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

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Red Rick

Red Rick

Feb 20, 2012
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Jagartrott said:
I'd not be surprised if he tries something today. He doesn't have to 'calculate' anymore, he needs to do something, and I'm sure that if he feels good, he'll want to show himself. As a true winner, he'll be upset with his showing on Wednesday and that will give him plenty of motivation. Only thing is that it's not "his weather" today.
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The only thing is that it is a stage with 0 room for creativity and aggression
 
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Jagartrott

Jagartrott

Apr 15, 2014
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He'll not attack before the final climb, but that climb is long and already pretty hard at the beginning. I think his team will ride hard to shed Ineos locomotives early on that climb, then he may go with 6-7 km or something left. That is, if he feels good.
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

Feb 20, 2012
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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Which is why they probably won't expect it and why they might not want to foliow, assuming he'll blow himself up... Which he obviously might.

I'm not saying he should do it, but i could see him try. For beter or for worse.
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It's not like he'll get a lot of leeway, Ineos will just stick to their programmed watts. I think any other stage is better suited to yolo attacks, I'd think he should just take today as a chance to see where he really is in this climbing field.
 
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houtdffan

Jul 20, 2019
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Logic-is-your-friend said:
Which is why they probably won't expect it and why they might not want to foliow, assuming he'll blow himself up... Which he obviously might.

I'm not saying he should do it, but i could see him try. For beter or for worse.
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He has to go about 6-7km from the finish. He cannot match the accelerations on the steep parts of the climb, but he could sure grind out a brutally hard tempo

I suspect Bernal would be forced to go with him as his doms are not going to keep pace
 
Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

Jun 7, 2011
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houtdffan said:
He has to go about 6-7km from the finish. He cannot match the accelerations on the steep parts of the climb, but he could sure grind out a brutally hard tempo

I suspect Bernal would be forced to go with him as his doms are not going to keep pace
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I don't think Bernal would be the first to follow, he isn't the one that has to take risks. He has a nice buffer and there are still mountain stages to come, so Bernal can wait and see. He'll try and bait the others to do the work, since Evenepoel is closer to them in GC. In this scenario i think Vlasov could be dumb enough to do the work.
 
Gigs_98

Gigs_98

Feb 18, 2015
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Ffs no, nobody should attack before the 3km mark as a precaution for the super steep section. That's a ridiculously stupid idea and I cannot believe how many people have suggested it. You don't plan to ride your own pace without a slipstream in the only part of the climb where a slipstream matters just so you can ride your own pace on a 3km stretch where everyone will ride his own pace anyway. Like, what do you people expect that last 3km will look like? Bernal, fresh as a daisy, sprinting up there like it's the Mur de Huy and Remco being just as strong but not able to follow because he couldn't match Bernal's 3 km long acceleration? Explosiveness will be an absolute nonfactor today. Those kind of gradients for such a long time will always be a grind of sustaining a consistent, high pace, especially after like 10km at 8% after which everyone will already be tired already. Like it or not, today is a waiting game, and anyone showing his cards too early will pay dearly.
 
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limak_

limak_

Nov 17, 2020
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Gigs_98 said:
Ffs no, nobody should attack before the 3km mark as a precaution for the super steep section. That's a ridiculously stupid idea and I cannot believe how many people have suggested it. You don't plan to ride your own pace without a slipstream in the only part of the climb where a slipstream matters just so you can ride your own pace on a 3km stretch where everyone will ride his own pace anyway. Like, what do you people expect that last 3km will look like? Bernal, fresh as a daisy, sprinting up there like it's the Mur de Huy and Remco being just as strong but not able to follow because he couldn't match Bernal's 3 km long acceleration? Explosiveness will be an absolute nonfactor today. Those kind of gradients for such a long time will always be a grind of sustaining a consistent, high pace, especially after like 10km at 8% after which everyone will already be tired already. Like it or not, today is a waiting game, and anyone showing his cards too early will pay dearly.
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Exactly. At gradients >10% you're only able to manipulate your pace in a very narrow range. Just to move forward (or rather up) at a considerable speed, rider already has to push huge watts so there's no much reserve for any accelerations left. You just grind it up at your own pace, on the easiest gear you have. So it's more gonna be like a 12-15 mins uphill time trial since the steepest part kicks off, with the strongest guy in such efforts first on the line.

