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

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

I liked Remco's statement after a brutal stage 11 today.

It's likely not his statement.

He didn't want to talk to the Belgian press at the finish line and didn't react in a video either. It was a statement released by the team. They attributed it to him, sure, but yeah.

 

[dastott]

Can't see Bernal losing 2 minutes to Remco in the final TT. Bernal has shown he can defend quite well in a final TT, see the Tour De Suisse against Rohan Dennis. He isn't a terrible TTer when on form, and he has the recovery too.

 

[limak_]

If Remco wants to beat Bernal, his only chance is to give him a friendly pat on the back (REALLY HARD).

Seems like he's already tried this one

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Without Almeida it would have been much worse. Had Almeida done his job from the beginning, it would have been a lot better.

Sure, but I don't think it would have mattered much in the end, racing wise. Could have maybe limited his losses to 1:15 - 1:30 or whatever but he's still very much in contention at this point. What matters way more is recovery and mental strength.

A couple mountain stages are suited to long range attacks. INEOS probably isn't even that strong in the actual mountains. They have Martinez and maybe Moscon.

 

[Fantastico]

Each time he lost time, there has been a definable reason for it, which does not necessarily have an impact on the rest of the race. He lost 11 seconds in the first hilly stage. There was in initial attack by Landa, Bernal reacted there was a gap and once the gap was established, Remco did not keep losing time. He has never been a punchy rider, and especially now with a short preperation and training, there was no more time to train his short efforts.
First MTF he did not lose time to Bernal, only boniseconds. Same problem here, he was outsprinted. It's not his thing.
Two days ago he lost time on the final gravel section. He was badly positioned and again he does lack the punch that Bernal has.
Today he was wasting energy due to a lack of technical and bikehandling skills on the gravel sections. You can make up for that, closing gap after gap, moving to the front again after every turn and corner, but you have to do a lot bigger efforts than your rivals and at a certain point you run out of energy. Also, after being dropped and Bernal going all out, he only lost 2 minutes, caught Bardet & Martinez, and nearly Soler and Ciccone. He he really been done and dusted, i don't think he would have been able to lose so little time.

While it's completely possible that he'll drop further back, due to a too short training period, the time he lost does not necessarily point to that being the case. There are enough reasonable explanations for each time he has lost time.

True. But on the other hand, if he lost time to Bernal on almost every difficult stage so far, assuming that this will be similar for the coming stages is not really far-fetched. There will be definable reasons in these stages as well. And he will not become punchier all of a sudden.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

Having lived, ridden and raced in Italy for many years, I will say this: if you want to do well racing in Italy then you must have excellent race craft. From the riding standpoint, Italy is as spectacularly beautiful as it is ruthlessly unforgiving. Besides the regional exceptions (which confirm the rule), Italian roads are almost never straight. There is always a bend just up the road that shifts route, some relief or elevation to climb and descend, curva e controcurva, treacherous mountain passes over granite peaks and their descents through shadowy fir pine or beech tree forests, undulating strade sterrate amidst remote landscapes, medieval villages with there narrow cobbled alleyways, road furniture and potholes, etc., etc.

So if one doesn't shine at driving the bicycle, sooner or later Italy seals one's fate. I read in la Gazzetta dello Sport this morning that a resolute Remco says "It aint over, till it's over." Doubtless a fine spirit and the right mentality to continue the war. And yet, after yesterday's debacle, he is now on the back foot, his weakness exposed. If he isn't difinitively out of the top GC hunt, now his rivals smell blood and you can be sure along the descents in the high mountains to come they will go for the KO. Can he avoid the deck?

His rivals smell blood ? But Evenepoel is not a real contender anymore. Bernal, Vlasov or Yates attacking in the future, will not have the purpose to destroy Evenepoel (because he has been destroyed), but to lag other opponents behind .

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

It's likely not his statement.

He didn't want to talk to the Belgian press at the finish line and didn't react in a video either. It was a statement released by the team. They attributed it to him, sure, but yeah.

Wrong. He did speak on a video. Not for the press, but it was a team video

 

[AlfaLum]

So, we have this young dude, who was proven himself to be a great rider in the past, but who we have never seen in any great mountain stage so far.

This young dude has lost time on almost every important stage in the Giro so far. Besides yesterday all of these stages have shown some similarity to stages where he previously performed perfectly fine such as Alto de Fóia and Picon Blanco.

And now many seem to expect this guy to make a recovery in stages where he is completely untested. Even taking into account that he is racing three weeks for the first time where his previous max. has been like 7 stages on a very low level in Argentinia. And also taking into account that this youngster has had an awful preparation after coming back from a heavy injury after crashing last year.

 

[Volderke]

Yes, we expect GREAT things to happen

More seriously: every speculation about the TT, considering the CURRENT time loss, is totally ridiculous until we are actually on the day of the TT and know the RELEVANT time differences.

Until then, so many things can happen: time loss, time gain, a crash, an injury, ...

