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

[Ilmaestro99]

Wow another great victory from the Belgian Simon Spilak. What a collection of 2.Pro stage race wins he is gathering. Now he is the firm favourite for the vuealta ahead of the other big favourites like Ilan Van Wilder, Cian uitjebroeks and Maxin Van Gils

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Wow another great victory from the Belgian Simon Spilak.

Maybe peak Spilak had more impressive climbing results than Remco has so far, but my man Simon never could really TT like this even if he was solid in Romandie and Swiss 2015.

 

[rghysens]

He's more likely to win by the same margin tomorrow than to lose the overall.

I actually can see that happening. If other teams make thw race hard before the first Malhao climb, and his explosivity has really improved. As someone else stated: tomorrow will be the real lithmus test. Not really to assess his climbing skills, but to see if his "big thighs" are of any use in the Ardennes.

 

[Open Horizon]

Damn, just look at that thick thighed aero devil.

Eyes at hip level. Dream time trialist.

 

[ppanther92]

Wow...

 

[Hugo Koblet]

What a monster. He looks really beefed up this year. Let's see where that takes him...

 

[johnymax]

He's more likely to win by the same margin tomorrow than to lose the overall.

That's what I thought in Valenciana as well (I even put money on him winning and lost) and we all saw what happened in the end. Of course the Malhao climb is not comparable to the one in Valenciana, it's way shorter. So I also expect Remco to easily hold the top spot and win the GC.

 

[TomBonnen2005]

Someone got his watts on Strava : 392W for 38 minutes, to compare with Worlds ITT 2021 384W for 48 minutes. Quite impressive when you see today's route with lots of downhills. Should be somewhere around 6.3W/kg.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Wow another great victory from the Belgian Simon Spilak. What a collection of 2.Pro stage race wins he is gathering. Now he is the firm favourite for the vuealta ahead of the other big favourites like Ilan Van Wilder, Cian uitjebroeks and Maxin Van Gils

Which bookmaker has him favourite for the Vuelta?

 

[Blobs]

An epic performance of Spilak like proportions! Exciting stuff

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Someone got his watts on Strava : 392W for 38 minutes, to compare with Worlds ITT 2021 384W for 48 minutes. Quite impressive when you see today's route with lots of downhills. Should be somewhere around 6.3W/kg.

Do you think he weights only 62 kg? He looks to have a couple of kilos more.

 

[Extinction]

An epic performance of Spilak like proportions! Exciting stuff

Pardon my total ignorance, but why is Remco being compared to Spilak here? Thanks.

 

[BigCoward]

Which bookmaker has him favourite for the Vuelta?

The cycling news 'won't accept the facts re his limitations' bookmakers.

 

[Bonimenier]

Pardon my total ignorance, but why is Remco being compared to Spilak here? Thanks.

The joke is that Spilak was a 1 week stage race master, but couldn't do anything in GTs

 

[tobydawq]

The joke is that Spilak was a 1 week stage race master, but couldn't do anything in GTs

It's not a good joke...

I really don't get Spilak vibes from Remco.

 

[hayneplane]

Spilak was a fabulous rider imo so I would view it as a positive comparison to be at minimum at least as good as Simon Spilak

 

[SHAD0W93]

Spilak was a fabulous rider imo so I would view it as a positive comparison to be at minimum at least as good as Simon Spilak

But I think most think Evenepoel is better.

 

[Walter1234]

Might be an option. But it changes the name of the game. If Evenepoel is still in front at the foot of the Roche Aux Faucons then Alaphilippe has to ride less aggressive. For me at this point hierarhy should be such that Alaphilippe is the only leader.

Isn't that how Quickstep won the world championship?

 

[tobydawq]

But I think most think Evenepoel is better.

Of course they do, since he is quite a lot better. And much more professional.

 

[Netserk]

Of course they do, since he is quite a lot better. And much more professional.

?
How professional do you think Spilak was?

 

[tobydawq]

?
How professional do you think Spilak was?

Very unprofessional. People often spoke about how he spent most of his time water skiing on the Garda lake in his non-contract seasons, very uninterested in his cycling when it wasn't important in order to secure a salary.

Of course, you're probably going to argue now that earning money is what defines being professional so that there was nothing wrong with that...

 

[Netserk]

Very unprofessional. People often spoke about how he spent most of his time water skiing on the Garda lake in his non-contract seasons, very uninterested in his cycling when it wasn't important in order to secure a salary.

Of course, you're probably going to argue now that earning money is what defines being professional so that there was nothing wrong with that...

I've never read that and thus didn't know that about Spilak, hence my question. Thank you for the answer.

Evenepoel certainly seems very ambitious and driven.

The distributions of their strengths seem quite different to me, so I don't think the comparison is very meaningful, nor do I think it's true that Evenepoel is quite a lot better (as a blanket statement).

 

[tobydawq]

I've never read that and thus didn't know that about Spilak, hence my question. Thank you for the answer.

Evenepoel certainly seems very ambitious and driven.

The distributions of their strengths seem quite different to me, so I don't think the comparison is very meaningful, nor do I think it's true that Evenepoel is quite a lot better (as a blanket statement).

Spilak could do one thing; one-week races.

I think it's quite evident that Evenepoel has an infinitely higher ceiling than Spilak. He can become a much better one-week racer than him, he can in all likelihood win monuments and compete for Grand Tour victories and is an elite time trialist too.

I see it as nothing but mockery to call him a Belgian Spilak but understand why some people can resent him.

 

[Netserk]

He can become

But the comparison was about what he is.

Is he as of now quite a lot better than Spilak as a climber?

 

[tobydawq]

But the comparison was about what he is.

Is he as of now quite a lot better than Spilak as a climber?

Not as a climber, perhaps, but he has a few other qualities that Spilak didn't...