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

[hayneplane]

Obviously i quietly hoped for more, but after his RR and the rest of the season i guess this makes sense. Already mentioned this in the Olympic TT thread, but all the young guys basically "cracked" today. Almeida, Foss, Vlasov and McNulty finished between 1m13s and 2m37s down on Evenepoel.

The time gaps were enormous today with some objectively very decent TTers getting smashed by 4,5,6 minutes plus.

In context of the talents around his age that are TT oriented GC prospects Evenepoel did decently.

 

[victorschipolrijk]

I think the complete opposite on the order of those things. At least for the next year or so.

100% Salvarani.
And I'd say at least 3 years.
He doesn't have the background of a regular cyclist at 22.
Look at Quintana, Pogacar, Bernal, by the time they turned 22 they had plenty of racing.
That is not the case of RE, he needs to get the milage, and the results.
So far, regarding a GT, he's a zero to the left.

 

[johnymax]

I think today's course suited him perfectly. He just isn't on top form these days. Silver was up for grabs, but he should have at least three more opportunities for an ITT olympic medal in the future.

 

[Andre]

Good job Remco...only 8 riders were able to have a better time, when in fact you're still recovering. Chapeau mon vieux!

 

[Wvv]

Something positive about his race: his second round was 23 seconds faster than his first. According to Lefevere.

 

[Rackham]

Something positive about his race: his second round was 23 seconds faster than his first. According to Lefevere.

According to procyclingstats, Lefevere is wrong.

Riders sorted by lap time difference: LiveStats for Olympic Games - ITT 2021 Time trial (procyclingstats.com)

#	RIDER	LAP 1	LAP 2	DIFFERENCE
1	ROGLIČ Primož	27.29,93	27.34,26	▼0:04
2	BETTIOL Alberto	28.46,69	28.51,37	▼0:05
3	URÁN Rigoberto	28.30,26	28.48,43	▼0:18
4	ASGREEN Kasper	28.15,48	28.36,73	▼0:21
5	EVENEPOEL Remco	28.29,77	28.51,50	▼0:22

Evenepoel was 5th most consistent between both laps, but he still lost 22 seconds.

 

[tobydawq]

Wow, he will do the Tour of Denmark! After Wout winning in 2018, he would be another fantastic name to have on the winners' list of the race.

2018 Wout Van Aert
2019 Niklas Larsen
2021 Remo Evenepoel

Potentially, a bit of an inconsistency regarding the star status of recent winners...

 

[Red Rick]

Wow, he will do the Tour of Denmark! After Wout winning in 2018, he would be another fantastic name to have on the winners' list of the race.

2018 Wout Van Aert
2019 Niklas Larsen
2021 Remo Evenepoel

Potentially, a bit of an inconsistency regarding the star status of recent winners...

Like who's this Wout van Aert guy

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Like who's this Wout van Aert guy

Grandson of Poulidor i reckon, always finishing 2nd.

 

[tobydawq]

Grandson of Poulidor i reckon, always finishing 2nd.

I think it was you who wrote a few weeks ago that you hoped that his current form would actually give him some victories this time round (presumably referring to his second places at Worlds x 3 and Flanders).

How you rate the different one-day races below monuments can be different from one person to another but I don't think it's unreasonable to claim that Amstel, Gent-Wevelgem and Strade are the three biggest. Which means that he now, in the span of one year has won four of the ten biggest one-day races and come second in three of the others (this is of course boosted by the fact that half of the events have been held twice during that time, but still). And the one that possibly suits him the best hasn't even been contested in that timeframe.

It's unreal.

 

[Netserk]

Not unreasonable, no. But I would still put La Flèche Wallonne ahead of Strade Bianche, even if it's getting quite close.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I think it was you who wrote a few weeks ago that you hoped that his current form would actually give him some victories this time round (presumably referring to his second places at Worlds x 3 and Flanders).

How you rate the different one-day races below monuments can be different from one person to another but I don't think it's unreasonable to claim that Amstel, Gent-Wevelgem and Strade are the three biggest. Which means that he now, in the span of one year has won four of the ten biggest one-day races and come second in three of the others (this is of course boosted by the fact that half of the events have been held twice during that time, but still). And the one that possibly suits him the best hasn't even been contested in that timeframe.

It's unreal.

I know, obviously. It's simply an even bigger testament to the fact that of all riders, he probably deserves a world/Olympic title the most. But so far he's "just" a 3 time world champion in cyclocross. If only they would have put a 3km cobbled section on the top of Mikuni.

I love Van Aert, it's just a bit depressing that he's been racking up silver.

 

[tobydawq]

Not unreasonable, no. But I would still put La Flèche Wallonne ahead of Strade Bianche, even if it's getting quite close.

Yeah, I have it just below in 11th, but as I said, there's no real way to measure such things.

 

[Andre]

"Remco will resume on August 10 at the Tour of Denmark, then he’ll ride Overijse, Brussels, the Benelux Tour, the World Championship and Il Lombardia."
...No Vuelta either

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah, I have it just below in 11th, but as I said, there's no real way to measure such things.

There must be.

Metric 1. Does Van Aert finish 1st or 2nd?


Tbh I always rated Brabantse Pijl.

 

[Big Doopie]

Lefevre is such a tool

 

[Rackham]

Lefevre is such a tool

I think the pressure is starting to get too much for the guy.

Quick-Step (under whichever sponsor over the past two decades) was always classics + sprints + stage hunting in GT's. Now they've got one of "the" stars of the future with a view to having GT success themselves & they've also been one of the most successful & dominant teams in the past few years at what they do best (i.e. classics, stages, sprints etc.). Success = more pressure to remain successful.