 

[pvieira91]

It would have been fine if he just lost some seconds at the end like before, but yeah, he looked knackered yesterday. And while I'd love to believe it, I don't think we can blame his poor technique for it. Sure, it didn't help, but the difference between the way Bernal dropped everyone looking impressive af whilst Evenepoel seemed empty was very striking. Still, he's young and not a normal guy so perhaps he can recover somewhat.

Not sure if it's realistic to expect something like that with his preparation though.

Remco has said that it was empty / without energy. He didn't blame his technique. For me it's obvious that he just doesn't have the legs which completely normal due to his lack of competition in the last 9 months.

 

[Valanga]

So, we have this young dude, who was proven himself to be a great rider in the past, but who we have never seen in any great mountain stage so far.

This young dude has lost time on almost every important stage in the Giro so far. Besides yesterday all of these stages have shown some similarity to stages where he previously performed perfectly fine such as Alto de Fóia and Picon Blanco.

And now many seem to expect this guy to make a recovery in stages where he is completely untested. Even taking into account that he is racing three weeks for the first time where his previous max. has been like 7 stages on a very low level in Argentinia. And also taking into account that this youngster has had an awful preparation after coming back from a heavy injury after crashing last year.

I think expectations after yesterdays horror are a bit more realistic now ;-)
Most got carried away "a bit", including himself and his team I think.

Pre stage interview: https://sporza.be/nl/2021/05/20/rem...t-podium-er-is-weinig-verloren~1621497914960/
Google translate: https://translate.google.com/transl...t-podium-er-is-weinig-verloren~1621497914960/

Still going for GC, but ...

The team mates can now have a slightly freer role and I have to take care of myself a bit."

What astonishes me the most however, is that he's saying the first and second sterratos went fine but he got in trouble on the third.

No Remco, the first and second sterrato did not go fine. You were unable to hold the wheel of any team mate, not even when going into the sterrato, let alone on the sterrato itself. You were unable to take any decent corner. You could power yourself back to the bunch every time, but it did not go fine.

If you're not going to admit your technique really sucked, you're not going to improve it. And that's a real shame because it's gonna cost you more than just this GT.

 

[pvieira91]

Each time he lost time, there has been a definable reason for it, which does not necessarily have an impact on the rest of the race. He lost 11 seconds in the first hilly stage. There was in initial attack by Landa, Bernal reacted there was a gap and once the gap was established, Remco did not keep losing time. He has never been a punchy rider, and especially now with a short preperation and training, there was no more time to train his short efforts.
First MTF he did not lose time to Bernal, only boniseconds. Same problem here, he was outsprinted. It's not his thing.
Two days ago he lost time on the final gravel section. He was badly positioned and again he does lack the punch that Bernal has.
Today he was wasting energy due to a lack of technical and bikehandling skills on the gravel sections. You can make up for that, closing gap after gap, moving to the front again after every turn and corner, but you have to do a lot bigger efforts than your rivals and at a certain point you run out of energy. Also, after being dropped and Bernal going all out, he only lost 2 minutes, caught Bardet & Martinez, and nearly Soler and Ciccone. He he really been done and dusted, i don't think he would have been able to lose so little time.

While it's completely possible that he'll drop further back, due to a too short training period, the time he lost does not necessarily point to that being the case. There are enough reasonable explanations for each time he has lost time.



Who knows, but as Bonimenier said, according to the team, there were technical issues with communication. It's a flimsy excuse honestly, since he (Almeida) shouldn't need to be told to begin with, that he should look after Evenepoel, but on the other hand, he did do a lot of work once he went to help.

But i agree about Remco, it's not the end of the world, only a minute off podium. He didn't completely tank either, even caught guys from the first group. If he can bounce back, still a lot is possible. The main question is, were these the signs that he's running on fumes, or is nothing the matter and was it a bad day due to woeful bikehandling, making him burn through his energy reserves.


Had he started helping earlier, Remco would not have lost so much time in the first place. Both of them would have wasted less time and energy, and possibly even been able to (perhaps temporarilly) bridge the gap.

"Het was gisteren een slechte dag, niet meer dan normaal zeker? Op de derde sector had ik gewoon niet de benen om te vechten. Toen iedereen begon te sprinten, kon ik niet mee. Het waren echt de benen die er niet waren."
/
"It was a bad day yesterday, no more than usual for sure? In the third sector I just didn't have the legs to fight. When everyone started sprinting, I couldn't come. It really was the legs that weren't there."


You can find all the causes to apologize his performance but Remco, himself, was very clear: "It really was the legs that weren't there."

 

[Extinction]

His rivals smell blood ? But Evenepoel is not a real contender anymore. Bernal, Vlasov or Yates attacking in the future, will not have the purpose to destroy Evenepoel (because he has been destroyed), but to lag other opponents behind .

Well, he's only a little over 2 minutes down. That does not make him completely out of contention just yet. If somehow he gains time, which I don't think is likely, then he certainly remains a serious threat. By contrast if he loses a couple of more minutes he will be difinitively out.

 

[Panda Claws]

It's likely not his statement.

He didn't want to talk to the Belgian press at the finish line and didn't react in a video either. It was a statement released by the team. They attributed it to him, sure, but yeah.

