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

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My problem is that practically every rider I became a fan of invariably crashed and burned. It's tough to be a cycling fan and, for once, I'd like to root for somebody who does not end below expectations. Vive le ciclisme!
If you're trying to win and you're not crashing.....you're not trying hard enough. True to skiing, motocross...., cycling. I love them all and just when you think you're the SH*T: BANG.
 
Jan 8, 2020
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If you're trying to win and you're not crashing.....you're not trying hard enough. True to skiing, motocross...., cycling. I love them all and just when you think you're the SH*T: BANG.
I was talking about a life threatening incident, the explosion of pharmacology, existential crisis, death, scandal, the rise of "marginal gains" and the kind.
 
Jan 8, 2020
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Usually how they race. Pog attacks, has a great sprint, lights it up from far out, the guy just wins with panache. Plus he’s a great sport, always with a good word for his competitors, smiles a lot, just looks like he’s enjoying the ride and doing it all the right way, humanity wise.

Now hating on someone, I can have really petty reasons for that… :p
Yea, although his good grandson persona can also be kinda annoying (making too his ruffled feathers aftee the finish at Flanders seem hauty and arrogant - well, actually stupid, as he only had himself to blame) and the fact that someone that good flew under the radar to all but UAE is weird and mysterious. But on the way he races, you gotta say chapeau.
 
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Yea, although his good grandson persona can also be kinda annoying (making too his ruffled feathers aftee the finish at Flanders seem hauty and arrogant - well, actually stupid, as he only had himself to blame) and the fact that someone that good flew under the radar to all but UAE is weird and mysterious. But on the way he races, you gotta say chapeau.
What are you talking about flying under the radar for all other teams?

He won the Tour de l'Avenir...
 
Oct 31, 2018
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My problem is that practically every rider I became a fan of invariably crashed and burned. It's tough to be a cycling fan and, for once, I'd like to root for somebody who does not end below expectations. Vive le ciclisme!

Sepp Van Marcke? :p
 
Aug 28, 2021
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I generally think Remco is now ready to race the Tour, but we need to be cautious: the way Vingegaard rode the 2022 TdF made a huge impression on me. Just look how he rode on Granon, Luz-Ardiden and in the final ITT.

It‘s not 100% certain that Remco could go this pace, if Vingegaard repeats his performance, or gets even better.

This 2022 performance in the Tour even makes Vingegaard my rider of the season. He clearly beat Pogacar, who probably is one of the best of all time. Remco was impressive, with LBL, Vuelta and WC victories. But nothing compares to the TdF. Winning it the way Vingegaard won it (so dominant, and first rider to finish the Tour with an average speed of >42 kms/hr after three weeks) cannot be rated highly enough.

Now we could see a battle from 2023 on: Vingegaard will try to win the TdF for eight times in a row, whereas Remco will want to win the Tour for the first time, before turning his attention to the Giro.

Remco is a great time trialist, probably #3 behind Ganna and Wout. If you look at Jonas‘ final TT in 2022‘s TdF, you‘ll see that Jonas was on Remco‘s level. Remco however improved his climbing a lot. Vingegaard‘s climbing in the Tour though was from another planet.

I thought ASO would offer Remco lots of TT kms for next year’s TdF. The opposite is the case. So we‘ll have to wait to see if Vinge can repeat or even improve. Then we will have Hindley (climbed better than Pantani in the Giro), Pogacar (who will want to strike back), and Ayuso (if UAE want him in France). Plus Bernal, if he‘s ready in time…
 
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Jul 20, 2019
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I generally think Remco is now ready to race the Tour, but we need to be cautious: the way Vingegaard rode the 2022 TdF made a huge impression on me. Just look how he rode on Granon, Luz-Ardiden and in the final ITT.

It‘s not 100% certain that Remco could go this pace, if Vingegaard repeats his performance, or gets even better.

This 2022 performance in the Tour even makes Vingegaard my rider of the season. He clearly beat Pogacar, who probably is one of the best of all time. Remco was impressive, with LBL, Vuelta and WC victories. But nothing compares to the TdF. Winning it the way Vingegaard won it (so dominant, and first rider to finish the Tour with an average speed of >42 kms/hr after three weeks) cannot be rated highly enough.

Now we could see a battle from 2023 on: Vingegaard will try to win the TdF for eight times in a row, whereas Remco will want to win the Tour for the first time, before turning his attention to the Giro.

