AVV has my voteWhat an incredible set of results over a season. Nailed on velo d’or surely.
AVV has my vote
And to the folks that will "if" and "but" about MVP not being in the race; it wouldn't have changed the outcome much. Matheu would have focused on WVA too long and then probably tried to do it himself and maybe dragged the rest a little closer. WVA was clogging up the group pursuit at key times from the abbreviated coverage I saw.So he just needs one GT win and he will be more successful than Pogacar even, and then Merckx will have to take back his words and crown Remco his successor.
And to the folks that will "if" and "but"…
He was talking about the French team.....Christophe was their best bet, I think.In fact pretty much every interview said there was nothing to be done and there is no doubt the strongest guy won. Voeckler went out of his way when he was asked about tactics to say several times that even if everything had gone perfectly for their team it would not have changed who won.
1st = with Van Vleuten.So, where do we stand?
I think Rick is more balanced than those claiming Remco would have dropped everyone in most type of tough classics and mountain stages in GTs if all the top riders were present and in top shape. That's just taking it to the extreme. We have to go back to the worst clinic years to see something like that. Remco is great but dropping Pog and Vingegaard in the mountains in TDF or Pog in LBL/Il Lombardia if they are were in peak shape. No, that is just not realistic.The forum meme is alive and well.
many posters/haters ;-) once again discrediting another Remco win.
@Red Rick ‘a posts alone may be 50+% following that line. He even attributed Pog and other’s “bad form” due to the TDF. Are we to forget that the winning rider only just finished a GT while all those riders were resting up and prepping only this race?
It would be hypocritical to now suddenly give it to Van Vleuten when she could (should) have won it about a dozen times before. Either they split it up for men and women, or they just come out and say it's a reward for only men. If they give it to Van Vleuten now, then they need to explain why Van Vleuten, Vos, Longo.... didn't win it ages ago.1st = with Van Vleuten.
Hopefully he’s not hit by a World Champion curse. Evenepoel had a marvelous season that constantly proved the doubters wrong and to return to such high form after such a bad accident is truly remarkable. I’m sure all three GTs want to have more time trial mileage to try and entice him to race. Honestly he has the best chance since Cancellara to win gold in Worlds and Olympic RR and TT, adding on European championship.
Even if Evenepoel is not hit by the World Champion curse, Pogačar 2022 season shows that its unlikely that Remco has a 2023 season as good as the 2022 one. Next year he will be even more marked in one day races than this year, the Worlds road race course likely won't suit him as well and I remain moderately skeptical about his chances on the Giro or in the Tour.
Still, being 22 he has plenty of time to do a season as good as this one of perhaps even better and I think 2024 could be the year where that happens with Olympics and Worlds in Zürich that should offer him plenty of opportunities to get more big wins
Never too late to correct a historical wrong.It would be hypocritical to now suddenly give it to Van Vleuten when she could (should) have won it about a dozen times before. Either they split it up for men and women, or they just come out and say it's a reward for only men. If they give it to Van Vleuten now, then they need to explain why Van Vleuten, Vos, Longo.... didn't win it ages ago.
I think Rick is more balanced than those claiming Remco would have dropped everyone in most type of tough classics and mountain stages in GTs if all the top riders were present and in top shape. That's just taking it to the extreme. We have to go back to the worst clinic years to see something like that. Remco is great but dropping Pog and Vingegaard in the mountains in TDF or Pog in LBL/Il Lombardia if they are were in peak shape. No, that is just not realistic.
A Giro with three ITT will be fine for him.
Well, then, do the Giro-Tour double
Find me one quote saying he wasn't strong during these races.He wins the Vuelta because there was no strong competition.
He wins the WC because the strong competition was stupid.
He wins LBL, san sebastian, vuelta and WC. But for some reason it is not because Remco is strong, but because the competition is weak. When Pogi won LBL everybody praised him. When Remco does it a year later it is because Pogi wasn't there. Newsflash. When Pogi won, evenepoel wasnt there either.
He wins the Vuelta because there was no strong competition.
He wins the WC because the strong competition was stupid.
He wins LBL, san sebastian, vuelta and WC. But for some reason it is not because Remco is strong, but because the competition is weak. When Pogi won LBL everybody praised him. When Remco does it a year later it is because Pogi wasn't there. Newsflash. When Pogi won, evenepoel wasnt there either.