He repeated it on his Instagram post though (if it did not Came from there to begin with)

 

[Bonimenier]

His rivals smell blood ? But Evenepoel is not a real contender anymore. Bernal, Vlasov or Yates attacking in the future, will not have the purpose to destroy Evenepoel (because he has been destroyed), but to lag other opponents behind .

Everyone apart from Bernal probably still needs to take time on him to be safe for the TT though.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

"Het was gisteren een slechte dag, niet meer dan normaal zeker? Op de derde sector had ik gewoon niet de benen om te vechten. Toen iedereen begon te sprinten, kon ik niet mee. Het waren echt de benen die er niet waren."
/
"It was a bad day yesterday, no more than usual for sure? In the third sector I just didn't have the legs to fight. When everyone started sprinting, I couldn't come. It really was the legs that weren't there."


You can find all the causes to apologize his performance but Remco, himself, was very clear: "It really was the legs that weren't there."

Remco has said that it was empty / without energy. He didn't blame his technique. For me it's obvious that he just doesn't have the legs which completely normal due to his lack of competition in the last 9 months.

His legs were empty. If they weren't he would have been able to follow. The reason why they got drained, was because of the sterrati and his lack of technical skills to ride them. Just like his sports director said, just like his team mate James Knox said. But feel free to make your own conclusions.

True. But on the other hand, if he lost time to Bernal on almost every difficult stage so far, assuming that this will be similar for the coming stages is not really far-fetched. There will be definable reasons in these stages as well. And he will not become punchier all of a sudden.

While that may prove to be the case, they don't have to be related.

 

[IndianCyclist]

He was yoying off the back after joining again. especially on the downhills It would have cost him plenty of energy. If Almeida was with him, it would have probably saved a minute there for both of them

 

[Lequack]

If we take a look in a grand scheme of things, it's actually amazing that Remco recovered so well after his injury, that people can now be angry when he loses a bit of time because of sore legs. Just having Remco as a contender back is good enough for me.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

Remco has said that it was empty / without energy. He didn't blame his technique. For me it's obvious that he just doesn't have the legs which completely normal due to his lack of competition in the last 9 months.

He hadn't the legs. No doubt at all. But I'm convinced Evenepoel could have followed the group of favorites till the attack of Vlasov, later Bernal. IF his gravel and downhill technique was at a normal level. Which is not the case. I think Evenepoel has the worst technique of the whole peloton. With "bad legs" and normal gravel and downhill technique, Evenepoel could have ended within the minute of Bernal.

 

[jaylew]

He was even having problems on straight sections of gravel. That isn't technique, it's bad legs. He admitted as much himself. It's quite a bit harder to hold wheels in gravel than on the road when the pace is high.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

Everyone apart from Bernal probably still needs to take time on him to be safe for the TT though.

It's the inverse. Evenepoel will loose more time. I like the guy, but I'm realistic. After being in the red for more than 40 k yesterday, and after ten days hard Giro, and without a perfect preparation and without prior competition, he will have troubles on every hard climb. Saturday, on the Zoncolan, to start with. If he is agonising on the Zoncolan, his team should take him out of the race.

 

[Bonimenier]

It's the inverse. Evenepoel will loose more time. I like the guy, but I'm realistic. After being in the red for more than 40 k yesterday, and after ten days hard Giro, and without a perfect preparation and without prior competition, he will have troubles on every hard climb. Saturday, on the Zoncolan, to start with. If he is agonising on the Zoncolan, his team should take him out of the race.

What you mean it's the inverse? I never said he will take time on the others, just that the others likely need more time on him to be safe for the TT.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

He was even having problems on straight sections of gravel. That isn't technique, it's bad legs. He admitted as much himself. It's quite a bit harder to hold wheels in gravel than on the road when the pace is high.

That was on sector 3 especially, when he also finally dropped. Because sector 1 and 2 already cost him a lot of energy in accelerating after every turn, after every time he lost positions, after every time he got distanced. He said he had bad legs, we could all see how that happened. His sports director and his teammate said the same thing. His constant struggle on the sterrati drained his legs.

 

[Escarabajo]

He was even having problems on straight sections of gravel. That isn't technique, it's bad legs. He admitted as much himself. It's quite a bit harder to hold wheels in gravel than on the road when the pace is high.

I think it was a combination of technique and legs. The fact that from the get-go he was way back in the peloton was a proof that he lacked technique. He would lose positions or distance on every turn. After that he was spending more energy trying to catch up and trying to be in the front group. Additionally the team bombed completely. Awful performance by several of his teammates. The rest is history.

 

[peterfin]

It's the inverse. Evenepoel will loose more time. I like the guy, but I'm realistic. After being in the red for more than 40 k yesterday, and after ten days hard Giro, and without a perfect preparation and without prior competition, he will have troubles on every hard climb. Saturday, on the Zoncolan, to start with. If he is agonising on the Zoncolan, his team should take him out of the race.

I agree that there is a risk he can't battle for GC in the mountains due to his preparation but there is no need to take him out unless he collapses completely and risks to damage himself. He said that his first goal was to finish in Milan. It's important mentally and as a learning experience.