Remco is a great time trialist, probably #3 behind Ganna and Wout. If you look at Jonas‘ final TT in 2022‘s TdF, you‘ll see that Jonas was on Remco‘s level. Remco however improved his climbing a lot. Vingegaard‘s climbing in the Tour though was from another planet.

I thought ASO would offer Remco lots of TT kms for next year’s TdF. The opposite is the case. So we‘ll have to wait to see if Vinge can repeat or even improve. Then we will have Hindley (climbed better than Pantani in the Giro), Pogacar (who will want to strike back), and Ayuso (if UAE want him in France). Plus Bernal, if he‘s ready in time…

Vingegaard didn't win anything of note outside of the tour for him to warrant being the rider of the year.

It is between Pog and Remco. I can be persuaded either way
 
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Vingegaard didn't win anything of note outside of the tour for him to warrant being the rider of the year.

It is between Rog and Remco. I can be persuaded either way
I am quite sure that the Vélo d'Or 2022 will go to Remco. The fact that only 4 riders were able to win a Monument, a Grand Tour and a World Championship in the same year will clinch it for him. Just look at the two names that preceded him since WOII (Hinault and Merckx). Those two are simply the two best ever cyclists. And they were older when they did so. Hinault and Merckx (1971; TDF, Milano San Remo, LBL, Giro de Lombardia, Worlds) did it once. Remco still has a lot of years to repeat himself. Merckx won the Giro and the TDF in 1974 but was not able to win a Monument when he became world champion for the third time. LBL has almost always been rated higher than the Giro de Lombardia. The quality of the Remco wins is simply higher in 2022.
 
I was talking about a life threatening incident, the explosion of pharmacology, existential crisis, death, scandal, the rise of "marginal gains" and the kind.
I should have picked up on that. Although actual wrecks seem to be a precipitation for some of the other influences as riders struggle to regain form. Fans are too quick to write off injured former heroes and teams seem to be even quicker under pressure to win.
 
Sep 12, 2022
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I am quite sure that the Vélo d'Or 2022 will go to Remco. The fact that only 4 riders were able to win a Monument, a Grand Tour and a World Championship in the same year will clinch it for him. Just look at the two names that preceded him since WOII (Hinault and Merckx). Those two are simply the two best ever cyclists. And they were older when they did so. Hinault and Merckx (1971; TDF, Milano San Remo, LBL, Giro de Lombardia, Worlds) did it once. Remco still has a lot of years to repeat himself. Merckx won the Giro and the TDF in 1974 but was not able to win a Monument when he became world champion for the third time. LBL has almost always been rated higher than the Giro de Lombardia. The quality of the Remco wins is simply higher in 2022.
I don't even know who else would have a chance to win this. There's just no one that was able to get these kind of results. Vingegaard only won TDF that is worth mentioning, Pogacar didn't win the really big races (GT, WC, or LBL), same goes for WVA, and MVDP was only good in the beginning of the season.
 
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I don't even know who else would have a chance to win this. There's just no one that was able to get these kind of results. Vingegaard only won TDF that is worth mentioning, Pogacar didn't win the really big races (GT, WC, or LBL), same goes for WVA, and MVDP was only good in the beginning of the season.
French article : Fort de ses quinze victoires cette saison, dont le Tour d'Espagne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège et la course en ligne des Championnats du monde, le Belge Evenepoel apparaît comme le grand favori pour succéder au Slovène Pogacar.
 
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The only argument against Remco would be that he's only #3 in UCI points scored in 2022 behind Pogacar and Van Aert (PCS too), but it's a weak argument imo, winning races is what counts. Vingegaard is the only other half-reasonable opponent.
 
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It is between Rog and Remco. I can be persuaded either way
It's not between them. It's Remco all the way, easily. When a rider win Grand Tour, Worlds and a monument in the same season (in the company of Binda, Meckx and Hinault :oops:), there's really no contest.
Pog is maybe still a better rider, but he certainly didn't had a better season.
 
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I fail to see why it is so self evident Remco had a better season than Pogacar. Ok he has worlds but Pogacar has Tirreno and UAE. One could very easily rate Pogacars Tour performance higher than Remco’s Vuelta. As a matter of fact, if Remco’s Vuelta outweighs Pogacar’s Tour then Hindley’ Giro should outhweigh them both…

Having a better season is very subjective category. And the only real objective criteria we have is UCI where Pogacar is weirdly better by quite a handsome margin.