The most "exciting" gradients, that make slipstream advantage negligible while still giving much space for the pace variations, are between 7-10%. Anything more than that actually prevents any spectacular, explosive attacks.
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

Feb 20, 2012
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Gigs_98 said:
Ffs no, nobody should attack before the 3km mark as a precaution for the super steep section. That's a ridiculously stupid idea and I cannot believe how many people have suggested it. You don't plan to ride your own pace without a slipstream in the only part of the climb where a slipstream matters just so you can ride your own pace on a 3km stretch where everyone will ride his own pace anyway. Like, what do you people expect that last 3km will look like? Bernal, fresh as a daisy, sprinting up there like it's the Mur de Huy and Remco being just as strong but not able to follow because he couldn't match Bernal's 3 km long acceleration? Explosiveness will be an absolute nonfactor today. Those kind of gradients for such a long time will always be a grind of sustaining a consistent, high pace, especially after like 10km at 8% after which everyone will already be tired already. Like it or not, today is a waiting game, and anyone showing his cards too early will pay dearly.
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Explosiveness is just the catch all excuse for being dropped like a stone. It's a bit like "mentality" or "shot selection" in tennis. Always the excuse. Never just not good enough.
 
perico

perico

Mar 11, 2009
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spalco said:
Arnold Schwarzenegger took ballet lessons when he was a bodybuilder, i think that's in the docu movie he did before he became famous. You can probably find it on youtube. It's sort of funny, but also shows the dedication he had to improve himself. It's not as absurd as it sounds.
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Many American football players took ballet in the 1980s. Don’t know if it’s still a trend, but they even had an episode about it on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
 
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houtdffan

Jul 20, 2019
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Gigs_98 said:
Ffs no, nobody should attack before the 3km mark as a precaution for the super steep section. That's a ridiculously stupid idea and I cannot believe how many people have suggested it. You don't plan to ride your own pace without a slipstream in the only part of the climb where a slipstream matters just so you can ride your own pace on a 3km stretch where everyone will ride his own pace anyway. Like, what do you people expect that last 3km will look like? Bernal, fresh as a daisy, sprinting up there like it's the Mur de Huy and Remco being just as strong but not able to follow because he couldn't match Bernal's 3 km long acceleration? Explosiveness will be an absolute nonfactor today. Those kind of gradients for such a long time will always be a grind of sustaining a consistent, high pace, especially after like 10km at 8% after which everyone will already be tired already. Like it or not, today is a waiting game, and anyone showing his cards too early will pay dearly.
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You make it sound like the climb is a false flat prior to the final 3km. It is 8 percent gradient. It's ADH!

Has modern cycling descended to the point where a stretch of 9km at 8% is not suitable for an attack?
 
Gigs_98

Gigs_98

Feb 18, 2015
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houtdffan said:
You make it sound like the climb is a false flat prior to the final 3km. It is 8 percent gradient. It's ADH!

Has modern cycling descended to the point where a stretch of 9km at 8% is not suitable for an attack?
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1.) It's not about the 8% section, it's about what comes after it. If the finish came 3km earlier than sure, it's a great spot for attacks.

2.) In fact there is an almost false flat section before the final 3km. It's only something like 1.5km long but riding that part alone instead of in a group is a genuine disadvantage.
 
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Riek s

Jun 24, 2010
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Not sure what is expected from him. He had a nasty crash in a descend that might have killed him.. and this is his first race back. We already saw before he is everything but comfortable in a descend, so this will stay for the complete Giro.. if they descend at speed, they will drop him. This will only improve when he gets some confidence back, but that is unlikely to happen during the Giro.

At some point it is like beating a dead horse. It is not something he can help atm or the coming days. It is also something that he couldn't tackle before the Giro since he hadn't raced at all.
 
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Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

Jun 7, 2011
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Riek s said:
Not sure what is expected from him. He had a nasty crash in a descend that might have killed him.. and this is his first race back. We already saw before he is everything but comfortable in a descend, so this will stay for the complete Giro.. if they descend at speed, they will drop him. This will only improve when he gets some confidence back, but that is unlikely to happen during the Giro.
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I've been saying since he just signed for DQT as a junior, that the team should have immediately trained his bikehandling skills. He never raced as a kid, only rode 1.5 years as a junior, where he usually was doing solo's anyway. It's the reason he crashed in Adriatica Ionica, it's why he crashed in Lombardia, it's why he *** his pants earlier this week, and why he *** his pants today. But NOW the team has come to the conclusion that they need to do something about it. "It was planned to do it earlier this year, but then the crash happened". Of course the crash happened, because they waited 2 years too long.
 
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Riek s

Jun 24, 2010
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Well he did a good climb. Clearly far from the best or to be in contention for a podium finish in the Giro. But given how he went into the Giro.. he did rather well. (didn't loose that much time against a Vlasov). Will be hard to keep a top10 spot given what is still coming.
 
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Panda Claws

Panda Claws

Aug 29, 2011
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Curious about the coming mountain stages to see if he is fading a bit or if this is just his level at the moment? Not bad imo so I hope he can keep this up and won't fade away further in the next stages.
He did really get dropped hard today though. The previous times we saw him recover towards the end or not lose much time at all but not so much now.
 
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