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

[houtdffan]

arguably rog may not be in top shape.

to say the others are not either is starting to get into that effed-up narrative again each time remco does well.

simon yates is totally prepped for this race. hindley said there was nothing he could do. sivakov thought about following first remco and then at least ayuso but got scared seeing rog and yates drop. however, he said that had he followed remco he would have definitely done a PB in terms of watts/kg...

let's say it is as it is. remco largely dominated stage 7. and it wasn't because others are not in good form.

however, form fluctuates during a GT. it is one of the tests of a GT. so remco may himself be dominated later in the race, not because he is necessarily in bad shape, but because one of those riders who finished behind in stage 6 has better legs/has recovered better.

i don't think we can extrapolate more than that. remco presently has the upper hand. however, after stage 4, how many people didn't think rog had the upper hand...?

At first glance, Rog had the upper hand. However, when one looked at where Remco started that climb, one could easily see Remco had a faster final climb than Rog did. QS just didnt get him to the front like they should have

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Remco is very strong. Its not necessarily surprising but lets see how he fares for 3 weeks. its kinda disappointing that most GC guys lost so much time. I hoped Primoz would be stronger, maybe he will in the second half to give us a proper race.

 

[houtdffan]

moved to race thread

 

[Riek s]

Remco is very strong. Its not necessarily surprising but lets see how he fares for 3 weeks. its kinda disappointing that most GC guys lost so much time. I hoped Primoz would be stronger, maybe he will in the second half to give us a proper race.

Assuming Remco suvives the weekend and TT in a good position. (i think he will loose time today though) it will be a very hard GT for him. His team can't carry the lead or help in the mountains (unless something big changes). So he will be isolated in every serious mountain stage. Him responding to attacks is not his strong suite (interval/sprints) so he will mostly be forced to keep a high pace while being attacked from all sides....
Very good for spectators... but very hard for Remco to win this GT, even if he would be the strongest.

 

[houtdffan]

Assuming Remco suvives the weekend and TT in a good position. (i think he will loose time today though) it will be a very hard GT for him. His team can't carry the lead or help in the mountains (unless something big changes). So he will be isolated in every serious mountain stage. Him responding to attacks is not his strong suite (interval/sprints) so he will mostly be forced to keep a high pace while being attacked from all sides....
Very good for spectators... but very hard for Remco to win this GT, even if he would be the strongest.

And how will the others be able to attack Remco once he sets a high tempo? Kind of hard to attack while being ground into dust

 

[Riek s]

And how will the others be able to attack Remco once he sets a high tempo? Kind of hard to attack while being ground into dust

Takes more energy riding at the front for the same speed. Can already be seen by the power estimates of Remco and Mas. If Mas wasn't in the wheel he would have had the same time of Ayuso maybe. So he might be able to do that once, but his fatique will be blowing up compared to the others. Hence why i say it will be hard for him to control given the weak team.
Pogacar was killed the same way in the tour, and his team wasn't that weak compared to the current state of QS.

 

[Frobisher Bay]

Takes more energy riding at the front for the same speed. Can already be seen by the power estimates of Remco and Mas. If Mas wasn't in the wheel he would have had the same time of Ayuso maybe. So he might be able to do that once, but his fatique will be blowing up compared to the others. Hence why i say it will be hard for him to control given the weak team.
Pogacar was killed the same way in the tour, and his team wasn't that weak compared to the current state of QS.

You are selling us Vervaeke, Devenyns, Cavagna, Masnada , Van Wilder and Alaphilippe as some third tier riders? I won't say I have total confidence in Quick-Step taking full control, but certainly on paper, they're not that shabby.

 

[Riek s]

You are selling us Vervaeke, Devenyns, Cavagna, Masnada , Van Wilder and Alaphilippe as some third tier riders? I won't say I have total confidence in Quick-Step taking full control, but certainly on paper, they're not that shabby.

