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

[wheresmybrakes]

Yeah, how dared Pogacar and Vingegaard go and win the Tour two times each, without ever having started the Giro?

Different breed of riders.

 

[RedheadDane]

Different breed of riders.

So, what exactly is the special "breed" Evenepoel is, that would require finishing the Giro before starting the Tour?

 

[wheresmybrakes]

I wasn't saying he had to finish a Giro before starting a Tour. It was tongue in cheek, replying to someone who suggested Remco could go and win a Giro in the future against lesser competition, so he should go to the Tour (supposedly because he's that good, and will be a match for Pog and Vingo), when in fact, looking at his previous GT results, he's not set the world alight, apart from his win in the Vuelta against lesser competion and a crocked Roglic. Any rider can ride any race they want to. They don't need permission from me or anyone else (apart from their bosses).

 

[Froome]

A true remco fan would include the biggest race of the year classica San sebastian in his schedule, since it will once again be his main goa

A true remco fan would include the biggest race of the year classica San sebastian in his schedule, since it will once again be his main goal

Miguel Indurain 1 classica san sebastian
Remco 3 classicas san sebastian

Remco>indurain

 

[shadowrider]

I wasn't saying he had to finish a Giro before starting a Tour. It was tongue in cheek, replying to someone who suggested Remco could go and win a Giro in the future against lesser competition, so he should go to the Tour (supposedly because he's that good, and will be a match for Pog and Vingo), when in fact, looking at his previous GT results, he's not set the world alight, apart from his win in the Vuelta against lesser competion and a crocked Roglic. Any rider can ride any race they want to. They don't need permission from me or anyone else (apart from their bosses).

Pogacar won the Tour 2020 because he was allowed to gain time by his "friend" Roglic then, and because Roglic didn't attack him anough (only once on the Loze, taking a few seconds). To have a breakdown in the final TT. Vingegaard only won the Tour in 2022 because Pogacar surprisingly had a big and a smaller breakdown (and did't eat enough before his first breakdown ?). Vingegaard won the Tour this year because the strongest rider (by far) of the first part of the season, Pogacar, broke his wrist in Liege. Roglic won the Giro this year (with only a few seconds against the old Thomas) only because the superior Evenepoel got covid. Etc. etc. etc.
In your point of view, Evenepoel only won the Vuelta because Roglic was not at his best (?) and crashed at the end anyway. But when Roglic, Pogacar and Vingegaard win a grand tour, they always win because they are the strongest. What a joke.

 

[proffate]

looking at his previous GT results, he's not set the world alight

He was the youngest Vuelta winner in 60 years. What had Vinge, Roglic, Geraint Thomas etc done at 22?

 

[AmRacer]

He was the youngest Vuelta winner in 60 years. What had Vinge, Roglic, Geraint Thomas etc done at 22?

Rogla was a ski jumper so....
Geraint won Olympic Gold...
Vinge played with fish.
Pog was 21 when he won TdF

 

[Berniece]

Rogla was a ski jumper so....
Geraint won Olympic Gold...
Vinge played with fish.

So only G did something of note. Might be why they respect each other so much.

 

[AmRacer]

So only G did something of note. Might be why they respect each other so much.

Ski jumper and fish hater.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Rogla was a ski jumper so....
Geraint won Olympic Gold...
Vinge played with fish.
Pog was 21 when he won TdF

Be careful with the humour in your posts. Some don't see humour and come up with things to prove what you wrote wrong..

 

[Peter von]

Be careful with the humour in your posts. Some don't see humour and come up with things to prove what you wrote wrong..

having our jokes be taken out of context and reprinted is the closest any of us will ever get to being Geraint Thomas.

 

[Barkintheeye]

His schedule according to Journalists from HLN (Belgian sensation newspaper).

• Volta ao Algarve
• Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico
• Milano San Remo
• Amstel Gold Race and/or Fleche Wallone
• Liège
• Tour de France
• Olympic Games
• World Championship
• Lombardia

There are still some gaps to be filled, but the major goals make sense. Quite the year this will be.

QS and Remco should shake it up a bit and instead go for:

• Strade Bianche
• Ronde
• Paris-Roubaix

To spice it up a couple of notches more add a few of the UCI Gravel races AND the UCI CX World Championship. A start from the back should be a real scorcher. Imagine the faces of Van Aert and Van der Poel when Remco comes dive bombing past them on lap 2…

 

[Oldermanish]

He was the youngest Vuelta winner in 60 years. What had Vinge, Roglic, Geraint Thomas etc done at 22?

Roglic was a junior world champion and not racing a bike. Thomas was a junior world and Paris Roubaix winner, Senior world champion and youngest rider the year he first did LeTour at age 21.
Jonas was still cleaning fish and riding, I guess. But it looks like they were busy.....

 

[proffate]

Roglic was a junior world champion and not racing a bike. Thomas was a junior world and Paris Roubaix winner, Senior world champion and youngest rider the year he first did LeTour at age 21.
Jonas was still cleaning fish and riding, I guess. But it looks like they were busy.....

Right so IOW, not a single one of them had shown the least inkling of being a GT winner.

 

[Froome]

Right so IOW, not a single one of them had shown the least inkling of being a GT winner.

It's a bit difficult for someone who is working with 22 years in a fish factory or doing sky jumping, to show that can be a GT winner.

 

[AmRacer]

Right so IOW, not a single one of them had shown the least inkling of being a GT winner.

Neither of them weren't even dreaming of winning a GT when they were young.

 

[Oldermanish]

Right so IOW, not a single one of them had shown the least inkling of being a GT winner.

