Re:
Regarding the De Gendt comparison, i've made that comparison even last year. It's only strange for people who underestimate De Gendt. I didn't know so many still did. If he had a different mindset and mentality, De Gendt could have been a great GC rider. I'm not saying he'd have won left and right, but he'd have multiple top 5 finishes for sure. The cheesy bikehandling/peleton riding skills, the eager to attack, being great in long range efforts and being able to choke somebody off his wheel, excellent ITT'er. I also saw someone compare him to Jungels, i guess that's a fair shout as well. But Remco is much more consistent even at his age, and because of his size (and potential weight) he has a lot more potential as a climber as well. He's not skinny for his size and it's scary to think how/if he will be able to translate that same power uphill. As a junior, he did just that, ride the entire peloton off his wheel, like a one-man-sky-train.
Dekker_Tifosi said:
The most interesting thing is he seems to be able to destroy other companions in a breakaway on the flat as well. It happened to Masnada and now to Skujins. I rate Skujins a whole let better than Masnada on the pure flats, but even he was struggling already before the climb.
It's pretty rare to see **** like that
It's usually on a slight slope that he really kills them. Not real flat roads, but not climbs either. Masnada and Skuijns both really seemed to struggle following his pace on maybe 3% or about.
But it's just what he does. Masnada, Skuijns, Campenaerts, Wellens (the way he rode to him, and away from him), and basically every junior last year. They just fade away in his wheel.
Red Rick said:
On paper he is a one day racer at this moment. His recovery of anaerobic effort is **** bonkers. I wouldn't know how he'd recover between long climbs, but frankly right now he's simply too bulky to be an elite climber.
Problems will arise when people stop giving him 10m, but the simple fact that after 2 hard hills he can destroy the domestiques on a flat road is very interesting.
The thing is, it's easier said than done, not giving someone 10 meters. If you look at yesterdays race, they really kept them (him & Skuijns) within 15 meters for a long time. Normally, a rider would stop and sit up, knowing he wouldn't get away. But he just kept pushing and you can literally see the Movistar henchmen break. It's right before Skuijns takes over from Remco. Maybe 5 or 10 seconds earlier, you can see a drop in pace from the peloton with the naked eye. In hindsight, it wasn't a great move from Movistar burning their guys so early. I can only assume had they not been pacing for miles, they would have been more fresh. On the other hand, Remco did have to fight back to the peloton twice, while Movistar was putting the hammer down, so i guess it more than evens out.
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