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

[Logic-is-your-friend]

The day before the start of the UAE tour, Evenepoel isn't nervous, but stresfully anxious. He wants to see where he stands among a world tour peloton. Testing himself and seeing how far he can get. San Juan was a succes, but he did suffer somewhat, though he greatly enjoyed racing among the pros. He expects the level to be high at the UAE tour. He wants to push his boundaries uphill and return home with a sense of accomplishment, whatever his place in the classifications.

They arrived yesterday night, very late, and only got 4 hours of sleep because the racecars near the hotel started practice at 9 in the morning.


https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20190222_04198272
https://sporza.be/nl/2019/02/22/evenepoel-voor-uae-tour/
https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/remco-evenepoel-met-gezonde-stress-naar-eerste-worldtour-koers/

Next stop in the Emirates. I'm going with top-15 in the ITT. Anything better is really good in this field imo.

There is no ITT?

 

[Flamin]

Oh damn, it's a TTT

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Oh damn, it's a TTT

Top 15 should be easy then

 

[RedheadDane]

Just change it to "going with him staying with DQ all the way."

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

Just change it to "going with him staying with DQ all the way."

So, you're just assuming the others will be able to keep his wheel?

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Just change it to "going with him staying with DQ all the way."

So, you're just assuming the others will be able to keep his wheel?

He'll have to wait…

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Looking back on San Juan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ439Ao3DyY

 

[Valanga]

According to Philippe Gilbert, this guys never had a sip of alcohol in his life.
This also means he never learned how to be wise and responsible when it comes to alcohol, and it's going to be interesting to see what happens when he discovers the joys of it. Disaster waiting to happen or will he turn out to be wiser then some of the previous hyped Belgians at Quick Step (hello Tom Boonen)?

Philippe Gilbert himself likes a glass of red wine during dinner and reintroduced this at the Quick Step table.

 

[Robert5091]

I think he'll get his first time following the Sky train today. so that'll be interesting.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

According to Philippe Gilbert, this guys never had a sip of alcohol in his life.
This also means he never learned how to be wise and responsible when it comes to alcohol, and it's going to be interesting to see what happens when he discovers the joys of it. Disaster waiting to happen or will he turn out to be wiser then some of the previous hyped Belgians at Quick Step (hello Tom Boonen)?

Philippe Gilbert himself likes a glass of red wine during dinner and reintroduced this at the Quick Step table.

That's an... interesting theory. So, it's best that 19 year old pro atlhetes have a profound experience with alcohol and drugs, just in case they are to drink a glas of champagne after celebrating a victory.

 

[Vroome.exe]

Re:

I think he'll get his first time following the Sky train today. so that'll be interesting.

He got a valuable experience of following gruppetto.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Well he did very well today. After being dropped he still passed guys like Kwiatko and only finished about 13 seconds behind Dumoulin..

 

[JosephK]

Re:

Well he did very well today. After being dropped he still passed guys like Kwiatko and only finished about 13 seconds behind Dumoulin..

Agreed. Of course, there will be those who'll be disappointed if Remco does not win at least a couple grand tours this year.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

Well he did very well today. After being dropped he still passed guys like Kwiatko and only finished about 13 seconds behind Dumoulin..

Dumoulin was mediocre, though. Didn't expect that. Roglic is the real benchmark.

Anyway, a 15th place is about what I expected. Looks like the next MTF suits the power climbers better. I don't necessarily expect a better performance there, though. A similar result would be in line with expectations.

Anyone have an idea what to expect on tomorrow's uphill finish?

 

[Velolover2]

Re: Re:

Well he did very well today. After being dropped he still passed guys like Kwiatko and only finished about 13 seconds behind Dumoulin..

Dumoulin was mediocre, though. Didn't expect that. Roglic is the real benchmark.

Anyway, a 15th place is about what I expected. Looks like the next MTF suits the power climbers better. I don't necessarily expect a better performance there, though. A similar result would be in line with expectations.

Anyone have an idea what to expect on tomorrow's uphill finish?

A Caleb Ewan win.

 

[tobydawq]

I agree. I think Ewan will win in front of Valverde.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin was mediocre, though. Didn't expect that. Roglic is the real benchmark.

Roglic, one of the favorites for a GT victory this year, is the benchmark for a 19 year old who should be riding in the U23 category for 2 more years? Not even Sivakov (one of the top 3 riders from Bernal's age bracket), and comparable to Evenepoel in style? Know what, f*ck it, if in his first season he doesn't win Tour, Giro and at least one monument, like Merckx, he's not worth our time :lol:

 

[Lequack]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin was mediocre, though. Didn't expect that. Roglic is the real benchmark.

