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

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I

IndianCyclist

Nov 12, 2010
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Remco's only choice was to attack. He cannot win sprints against even the normal guys.
When he attacked 75 k from finish, the other favorites should have let him go alone and then chased him with all their teammates. No point in teammates wheelsucking Remco if they cannot follow him like a limpet without taking a turn, case in point Colbrelli, Ghys. If the favorites follow, he will not cooperate and attack again after some time and then it becomes like Granon and his teammate WVA wins the sprint. A lot of the favorite teams made a tactical error by putting riders in the break with Remco cooperating with him.
The Next WCC will be interesting as Belgium will stick to the same tactics while the others will have to be innovative. if they make it hard, it plays into Remco's hand and if not, then the sprinters dominate.
 
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yaco

Jun 20, 2015
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IndianCyclist said:
Remco's only choice was to attack. He cannot win sprints against even the normal guys.
When he attacked 75 k from finish, the other favorites should have let him go alone and then chased him with all their teammates. No point in teammates wheelsucking Remco if they cannot follow him like a limpet without taking a turn, case in point Colbrelli, Ghys. If the favorites follow, he will not cooperate and attack again after some time and then it becomes like Granon and his teammate WVA wins the sprint. A lot of the favorite teams made a tactical error by putting riders in the break with Remco cooperating with him.
The Next WCC will be interesting as Belgium will stick to the same tactics while the others will have to be innovative. if they make it hard, it plays into Remco's hand and if not, then the sprinters dominate.
Click to expand...

Remco never attacked at 75kms to go - He was merely one of around 15 riders who followed/marked the French move - Ultimately the French were crazy to pace that breakaway when Remco had two support riders in the move.
 
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Big Doopie

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the apparent freshness that he rode in the last 70 kms was really quite stunning.

@Logic-is-your-friend is correct to point out that he appears to be particularly resistant in the longer races. Remco said before the race that things would be affected by the length, people would get tired, and that his sprinting weakness would not necessarily come into play. too bad GTs have shortened all their stage distances.

Lutsenko said that after 200 kms he had gone into reserves and that he just exploded.

Remco appears to simply be able to continue to push out high power for longer than most anyone.

In the early part of the race, Remco apparently told Lampaert that his legs were as good as LBL, perhaps even better.

i do find it interesting the logic pretzels the detractors are constantly twisting themselves into requires so many things to go wrong for so many other riders. while the simpler explanation is the one that just says Remco was better. if you listen to all the riders, this appears to be their explanation as well.

my guess is that so many people here have a really hard time saying they have always been wrong about Remco and his potential. but they are in good company: Adam Blythe, Brian Smith, Daniel Friebe, Brian Nyborg have all demonstrated this trait. Brian Nyborg actually said that he couldn't pinpoint it, but there was "just something" about Remco that he did not like. Unreal. Daniel Friebe said that maybe it was because he has always seemed pre-ordained for greatness and has had no challenges...Seriously? He has a career-threatening crash at age 20 that holds him out a year and clearly delayed his progress, but apparently he has had no challenges.

Thing is i actually love this stuff, because in so many ways he continues to be an underdog. everyone seems absolutely positive he will be easily dropped by Vingo and Pog in the TDF. Perhaps, but it sounds a lot like what all the detractors said about everything else that he then just proved them wrong. Brian Smith did not even include him in the 6 favorites he had for the day. All these detractors also appear to feed his motivation. The finger on the lips sign he gave at the finish. keep fueling him, folks. i absolute love these solo attacks and victories. it harkens me back to a cycling that was full of exploits, unlike recent times.

the real (and frightening) question is whether from San Sebastian until now is just one heightened period of form for Remco or is it actually possibly his new "baseline"? this is in a sense where he would have been had there been no Lombardia crash...
 
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LesDiablesRouges

LesDiablesRouges

Jul 12, 2012
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Berflamand said:
I was just wondering, has it ever happened that Remco couldn't finish off a solo once he started one (gets a gap of about 10 seconds solo)?

Out of the top of my head I can only remember his 100km+ solo effort in the Tour of Germany a few years back.
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Tour of Norway in 2019 he got away with Hirschi on a flat stage and they were caught about 5km from the line.

He got away in the Belgian RR in 2019 but was caught.

Adriatica Ionica 2019 he tried to get away on a mountains tage but blew up.

The aforementioned Tour of Germany in 2019.

Don't remember Montreal in 2019.

Euro Road Race 2021

Belgian Road Race 2021

He has only been caught when on a flat course save for Ionica in 2019. If the profile has any reasonably difficult climbs he's nearly impossible to catch once he's off the front.
 
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Bonimenier

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LesDiablesRouges said:
Tour of Norway in 2019 he got away with Hirschi on a flat stage and they were caught about 5km from the line.

He got away in the Belgian RR in 2019 but was caught.

Adriatica Ionica 2019 he tried to get away on a mountains tage but blew up.

The aforementioned Tour of Germany in 2019.

Don't remember Montreal in 2019.

Euro Road Race 2021

Belgian Road Race 2021

He has only been caught when on a flat course save for Ionica in 2019. If the profile has any reasonably difficult climbs he's nearly impossible to catch once he's off the front.
Click to expand...
He wasn't solo in most of those races though, which was the question.
 
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LesDiablesRouges

LesDiablesRouges

Jul 12, 2012
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Bonimenier said:
He wasn't solo in most of those races though, which was the question.
Click to expand...

