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

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As with many of his performances, today’s could be viewed with incredulity (“He’s a Lock for the Giro!”) or caution (“Nibali, G, Dennis et al are out of form!”) But the fact that he did set a course record is a good sign.

From a photo of him in the skinsuit, he doesn’t look as lean as he could be. Maybe Don Pat was right about losing those 2 kilos? Perhaps it’s part of the plan to be a bit heavy now and get GT-skinny right around the Ardennes.
 
I feel sorry for him already. This is a guy that clearly should focus everything on being a great 1 week stage racer + hilly classics + Time Trial beast.

He doesn't seem as "GT" as Pog or Bernal, but he is 1.5 years younger than Pog, and it's too soon.

I have no idea of how his sprint from reduced groups is, but even if he isn't explosive at all, he already showed how to win proper classics, stage races and time trials. All against the best. Why not be insanely great at that, at least for the first 7-10 years?
 
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I feel sorry for him already. This is a guy that clearly should focus everything on being a great 1 week stage racer + hilly classics + Time Trial beast.

He doesn't seem as "GT" as Pog or Bernal, but he is 1.5 years younger than Pog, and it's too soon.

I have no idea of how his sprint from reduced groups is, but even if he isn't explosive at all, he already showed how to win proper classics, stage races and time trials. All against the best. Why not be insanely great at that, at least for the first 7-10 years?
Why don't you think he is a GT candidate?
What is he missing according to you?
 
I feel sorry for him already. This is a guy that clearly should focus everything on being a great 1 week stage racer + hilly classics + Time Trial beast.

He doesn't seem as "GT" as Pog or Bernal, but he is 1.5 years younger than Pog, and it's too soon.
This post makes no sense.

Why would Roglic ever try to become a GT rider when he could be a great 1 week stage racer + hilly classics + time trial beast??

Well, because they can, and because they want to, i guess.
 
He is too young to target GTs which isall about recovery and endurance
Anyway he said today that the Giro is not a target for him ...looks like it isthe Ardennes classics and then Olympics
Either he's trying to downplay his role as a "favorite", or he means that he's going in without expectations (which seems logical considering it's his first GT). It doesn't mean he won't try to get the most out of it.

Which goes for everyone. That is such an empty statement. He has more than double the kms of Fuglsang and Nibali.
It's just to point out that he isn't just winning simply because he's hit his ceiling while the others are only building up.
 
He doesn't seem as "GT" as Pog or Bernal, but he is 1.5 years younger than Pog, and it's too soon.

...huh?

i mean, what!?

maybe because you are used to climbers being GT contenders -- only a recent phenomenon with curtailed ITTs and ever steeper climbs and shorter stages.

traditionally, Remco is THE PERFECT EXAMPLE of a GT rider. A superb time-trialist who can power climb.

and he is barely 20.

and, btw, tests have shown that what he may be best at is precisely GT riding -- he says so himself. and everything indicates that to be the case.

the one unknown: recovery over three weeks.

won't know the answer to that one until he competes.

personally, i believe, without career incidents, etc, Remco will rewrite the cycling history books.
 
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Can we now say that Remco is perhaps the number one Time trialist in cycling? He beat some pretty good riders today,
Dennis got beaten by a few riders last year, but at the WCC he put everybody in their place. I'd say Remco is probably one of the 2-3 best at the moment. But there will still be parcours that will suit others better (i'm thinking of guys like van Aert, maybe Roglic). But he does seem like one of the few (maybe the only one) that could possibly beat an in form Dennis in the near future. But maybe he'll have the best & most consistent ITT form throughout the year.

Anyway he said today that the Giro is not a target for him ...looks like it isthe Ardennes classics and then Olympics
I just heard the quote you are referring to. He said it in the post race interview, but the question was: "Did you want to send a strong message to the opposition of Giro d'Italia?" He then says, "No that 's not my goal. I'm only working out for 'my' goals. I have to be ready in 2 months...". So the way he answers the question, it seems like he wants to say it wasn't about starting psychological warfare with his rivals, but that his goal here was just to improve and working towards his goals in 2 months. He's already said he's aiming to be in top form for Liège, and Giro starts a week later.
 