But they know diddly-squat about GT racing & Lefevere apparently knows diddly-squat about nurturing a young star & turning him into a GT contender. And judging by the Giro, the sporting directors also seem totally clueless when it comes to GT racing.

Imagine Remco in a team like Jumbo-Visma? So Lefevere needs to stop spouting B.S. in the media & hire some people who know what the hell they're doing.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Lefevre is such a tool

He played Remco's parents like a fiddle, though. Gotta give him credit for that.

 

[Red Rick]

I think the pressure is starting to get too much for the guy.

Quick-Step (under whichever sponsor over the past two decades) was always classics + sprints + stage hunting in GT's. Now they've got one of "the" stars of the future with a view to having GT success themselves & they've also been one of the most successful & dominant teams in the past few years at what they do best (i.e. classics, stages, sprints etc.). Success = more pressure to remain successful.

But they know diddly-squat about GT racing & Lefevere apparently knows diddly-squat about nurturing a young star & turning him into a GT contender. And judging by the Giro, the sporting directors also seem totally clueless when it comes to GT racing.

Imagine Remco in a team like Jumbo-Visma? So Lefevere needs to stop spouting B.S. in the media & hire some people who know what the hell they're doing.

I'm a bit unsure how it would be so different to develop a climber than a sprinter or TTer that a team could do one but not the other. They developed Almeida. They developed Mas. Mas isn't doing better at Movistar than DQS.


That said, isn't most of the teams infrastructure from the old HTC Columbia?

 

[spalco]

I think the pressure is starting to get too much for the guy.

Quick-Step (under whichever sponsor over the past two decades) was always classics + sprints + stage hunting in GT's. Now they've got one of "the" stars of the future with a view to having GT success themselves & they've also been one of the most successful & dominant teams in the past few years at what they do best (i.e. classics, stages, sprints etc.). Success = more pressure to remain successful.

But they know diddly-squat about GT racing & Lefevere apparently knows diddly-squat about nurturing a young star & turning him into a GT contender. And judging by the Giro, the sporting directors also seem totally clueless when it comes to GT racing.

Imagine Remco in a team like Jumbo-Visma? So Lefevere needs to stop spouting B.S. in the media & hire some people who know what the hell they're doing.

I agree.

And it's not just that it's Quickstep and that it's Lefevere, it's also that they are Belgian, which multiplies the pressure.

In hindsight Remco should have gone to a foreign team, even *** Ineos. Somewhere where he's not coddled as the new belgian GT star, but just as the new big talent.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

I saw Remco's dad going after a critical Belgian journalist who had called the TT performance of both belgian riders a bit of a let down...

I think it is all of the entourage combined, parents with way too much expectations, Lefevre, sponsors.

They need to stop treating him like a God.

Get him to the Vuelta and say: grupetto in the mountains, only full gas in the timetrials and the main objective is ENDING the Vuelta.

That would form a good base for next year to start getting ambitions in the Giro or Vuelta and then maybe the next year the Tour.

Now, when he only does small races he will learn/improve nothing and will need the Vuelta next year to form that first GC base.

 

[SafeBet]

"Remco will resume on August 10 at the Tour of Denmark, then he’ll ride Overijse, Brussels, the Benelux Tour, the World Championship and Il Lombardia."
...No Vuelta either

That's a sensible schedule to build some confidence back. Hopefully he gets to the WC and Lombardia at full speed.

 

[Salvarani]

History and facts says Lefevre knows what he is doing. One of the best in the business. He has managed his team and been successful for a long time. It is very much his team and he is looking out for the team. Not one individual rider. It is a business.

It would be a major shift in the teams philosophy to do what some of the people in here think they should do right now. Unrealistic.

Remco is still not a proven GT-contender. He needs to show it before signing more guys to support. Which is still possible without having a whole team dedicated to him. He is 21, coming of a big injury. Whats the rush, really?

When he shows more when it comes to GT-racing and grows up a bit more, Im sure he is gonna get the backing most people are already screaming for. It is too early now and would be a dumb business decision atm to put all the eggs in that basket. If they were to put all the eggs in that basket right now it would create even more pressure on his shoulders.

How it is looking Remco is still struggling. Which is also natural after a severe injury like that. It is very much a "lost year" and a build-up towards the next. But with this pressure from himself, fans and media. The kid might get lost.

I think the team and Lefevre has actually tried to play down some things around him and tried to manage him carefully, but it just has not been possible in this situation. Not with this hype around him and the way he has gone about things himself. He needs some air to breath or I fear for him. It might get too much for Remco.

 

[hayneplane]

We are in the age of the 24 hour rolling news/social media instant hype so its easy to lose perspective. It is not difficult to imagine that in 3 years time he will have won at least 1 monument/Grand Tour/Worlds and shown where his greatest abilities are. This could just prove to a humbling and extremely public bump in the road or it could be that the crash plus injury relapse could be patting a brick wall in the way of his path to full potential and glory.

My money would still be on him winning big in his career although probably now not to the level that seemed almost certain prior to Lombardy.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

I agree.

And it's not just that it's Quickstep and that it's Lefevere, it's also that they are Belgian, which multiplies the pressure.

In hindsight Remco should have gone to a foreign team, even *** Ineos. Somewhere where he's not coddled as the new belgian GT star, but just as the new big talent.

I always thought it a strange decision to choose a team with no GC record to speak of, albeit a very successful team, over a team who had dominated GC for a decade. It seemed to smack of that hubris and arrogance we've seen from him, i.e. I'll be able to win regardless of the team.