That's true, but those are the pre-attack positions. He's usually accompanied by someone in his breaks until they usually pop.

On flatter courses it's quite difficult to shake other riders, which is what happened with Euro and Belgian RRs. He couldn't get away from Cobrelli or Van Aert/Theuns.

I know it's a bit of an aside, but I do think it's worth mentioning because it shows how he's developed.

He's now nearly impossible to stop on flats surfaces as well.
 
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Cookster15

Cookster15

May 14, 2011
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When I was racing, I remember there were some riders you didn't want to get away because you knew if you let their wheel go you would never see them again. This is what happened. I don't see how anyone can begrudge this. He was simply the strongest rider - by far.

Also kudos to the course design. Because it was a tough course, the rival teams could not muster the strength to close him down. So now we have a very worthy world champion.

I must admit I didn't think he would stack up against Pog and Vingo (yet) but now I think it is appropriate he be mentioned in that company.
 
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Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

Jun 7, 2011
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LesDiablesRouges said:
Tour of Norway in 2019 he got away with Hirschi on a flat stage and they were caught about 5km from the line.

He got away in the Belgian RR in 2019 but was caught.

Adriatica Ionica 2019 he tried to get away on a mountains tage but blew up.

The aforementioned Tour of Germany in 2019.

Don't remember Montreal in 2019.

Euro Road Race 2021

Belgian Road Race 2021

He has only been caught when on a flat course save for Ionica in 2019. If the profile has any reasonably difficult climbs he's nearly impossible to catch once he's off the front.
Click to expand...
As pointed out, most of those weren't solo attacks. You did leave one out though. Burgos 2020, stage 1 IIRC. He had a big gap but Ineos put their entire team in front. He was then ordered to sit up.
 
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red_flanders

red_flanders

Apr 3, 2009
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tobydawq said:
I have no problem with Remco attacking. Of course he should do that when nobody can ever catch him.

It just isn't particularly interesting to watch. And then I do get a little exasperated that the best riders never try to follow him, especially when he went away as softly as he did yesterday.
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Maybe that jersey with the rainbow bands on it will help their confusion, and they'll realize they need to mark him.

They just haven't gotten the memo yet that he might not be a guy you want to let go?

Or...maybe...they can't follow.

Surely we can't be suggesting they don't know he's a guy you can't give 2 meters to, right?
 
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Zinoviev Letter

Aug 18, 2010
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tobydawq said:
I have no problem with Remco attacking. Of course he should do that when nobody can ever catch him.

It just isn't particularly interesting to watch. And then I do get a little exasperated that the best riders never try to follow him, especially when he went away as softly as he did yesterday.
Click to expand...

The best riders are going to have to learn to make better split second decisions. I think enough of them will that Evenepoel will singlehandedly change the way classics are raced. The top guys are going to have to move whenever he does, because they can’t rely on domestiques to ever bring him back.
 
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Andy schleck

Andy schleck

Jul 18, 2020
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JosefK said:
How long before he wins the Tour de France? It's hard to imagine he won't win at least one or two.
Click to expand...
It's not gonna be easy to win a lot of tours. Vingegaard(specially in this tour) and pogacar are on another level at grand tours. And in my opinion, i believe uijtdebroeks and ayuso will be better grand tours riders than remco.
Nevertheless, i bet that remco will win all of the monuments, a lot of one week races, and a couple of giro and vueltas, including giro 2023 until the end of his career.
 
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Big Doopie

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Andy schleck said:
...Vingegaard and pogacar are on another level at grand tours.
Click to expand...

Based on what? They haven't competed against each other. You may believe this. And you may indeed end up being right. However, this is no fact. It is only your hunch based on no actual data whatsoever.

And in my opinion, i believe uijtdebroeks and ayuso will be better grand tours riders than remco.
Click to expand...

Based on what? Granted, at least this time you preface your statement with "in my opinion"... but right now this "opinion" is really just another personal hunch, what you clearly would want to happen. There appears to be just as good a chance (if not a better one) that Remco actually continue to prove your hunches wrong, as we actually have a lot of supporting data of him doing that -- proving many people's biases dead wrong.

Nevertheless, i bet that remco will win all of the monuments, a lot of one week races, and a couple of giro and vueltas, including giro 2023 until the end of his career.
Click to expand...

Based on what? Based on what we know and his present weaknesses, it is actually likely he wins no more than two of the monuments. Things could evolve and he might manage one of the others eventually, but based on the facts as we know them right now, that is highly unlikely (particularly since he may never even ride some of the other monuments).
 
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Andy schleck

Andy schleck

Jul 18, 2020
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Big Doopie said:
Based on what? They haven't competed against each other. You may believe this. And you may indeed end up being right. However, this is no fact. It is only your hunch based on no actual data whatsoever.



Based on what? Granted, at least this time you preface your statement with "in my opinion"... but right now this "opinion" is really just another personal hunch, what you clearly would want to happen. There appears to be just as good a chance (if not a better one) that Remco actually continue to prove your hunches wrong, as we actually have a lot of supporting data of him doing that -- proving many people's biases dead wrong.



Based on what? Based on what we know and his present weaknesses, it is actually likely he wins no more than two of the monuments. Things could evolve and he might manage one of the others eventually, but based on the facts as we know them right now, that is highly unlikely (particularly since he may never even ride some of the other monuments).
Click to expand...
I gave up of reading when you said "what you clearly would want to happen."
I don't have patience to hysterical remco fanboys.
 
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