Roglic, one of the favorites for a GT victory this year, is the benchmark for a 19 year old who should be riding in the U23 category for 2 more years? Not even Sivakov (one of the top 3 riders from Bernal's age bracket), and comparable to Evenepoel in style? Know what, f*ck it, if in his first season he doesn't win Tour, Giro and at least one monument, like Merckx, he's not worth our time :lol:

Yeah if he doesn't win the TDF just send him back to the Juniors. :razz:

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin was mediocre, though. Didn't expect that. Roglic is the real benchmark.

Roglic, one of the favorites for a GT victory this year, is the benchmark for a 19 year old who should be riding in the U23 category for 2 more years?

Nah, for GC riders in general. Why compare anyone to a rider (Dumoulin) who is either in a crap form, or didn't perform up to his usual standards for some other reason?

 

[Jancouver]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin was mediocre, though. Didn't expect that. Roglic is the real benchmark.

Roglic, one of the favorites for a GT victory this year, is the benchmark for a 19 year old who should be riding in the U23 category for 2 more years? Not even Sivakov (one of the top 3 riders from Bernal's age bracket), and comparable to Evenepoel in style? Know what, f*ck it, if in his first season he doesn't win Tour, Giro and at least one monument, like Merckx, he's not worth our time :lol:

If Ramco was the next Merckx, he would show some more class in Argentina or here.

Perhaps Tadej Pogačar is the next big thing.

I think your song "he is too young" is getting old. He may be a good cyclist, but he will be lucky to even match Sagan, Boonen or Cancellara.

"Eddie" is a completely different level and so far there are no signs that Remco can match that level ... regardless of his young age.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin was mediocre, though. Didn't expect that. Roglic is the real benchmark.

Roglic, one of the favorites for a GT victory this year, is the benchmark for a 19 year old who should be riding in the U23 category for 2 more years? Not even Sivakov (one of the top 3 riders from Bernal's age bracket), and comparable to Evenepoel in style? Know what, f*ck it, if in his first season he doesn't win Tour, Giro and at least one monument, like Merckx, he's not worth our time :lol:

If Ramco was the next Merckx, he would show some more class in Argentina or here.

Perhaps Tadej Pogačar is the next big thing.

I think your song "he is too young" is getting old. He may be a good cyclist, but he will be lucky to even match Sagan, Boonen or Cancellara.

"Eddie" is a completely different level and so far there are no signs that Remco can match that level ... regardless of his young age.

He JUST turned 19...

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin was mediocre, though. Didn't expect that. Roglic is the real benchmark.

Roglic, one of the favorites for a GT victory this year, is the benchmark for a 19 year old who should be riding in the U23 category for 2 more years? Not even Sivakov (one of the top 3 riders from Bernal's age bracket), and comparable to Evenepoel in style? Know what, f*ck it, if in his first season he doesn't win Tour, Giro and at least one monument, like Merckx, he's not worth our time :lol:

If Ramco was the next Merckx, he would show some more class in Argentina or here.

Perhaps Tadej Pogačar is the next big thing.

I think your song "he is too young" is getting old. He may be a good cyclist, but he will be lucky to even match Sagan, Boonen or Cancellara.

"Eddie" is a completely different level and so far there are no signs that Remco can match that level ... regardless of his young age.

I'm sorry, maybe my sarcasm meter is broken, so... not sure if serious.

But yes, Pogacar is definitely a big talent.

 

[Jancouver]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin was mediocre, though. Didn't expect that. Roglic is the real benchmark.

Roglic, one of the favorites for a GT victory this year, is the benchmark for a 19 year old who should be riding in the U23 category for 2 more years? Not even Sivakov (one of the top 3 riders from Bernal's age bracket), and comparable to Evenepoel in style? Know what, f*ck it, if in his first season he doesn't win Tour, Giro and at least one monument, like Merckx, he's not worth our time :lol:

If Ramco was the next Merckx, he would show some more class in Argentina or here.

Perhaps Tadej Pogačar is the next big thing.

I think your song "he is too young" is getting old. He may be a good cyclist, but he will be lucky to even match Sagan, Boonen or Cancellara.

"Eddie" is a completely different level and so far there are no signs that Remco can match that level ... regardless of his young age.

He JUST turned 19...

So what?

If he was the next Merckx, he would not finish 15th on this somewhat easy climb.

His biggest problem will be to find a niche where he can excel because when you look around, there are better climbers, better TTs, better sprinters etc.

Let's wait for the cobbled classics, but my hopes are not very high for this kid even in that area.

Perhaps, he will be the next Rohan Dennis ... good TT but no GT chances.

 

[tobydawq]

It's just amazing how much you can troll sometimes. How can you say so what to the fact that he is 19 and at least a year and a half younger than every other WorldTour rider?

Okay, he is another rider you don't like, apparently, but my god...

Edit: And the difficulty of the climb plays no role, you can only look at the opposition to assess whether or not a 15th place is good or bad.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Oh, ok, you're serious.

In that case: lol.