As you said, on paper the team isn't bad at all, but that assumes they were all top,-. Unfortunatly that doesn't seem to be the case.

The two people that should be with him in the mountains the longest are Masnada and Alaphilippe and both are far from their peak form. Don't misunderstand, they both have very good reasons to be off pace... but that doesn't change the outcome at this point.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

moved to race thread

Way more likely the race thread moves here.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Alaphilippe‘s role will be interesting.

Last year, he was strolling around at Tour of Britain, and became WC afterwards. Probably, this was his plan again for this Vuelta, although Lefevere didn‘t like that.

With Remco now in Red, Ala actually cannot be allowed to stroll around, any more. Quick Step want to win a GT, so every man is needed. So Ala: „Stroll mode off, race mode on!“…

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Alaphilippe surprised me in a good way two days ago. Van Wilder got caught behind a crash. Cavagna is capable of doing the grunt work on the flat. If needed Serry and Devenyns can help out. For the time being, Movistar has the same interests, since Mas is 2nd and in pole position in case Evenepoel doesn't make it.

Let's wat and see.

 

[postmanhat]

U missed the point of the original post: Remco could never get away with saying what Pidcock said without the haters crying as always. Double standards, that was the only point of the post. Not whether Pidcock will eventually win a TDF or not. Had Remco ever said what Pidcock said, haters would all have torn him a new a$$hole. That was the ONLY point of the original post. And it clearly stands correct, based off of all the haters response already. Seriously, again, haters gotta get a grip.

Fair enough. I don't doubt he gets a lot of stick, possibly just because he's Belgian and all the constant hype that comes with that? I love his attacking style. Already, the Zubeldias have been put to the sword at the Vuelta We're so lucky to be watching Evenpoel, Pogacar and Pidcock develop, Versatile riders, who will generally try to win by animating a race.

 

[Riek s]

Well Masnada Allaphilippe are indeed a bit weaker than hoped.
Vervaeke and Vanwilder were picking up that slack..

Today the team was very good!! i take my words back to fictively eat them.


Remco best climber at this point in time. If he can still outsprint those behind him, he had power left.

Roglic/Mas stay very close, so he can't drop the ball against those 2

 

[KZD]

Things looking really good for the podium, for the win I still think Roglič could be a bit stronger further into the race but for someone that had top10 its a great race so far.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Not bad from a guy that can’t climb longer climbs at WT level.

 

[Extinction]

Things looking really good for the podium, for the win I still think Roglič could be a bit stronger further into the race but for someone that had top10 its a great race so far.

You think? Remco was riding tempo, Roglic could only follow, so perhaps he will be stronger in week 3?

 

[witeken]

Gotta love hindsight. Here's a compilation. (so with the debate settled we can now close the thread)

I don't think Evenepoel is that tough to predict, he'll be in red after the first stage, lose time in the uphill finishes of stage 6 and 8, gain time back in the stage 10 TT only to blow spectacularly on Penas Blancas or possibly not until Sierra Nevada.

I'm still 99% convinced Remco is a future GT winner, but maybe not before he's 25/26 or so.

He cannot get close to win a grand tour right now but it doesn't mean it will never happen.

At some point, we have to stop making excuses for Remco's climbing.

He is perfect for rolling hills and medium mountains, not the longer climbs.

Either the opposition didn't care and let him ride away, or they were tired from the TDF, or they were simply preparing for a bigger race (while for Evenepoel there is no such thing as a prep race) or the main rivals were not present, or the opposition was worthless, or the others had a hard time training during covid.

So there are always excuses, if not on one side, then on the other. And hardly is he ever the best thing since sliced bread.

Now they'll say Remco won due to covid.

I'm sure he can win plenty of Baloisse Belgium Tours, Volta Algarves and Tour of Polands.

But he is not a gc rider on proper stage races, even if he has the ego of one.