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Still cannot warm to this guy. I'm sure I'll come around some point, but for now I have a hard time with his rhetoric :confused_old: Something about his extreme confidence is rubbing the wrong way:oops:
I know what you mean, and maybe I'll get annoyed by him in a couple of years too. But generally I like confidence in sports champions as long as they aren't disrespectful, and Remco seems very respectful imo.

It will be interesting to see how he reacts the first time he gets cancellara-d and a supposedly inferiour rider beats him to the line in an important race.
 
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I feel sorry for him already. This is a guy that clearly should focus everything on being a great 1 week stage racer + hilly classics + Time Trial beast.

He doesn't seem as "GT" as Pog or Bernal, but he is 1.5 years younger than Pog, and it's too soon.

I have no idea of how his sprint from reduced groups is, but even if he isn't explosive at all, he already showed how to win proper classics, stage races and time trials. All against the best. Why not be insanely great at that, at least for the first 7-10 years?
The betting odds place Remco now as third favorite to win the Giro. Only Carapaz (2/1) and Nibali (3/1) are ahead of Remco (15/4). I am quite sure that starting the Giro Remco will be the betting favorite to win the Giro. It's clear that Remco knows that he is able to beat the record of Fausto Coppi to become the youngest Giro winner ever. Next year Remco will aim for the Tour de France. He will want to beat the Bernal record. I love the fact that he wants to win everything. There was only one thing that Eddy Merckx did not have : that was "letting others win". I see it in Remco as well. You have to be almost blind not to see that Remco improves by the minute. He will dominate cycling for years to come.
 
The betting odds thing is a bit absurd, he's still really young and until now he has always been better on hilly and medium mountain filled terrain than on proper mountains.
I expect him to be a legit contender for lbl and the olympics this year, not for the Giro.
Based on what? He's only ever ridden two "real mountains" before. One was early season last year and the other was less than a week after training on altitude.
 
Saw a few mentions about Remco's statements and his so called "arrogance". I think we all have to realize how much of a role the media plays here. Most of the time he's just answering questions asked by them. "Are you happy about your form?", "Did you want to send out a message to your competition?", "What's next?", "Do you want to win the Giro?". A lot of riders winning races/stages dont't get the same kind of questions (which is normal seen the hype). Journalists also ask for more detailed information/personal expectations. For instance the statement regarding the fact that he's not a 100% in shape yet was a direct result of the following questions: are you in top shape yet ? Not yet. I still need to lose some kg. How many Kg? 1 by Tirreno and 2 by LBL.
I actually think he handles the media extremely well. He has a lot of respect for the other riders, the race organizers, the countries he races in,..And he's open, transparant, accessible.
 
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It's mainly the fact that we haven't seen him having that ability until now and that he's a young guy riding the Giro as his first gt.
Sure, i agree we don't know and it's unlikely for a first timer (even an extraordinary one).

I meant that it's a strange statement, to say he's been better at hilly terrain than in proper mountains since he's hardly ever done any real mountains to begin with. And those he did, shouldn't really be seen as a reference due to circumstances (he's also clearly improved a lot since the last time he did).

Unlike others, i can't imagine him outclimbing Carapaz and Nibali over 3 weeks. I can see him do it once, maybe finish with the other favorites a few times, earlier in the race. But it's hard to see him dominate mountains against elite climbers over 3 weeks.

Saw a few mentions about Remco's statements and so called "arrogance". I think we all have to realize how much of a role the media plays here. Most of the time he's just answering question asked by them. "Are you happy about your form?", "Did you want to send out a message to your competition?", "What's next?", "Do you want to win the Giro". A lot of riders winning races/stages dont't get the same kind of questions (which is normal seen the hype). Journalists also ask for more detailed. For instance the statement regarding the fact that he's not a 100% in shape yet was a direct result of the following questions: are you in top shape yet ? Not yet. I still need to lose some kg. How many Kg? 1 by Tirreno and 2 by LBL.
I actually think he handles the media extremely well. He has a lot of respect for the other riders, the race organizers, the countries he races in,..And he's open, transparant, accessible.
Agreed. He's also just ambitious and his results warrant that. Downplaying his achievements could also be seen as an insult to other riders or as false modesty. Damned if you don't, damned if you do. The day after yesterday i think, or maybe yesterday, he did get annoyed by his press guy, who was telling him to hurry up that others were waiting (during an actual interview). At first i though, hmm that doesn't look good, but on the other hand, we just see "one" interview, while the guy probably has 10 or 20 to give, after having climbed up the Malhao as fast as possible. He can get cranky from time to time, also in a race. But i think that's because he's a real winner.
 