You probably haven't studied what it takes to be a World and Olympic pursuit champion....it makes you a supreme TTer. One that could do efforts at max, back to back to back. He also won titles in Scratch racing and probably killed it in Points racing. That would make him a seriously skillled and tactically gifted sprinter; particularly after very hard efforts. He also won the Junior Paris Roubaix so there's the Hardman credentials for you.
Fixed gear racing is a very serious test of limits due to no gear relief. You need to be strong enough to accelerate from slower speeds in the gear choice you plan to sprint at 40mph. The repeat efforts are great for hill thresholds. So Gerraint had shown every quality needed to be a GT winner but was channeled into the Olympic medal hunt and won those, too. Lack of opportunity doesn't indicate lack of ability.
Remco would be the first to acknowledge that his family connections assisted nearly every step of his progression. Unfortunately they needed to step aside and let him grow as an individual athlete and IMO he's made that move.

Roglic is an irrelevant comparison and only on your list to denigrate his abilities I would bet. He is better than Remco in GTs now and can't be 21 again so no point in comparison.
Jonas is now the hero of Denmark but hadn't earned the pro ride to put him in GT supremacy.
Remco was anointed the Boy King of his neighborhood so his "legacy" was to be the TdF winner Belgium still is desperate for. Now his biggest supporters are hopefully embracing his potential as a GT winner. Not the GT winner. That's good. But to suggest anyone other than say, Lemond showed they could win the TdF at 21 is far from serious.

 

[AmRacer]

But to suggest anyone other than say, Lemond showed they could win the TdF at 21 is far from serious.

Pog

 

[Oldermanish]

Pog

He won the Tour. Per the discussion framed by someone the contestants were challenged to show they could win a GT by the time they were 21 or something like that. Remco has great potential but so do others as you've pointed out.

 

[proffate]

You probably haven't studied what it takes to be a World and Olympic pursuit champion....it makes you a supreme TTer. One that could do efforts at max, back to back to back. He also won titles in Scratch racing and probably killed it in Points racing. That would make him a seriously skillled and tactically gifted sprinter; particularly after very hard efforts. He also won the Junior Paris Roubaix so there's the Hardman credentials for you.
Fixed gear racing is a very serious test of limits due to no gear relief. You need to be strong enough to accelerate from slower speeds in the gear choice you plan to sprint at 40mph. The repeat efforts are great for hill thresholds. So Gerraint had shown every quality needed to be a GT winner but was channeled into the Olympic medal hunt and won those, too. Lack of opportunity doesn't indicate lack of ability.
Remco would be the first to acknowledge that his family connections assisted nearly every step of his progression. Unfortunately they needed to step aside and let him grow as an individual athlete and IMO he's made that move.

Roglic is an irrelevant comparison and only on your list to denigrate his abilities I would bet. He is better than Remco in GTs now and can't be 21 again so no point in comparison.
Jonas is now the hero of Denmark but hadn't earned the pro ride to put him in GT supremacy.
Remco was anointed the Boy King of his neighborhood so his "legacy" was to be the TdF winner Belgium still is desperate for. Now his biggest supporters are hopefully embracing his potential as a GT winner. Not the GT winner. That's good. But to suggest anyone other than say, Lemond showed they could win the TdF at 21 is far from serious.

I am philosophically opposed to reading walls of text this long, so I picked out random a sentence from the middle to respond to.

I didn't add Roglic or anyone to denigrate them. The point is that Remco is getting bashed in spite of the fact that his accomplishments are way ahead of those of age-matched controls (i.e. known GT winners who are further along in their careers).

Of course Pog and Bernal were also exceedingly early bloomers so they were not on that short list.

And now some dyslexic forum goer is suggesting that Remco would be less worthy of derision if he were working in a factory right now...

 

[Oldermanish]

I am philosophically opposed to reading walls of text this long, so I picked out random a sentence from the middle to respond to.

I didn't add Roglic or anyone to denigrate them. The point is that Remco is getting bashed in spite of the fact that his accomplishments are way ahead of those of age-matched controls (i.e. known GT winners who are further along in their careers).

Of course Pog and Bernal were also exceedingly early bloomers so they were not on that short list.

And now some dyslexic forum goer is suggesting that Remco would be less worthy of derision if he were working in a factory right now..

I appreciate that you may have some philosophical underpinnings to your very specific prejudices. You may want to consult your guru on whether that works or not.
You'd also be able to read more than a paragraph if you have philosophical or even remedial reading interests but Remco is only being compared by less than philosophical or cogent kool-aid consumers because you offer up such a cartoonish basis of comparison.
Sorry....too many words.

 

[scribers]

It's a bit difficult for someone who is working with 22 years in a fish factory or doing sky jumping, to show that can be a GT winner.

Strava

 

[scribers]

QS and Remco should shake it up a bit and instead go for:

• Strade Bianche
• Ronde
• Paris-Roubaix

To spice it up a couple of notches more add a few of the UCI Gravel races AND the UCI CX World Championship. A start from the back should be a real scorcher. Imagine the faces of Van Aert and Van der Poel when Remco comes dive bombing past them on lap 2…

If remco loses the tour by more than 6 minutes without any particular bad luck events, I would expect QS to shift focus to these goals

 

[Froome]

Strava

Ok, with 22 years he had his first season on Jumbo, but you can't expect that a rider who in the previous seasons were in a modest team, working at the same time in a fish factory and somebody who was out 1 year between 2017 and 2018 due a broken leg, to win a grand tour by 22 years.

Some riders start "sooner" or with better conditions than others.

 

[Oldermanish]

Strava

that did attract attention to Vingo's wattage but couldn't remotely show how tactically and skillfully he rode. That was a fun revelation.