Regardless of what happens from here, the boy will always have the 'Beat Jay Vine and Luke Plapp up a climb' trophy. Some say that the Tour of Norway is really just the cycling purists version of the TDF.

Remco above Martinez and Vlasov on a 13 km climb of almost 9%?

I'll change my photo to your choice of Remco if that happens.

Pogi can relax, now.

Don't think the 'Erlaitz is a great climb for Evenepoel' argument flies here either. Yes, the false flat at the end favours him, but he was getting dropped on this kind of stuff in the Itzulia queen stage, and he was in pretty good form then. This is the performance of someone who will be fighting for the Vuelta win. Whether he can stay in that fight on the biggest mountains and over three weeks remains to be seen, but he's definitely above outsider status.

Since when do races like Algarve, Norway or Poland transist into gc ability? These are preperation races that don't tell too much.

Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico it's becoming more serious as a yard stick, depending on the route. Switzerland, Dauphine and Basque Country are the real deal when estimating someone's gc ability. Even there, someone like Fuglsang simply never had the recovery for 3 weeks.

Evenepoel failed at T-A. Failed again at Switzerland. If not for a tactical situation that worked in his favor, he would have lost minutes even on the queen mountain stage of Basque Country. Then y'all talk about winning a grand tour? Based on what? Nothing, so far.

Evenepoel is as much a GC favorite as Danilo di Luca before 2005. Brilliant classic specialist, but hasn't produced anything that lists him as a GC rider. Has failed to produce gc performances repeatedly instead.

There might be a Di Luca 2005 and maybe even 2007 Giro d'Italia moment in the future . He's 22 after all and can develop.

But this big mouth talk that it's definitely this race when this moment appears is both ridiculous and comical.

Nothing supports that viewpoint, until Evenepoel suddenly rides a good general classification out of the blue.

 

[KZD]

You think? Remco was riding tempo, Roglic could only follow, so perhaps he will be stronger in week 3?

I think Remco will suffer in the Sierra Nevada stage but right now unless he has a bad day, its difficult to see him outside of the final podium

 

[frisenfruitig]

Gotta love hindsight. Here's a compilation. (so with the debate settled we can now close the thread)

You didn't include one of Red Rick's ridiculous statements?

 

[Andre]

Takes more energy riding at the front for the same speed. Can already be seen by the power estimates of Remco and Mas. If Mas wasn't in the wheel he would have had the same time of Ayuso maybe. So he might be able to do that once, but his fatique will be blowing up compared to the others. Hence why i say it will be hard for him to control given the weak team.
Pogacar was killed the same way in the tour, and his team wasn't that weak compared to the current state of QS.

Quickstep is doing just fine helping Remco. Jumbo Visma not as strong as they thought. They saved Kuss today (probably so he can do some work tomorrow), but still they don't look that strong.

 

[Andre]

Spectacular Remco again today. He cut over a minute into Jay Vine just by riding his fierce tempo. Mas and Roglic could only hang on for dear life. Go Remco Go!!!

 

[Extinction]

I think Remco will suffer in the Sierra Nevada stage but right now unless he has a bad day, its difficult to see him outside of the final podium

I think if Remco continues to show no sign of weakness, he should be ok for the Sierra Nevada, unless he has a bad day. Of course this is possible, as it is for any of the Bigs. However, on present results, I don't see him more susceptible to faltering than his adversaries.

 

[steffr222]

That was really impressive again. He should be fine tomorrow - but yeah sure, let‘s wait and see what the Sierra Nevada stage will bring later. The climb should be okay for Remco though, I think.
Still a long way to go. But well deserved till now.

 

[IndianCyclist]

If he is able to defend in the mountains, realistically there is only Roglic who can take time in the TT or on the more punchier finishes.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Gotta love hindsight. Here's a compilation. (so with the debate settled we can now close the thread)

Not interested particularly in defending my previous opinions about Remco, because I changed my mind about him. But mate, it's stage 8