I expect him to outclimb Carapaz and Nibali in the mountains, and also out-TT them.
Carapaz toyed with Nibali and Roglic in the mountains last year. I doubt anyone will be close this year, either. Guy is a beast when he's on. Landa wasn't even close to his level and his GC results speak for themselves.

Course, Evenepoel could still win because of the ITTs, or because he can destroy the field in a transitional stage (or because the key mountain stages will get cancelled). But he won't be close to Carapaz in the high mountains IMO.
 
Carapaz toyed with Nibali and Roglic in the mountains last year. I doubt anyone will be close this year, either. Guy is a beast when he's on. Landa wasn't even close to his level and his GC results speak for themselves.

Course, Evenepoel could still win because of the ITTs, or because he can destroy the field in a transitional stage (or because the key mountain stages will get cancelled). But he won't be close to Carapaz in the high mountains IMO.
"Toying with" meaning being gifted almost 3 minutes before letting Landa babysit you?

Don't get me wrong Carapaz deservedly won the Giro last year but he's not the top favorite this year.
 
Given that the last time he ‘failed’ or in any real way looked like a mere mortal young professional was Romandie last May and he has improved with practically every race since then after the breakthrough performance in the Hammer series and Tour of Belgium it would be unwise to judge him by the standard development parameters.

With the rate of improvement shown and nothing, including the hype and media attention, appearing to faze him there is no reason to doubt that he will be able to live with the best in the high mountains.

The 3 week endurance is something you can only know when you try it but being able to beat all the TT specialists in the final day of a stage race when you have been full gas every day riding for GC is at the very least a promising sign.
 
I think we can all agree that the ability to survive long mountain stages is an unknown at this point. Not only because the experience in his first year was limited but also because he skipped the U23 level ("junior climbs" aren't as long and arent followed by other longer climbs + climbing well on the junior level doesn't always translate into climbing well on the U23 level). You could say that expectations regarding true climbing abilities for Pogacar, Sivakov and others were at least slightly more predictable as they've been succesful in l'Avenir, Giro U23 etc. They had the performances, results but also (not to be underestimated) the experience on how to tackle a long climb (Evenepoel's Turkey and Adriatica Ionica races clearly proved that he was lacking in that department).

So anything could happen in the Giro. I think we shouldn't be shocked if he comes up short in the mountain stages this Giro.
What we do know: tests have not only shown that he can push the watts but also show that he recovers really well. He has the power, size and weight (and i agree that he can still lose a few kg's) to perform well. So we also shouldn't be overly shocked if he does well (although i expect the former more than the latter). But it isn't a given and it certainly isn't a given that he can perform at his age. In time he does have all the tools to succeed and knowing he does lack the experience (as stated above) it's a good thing to already have a taste now of what could be possible (now or in the (foreseeable) future). It can only benefit him and it would actually be a pity if he didn't knowing he has the tools.
 
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It is boring to say but they will just take one day at a time for as long as he is in contention. See how he goes. It only takes one bad day and your out of it.

He has Knox and Cattaneo with him for the mountains. Question is if that is enough against stronger teams? Those two have to be really good, if he is flying and has a chance for the overall. Knox might be capable of maybe a top 10 result of his own, if in great form.

It is fun to speculate... but I think it is just a to do as well as you can, for as long as you can type of thing and then we will take it from there.

He will definitely have the respect and eyes on him from more experienced riders though. Especially if he goes well as expected on the first stage and if he is strong on Etna in stage 5. How he will cope in 2nd or 3rd week is the unknown part, as some have mentioned. We have no idea right now and neither does he or the team. Could be great or a learning experience for the future.
 

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