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

[rghysens]

The battle Evenepoel vs. Vacek is nicely shaping up these last weeks before the wc.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

ITT recon in Innsbruck

 

[lartiste]

Today is the TT?

 

[rghysens]

Re:

Today is the TT?

for the U23, not the juniors. Juniors tomorrow.

 

[lartiste]

OK, thank you!

 

[Lexman]

he's giving himself "only" 50 % chance to win tomorrow, he says he hasn't raced against australians and americans and it might be possible there's a youngster like him or even better....

https://sporza.be/nl/2018/09/24/evenepoel-leg-verwachtingen-niet-te-hoog-ik-geef-me-50-kans0/

 

[Red Rick]

The idea that he keeps winning road stages by minutes seems mutually exclusive with the idea that he would be a 50% favorite to win the worlds ITT, no?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

The idea that he keeps winning road stages by minutes seems mutually exclusive with the idea that he would be a 50% favorite to win the worlds ITT, no?

He can crash, he can get a puncture, he can have a bad day (although he seems incredibly consistent) and he doesn't know the opposition from outside of Europe.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

The idea that he keeps winning road stages by minutes seems mutually exclusive with the idea that he would be a 50% favorite to win the worlds ITT, no?

He can crash, he can get a puncture, he can have a bad day (although he seems incredibly consistent) and he doesn't know the opposition from outside of Europe.

Yeah, but thats not his argument...

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re: Re:

The idea that he keeps winning road stages by minutes seems mutually exclusive with the idea that he would be a 50% favorite to win the worlds ITT, no?

He can crash, he can get a puncture, he can have a bad day (although he seems incredibly consistent) and he doesn't know the opposition from outside of Europe.

Yeah, but thats not his argument...

That's... exactly his argument. "Je weet nooit of iemand anders beter is, en je kunt pech hebben".

In a different article from yesterday, he literally said he didn't know if there was an even stronger rider from Australia or the USA etc.

 

[DNP-Old]

Evenepoel has ridden against some Americans in the Nations Cup races, and I can't say I was blown away by their performances. The Australians on the other hand could be a problem because most of them have a history on the track (I'm assuming, at least), but they'd need someone special to pull that one off.

Don't know the exact startlist from top to bottom, but with the absence of Vacek, the main rivals I see are Van Wilder ('rival'), the Scandinavians, as always (Wærenskjold, Fischer Aasheim, Hindsgaul, Skjelmose, Blume Levy), the Italians (Piccolo, Tiberi) and maybe Alexandre Balmer and Lev Gonov, who are huge wildcards because they don't race on the road as much as the rest. I think Remco will win with a Bjerg-like advantage and Van Wilder taking silver.

 

[DNP-Old]

It seems that the Australians are bringing Luke Plapp, who is the ITT champion of Oceania after he won a 26 kilometer time trial with an advantage of 1:35.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

It seems that the Australians are bringing Luke Plapp, who is the ITT champion of Oceania after he won a 26 kilometer time trial with an advantage of 1:35.

Looking at the course profiles, it seems he favors flat roads. He also won the Australian nationals ITT, but with only a 2s advantage, which was a lot more hilly.

 

[Flamin]

Re:

Evenepoel has ridden against some Americans in the Nations Cup races, and I can't say I was blown away by their performances. The Australians on the other hand could be a problem because most of them have a history on the track (I'm assuming, at least), but they'd need someone special to pull that one off.

Don't know the exact startlist from top to bottom, but with the absence of Vacek, the main rivals I see are Van Wilder ('rival'), the Scandinavians, as always (Wærenskjold, Fischer Aasheim, Hindsgaul, Skjelmose, Blume Levy), the Italians (Piccolo, Tiberi) and maybe Alexandre Balmer and Lev Gonov, who are huge wildcards because they don't race on the road as much as the rest. I think Remco will win with a Bjerg-like advantage and Van Wilder taking silver.

Is Vacek deliberately skipping the ITT or what? Wuss.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

Evenepoel has ridden against some Americans in the Nations Cup races, and I can't say I was blown away by their performances. The Australians on the other hand could be a problem because most of them have a history on the track (I'm assuming, at least), but they'd need someone special to pull that one off.

Don't know the exact startlist from top to bottom, but with the absence of Vacek, the main rivals I see are Van Wilder ('rival'), the Scandinavians, as always (Wærenskjold, Fischer Aasheim, Hindsgaul, Skjelmose, Blume Levy), the Italians (Piccolo, Tiberi) and maybe Alexandre Balmer and Lev Gonov, who are huge wildcards because they don't race on the road as much as the rest. I think Remco will win with a Bjerg-like advantage and Van Wilder taking silver.

Is Vacek deliberately skipping the ITT or what? Wuss.

With there only being one day between the TT and the RR, he and his coach decided it would be better to just focus on the road race only. The fact this has chances of winning would be very slim are also a factor me thinks.

