if it was a smart move.

I completely agree with the last statement, but If I understood the news correctly, he also brought over "his own crew" from QS?

 

[Pozzovivo]

not a natural climber and he will always fight an uphill battle

ba dum tss...

 

[Gratemans]

Thread title should be changed to "He's the best if not for [insert excuse]"

 

[Cycling111]

I agree with the general consensus that he's not a natural climber and he will always fight an uphill battle trying to win grand tours. The 2022 vuelta was very very easy. One of the great attacking classics riders and time triallists of all time.

At the same time, I think people read a bit too much into a race in February. Vingegard was dropped by a bunch of teenagers on malhao last year and still won a GT

There's way too much disrespect to Quickstep in the last 2 years. They know how to get riders in shape, they are not amateurs. Bora meanwhile doesn't know what to do with all their new money. Remco has not joined some super team with better methods, that part is clear.

Well, Vingegard had more than enough credentials to think that Mahao's situation was somewhat anecdotal.

What you say about Quick-Step is true. Landa had a disastrous Tour in 2023 with Bahrain, and he was splendid with Quick-Step in 2024. Quick-Step didn't have climbers, but the only two good drivers they had for a GT finished third and fifth, being Landa's result a significant improvement compared to the previous year.

That's noticeable if we compare how their sprinters are doing elsewhere. The most extreme case is Jakobsen.But there are other cases like Gaviria. And even though these riders leave, they always succeed with someone new, now Magnier. Quick-Step also needs to restructure, surely they´ll win again with that type of rider that has always worked so well for them.