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

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I don't think he's doing Brabantse Pijl. I've never heard/seen him confirm his participation, he has only ever been talking about Liège between Catalunya and the Giro. I don't know why PCS and other media outlets have it in his schedule but I think it's a mistake.
 
Evenepoel's next appointment will come in Catalunya, where he'll make his debut and take on three summit finishes at Vallter, La Molina, and Lo Port. Another trip to altitude will follow ahead of a trip back to Belgium for Brabantse Pijl and his Liège-Bastogne-Liège title defence.

It’s been out there for a while about him riding Brabantse Pijl, who knows how accurate it is.
 
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No Brabantse Pijl. Only LBL.
That's from January, the latest report was 12 days ago that he'll ride Brabantse Pijl. PCS also thinks he is riding Brabantse.

It also doesn't make sense to me to do a altitude camp of only 12 days to come back for Brabantse.
 
Who want to do with me a wager ? €100? I say he won't race Brabantse Pijl.

Pcs get things wrong all the time, anybody can submit a schedule

Cyclingnews didn't give a source for his Brabant pijL participation nor a quote from remco. They also got wrong who was attending the training camp.

Brabant pijl is too soon after Volta cataluna if you want to be flying for Giro
 
14/02 in Het Laatste Nieuws:
"Evenepoel will ride the UAE Tour from 20 February. Next month will be the Tour of Catalonia, followed by the Giro via the Brabantse Pijl and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He fills the off-course periods in between with training and altitude training."

4 days ago on Eurosport:
"Hermsen continued: "The Ardennes riders want to score in the Brabantse Pijl, which is why Remco Evenepoel is also riding it." The course has changed a lot in recent years since the start location became Leuven. This change took place in 2007 and before that the semi-classic was mainly a cobbled race."

There are also plenty of other sources. Are they all wrong?

Anyway, I agree Brabantse Pijl is maybe not the best way to prepare for the Giro. We'll see...
 
I'm with Ilmaestro here. I know multiple (media) sources have stated that he would be riding Brabantse Pijl but I think they are just copying it from each other or from PCS. I haven't seen/heard Remco or his trainer or his team saying that he would ride Brabantse Pijl, only Liège is always mentioned. Which is why I doubt it's in his schedule.

I could be wrong though so any betting/wager will have to be done with Ilmaestro. ;)
 
Damn, I would have loved to see if he could ride in the gutter now... ;)
Another thing we could have ticked off.
Last year he said that he was not coming back. He doesn't want to ride the "Hertstraat" anymore, especially not when it rains. On the other hand it's also almost a local race for him. His hometown is close to the parcours (~10-15 km), so he would please many local fans if he does start.
 
Why Brabantse Pijl but not Amstel or Fleche?
I have never seen Brabantse Pijl mentioned for this year, other than it appearing on PCS. I was quite surprised to see it "supposedly" on his schedule. Amstel would seem so much more fitting. On the other hand after last year's BP, he did post a training ride where he had been practicing riding in the gutter where he was afraid to ride during the race.
 
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