 

[Flamin]

Re: Re:

Evenepoel has ridden against some Americans in the Nations Cup races, and I can't say I was blown away by their performances. The Australians on the other hand could be a problem because most of them have a history on the track (I'm assuming, at least), but they'd need someone special to pull that one off.

Don't know the exact startlist from top to bottom, but with the absence of Vacek, the main rivals I see are Van Wilder ('rival'), the Scandinavians, as always (Wærenskjold, Fischer Aasheim, Hindsgaul, Skjelmose, Blume Levy), the Italians (Piccolo, Tiberi) and maybe Alexandre Balmer and Lev Gonov, who are huge wildcards because they don't race on the road as much as the rest. I think Remco will win with a Bjerg-like advantage and Van Wilder taking silver.

Is Vacek deliberately skipping the ITT or what? Wuss.

With there only being one day between the TT and the RR, he and his coach decided it would be better to just focus on the road race only. The fact this has chances of winning would be very slim are also a factor me thinks.

Yeah the schedule is absolute dogshit. That might definitely give him a bit of an edge on Thursday.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

It seems that the Australians are bringing Luke Plapp, who is the ITT champion of Oceania after he won a 26 kilometer time trial with an advantage of 1:35.

Plapp is more of a pure rouleur, think Bert Grabsch kind of build. He'll have to pace the climb and destroy the descent and flat to have a chance.

 

[Jakob747]

Re: Re:

It seems that the Australians are bringing Luke Plapp, who is the ITT champion of Oceania after he won a 26 kilometer time trial with an advantage of 1:35.

Plapp is more of a pure rouleur, think Bert Grabsch kind of build. He'll have to pace the climb and destroy the descent and flat to have a chance.

I respectfully disagree here.

Plapp weighs like 70kg and he goes uphill well. At this time of his development, I think he is more along the lines of Cam Meyer! I think Luke has more potential climbing-wise than Meyer.

Luke and Cam McFarlane (coach) has had Innsbruck as a goal all year practically, along with World-Tracks (huge success for Luke) and I think tomorrow he will have a good ride. Enough to match someone in Evenepoels class for example? No idea - but Luke can defiantly handle climbs like those tomorrows undulating terrain offer!

 

[RedheadDane]

So... out of curiosity I went to check his statistics for this year and...

pretty impressive...

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Narrow win.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

The idea that he keeps winning road stages by minutes seems mutually exclusive with the idea that he would be a 50% favorite to win the worlds ITT, no?

Shouldn't start a bookie it seems.

 

[Valv.Piti]

When have we seriously seen such a big talent?

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Re: Re:

Evenepoel has ridden against some Americans in the Nations Cup races, and I can't say I was blown away by their performances. The Australians on the other hand could be a problem because most of them have a history on the track (I'm assuming, at least), but they'd need someone special to pull that one off.

Don't know the exact startlist from top to bottom, but with the absence of Vacek, the main rivals I see are Van Wilder ('rival'), the Scandinavians, as always (Wærenskjold, Fischer Aasheim, Hindsgaul, Skjelmose, Blume Levy), the Italians (Piccolo, Tiberi) and maybe Alexandre Balmer and Lev Gonov, who are huge wildcards because they don't race on the road as much as the rest. I think Remco will win with a Bjerg-like advantage and Van Wilder taking silver.

Is Vacek deliberately skipping the ITT or what? Wuss.

Good choice

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Same time as the U23 4th place Edoardo Affini. 44 seconds slower than Bjerg, according to Procyclingstats.com.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

Same time as the U23 4th place Edoardo Affini. 44 seconds slower than Bjerg, according to Procyclingstats.com.

There were a lot of sections where having a bigger gear would gain him a lot of time. In the flat sections and especially downhill, you could see he wanted to keep pushing, but the gear was just too small. I don't think he would have been too far off Bjergs time. But I guess we'll know next year perhaps.

PS: Evenepoel: "I didn't go full gas the first 10k, but i heard i had already had the best time with 20 or 30 seconds"

It seems that the Australians are bringing Luke Plapp, who is the ITT champion of Oceania after he won a 26 kilometer time trial with an advantage of 1:35.

Plapp is more of a pure rouleur, think Bert Grabsch kind of build. He'll have to pace the climb and destroy the descent and flat to have a chance.

I respectfully disagree here.

Plapp weighs like 70kg and he goes uphill well. At this time of his development, I think he is more along the lines of Cam Meyer! I think Luke has more potential climbing-wise than Meyer.

Luke and Cam McFarlane (coach) has had Innsbruck as a goal all year practically, along with World-Tracks (huge success for Luke) and I think tomorrow he will have a good ride. Enough to match someone in Evenepoels class for example? No idea - but Luke can defiantly handle climbs like those tomorrows undulating terrain offer!

Plapp rode two long (+/-30k) ITT's this year, he won both, one he won with over a minute, the other he won with 2 seconds ahead of the same guys. Guess which one was flat and which one was not.