• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

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

Page 144 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Should we change the thread title?


  • Total voters
    112
I can imagine you don't like Evenepoel if you're not a fan.
But using this setback in his recovery to call out his so called arrogance? A bit harsh

Maybe a lesson in that he is not immortal and even if it is a good thing to be competitive, it could also bring out the worst in you. I think that is what the poster might have meant with the humility part. They are connected to his well-being and his recovery.
 
On the upside, maybe this whole bout will teach him some lifelong humility. We'll see.
It'll teach him to treat his potential as a long term asset that needs care. Can't cash it all in no matter how many people encourage you. Ultimately riders are disposable and not as rich as they'd hoped unless they can afford serious insurance. He doesn't need to necessarily learn humility as much as grow up, don't you think? He's a kid, after all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan

Few worries for the team: "Top talent like Remco Evenepoel has room to absorb an injury"

Tom Steels once finished the Tour with a buttock injury and now mainly preaches patience around the injury of Remco Evenepoel. "Seat injuries are underestimated for the riders. You need time to let it heal," says the Deceuninck-Quick Step sports director. "Annoying, but transient."

Remco Evenepoel surprised yesterday with the announcement that he has not been on the bike for a while, because he still had pain when he was on the saddle. Tom Steels had a similar injury during his racing career.

"Every injury is different, but I have indeed had an inflammation on my buttocks in a fairly identical place", says the former sprinter. "Of course I finished the Tour with it and that was not good."

"The difference with Remco is that he can now take it easier, so you cannot compare the injuries in that area. It was the time to slow down and start the recovery process."
And Steels especially preaches patience. "You have to give that time, because butt injuries are underestimated for most riders. It's not a drama, but you have to let it heal. You do need patience."

Evenepoel had the pain during training for a while, because he thought that was part of the recovery. "The recognition of an injury is not as easy as a rider", Steels said. "If you have already had experience with an injury to a certain body part, it is easier."

"Once you recognize the injury, you can also give better information to the doctors. But the most important thing is that once it has healed, it will also be a thing of the past. After the healing, that buttock injury never came back to the same place. I did there. in principle never again bothered. "

"This is annoying for Remco, but transient"

An injury is always inconvenient for a rider, but Steels sees no insurmountable problems. "I think it is not that bad in itself. The most annoying thing is that you are now in a group that is fully building up and you are out", says the sports director.

"On the other hand, the structure of Remco has just shifted, purely physically and in terms of preparation that doesn't make much difference. It's just difficult to be patient while you want to work hard to build up your fitness. That's annoying, but of passing nature."

Evenepoel's major goals, the Giro and the Olympic Games, still seem a long way off. "You must not forget that Remco is a top talent. It does not happen automatically for him, he also has to work hard for it. But talents have a little more room to absorb something that another rider cannot absorb."

"Sometimes it is what it is and you have to take a rest, you should not force certain things. There is no problem in terms of his program. There is certainly still time for the Giro (start on May 8)", Steels said. hopeful. "I can't judge how long it will take, that's for the medical staff."
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
I'm confused. Now it seems like it's a sort of saddle sore, not an issue with his Lombardia injury?
Huh? No, it's obviously a result of the accident, which prevents him from sitting on a saddle for a long time without pain. Because of the pain, he can't sit comfortably and naturally on the bike. Which results in a cramped position and puts stress on other limbs and muscles, making everything worse. The team supposedly does not see any real medical issues, other than being patient for the injury to heal completely and the pain to fade away. Steels is merely comparing his situation of riding in the saddle with pain, and how that it is pointless to continue like that because it makes things worse, not better.

I agree the comparison is a bit poor, but the pain Remco is feeling is very much from his injury.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
Huh? No, it's obviously a result of the accident, which prevents him from sitting on a saddle for a long time without pain. Because of the pain, he can't sit comfortably and naturally on the bike. Which results in a cramped position and puts stress on other limbs and muscles, making everything worse. The team supposedly does not see any real medical issues, other than being patient for the injury to heal completely and the pain to fade away. Steels is merely comparing his situation of riding in the saddle with pain, and how that it is pointless to continue like that because it makes things worse, not better.

I agree the comparison is a bit poor, but the pain Remco is feeling is very much from his injury.
At least it sounds like they're dealing with it appropriately. Going to be difficult for a 21-yo to learn patience.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
Three more weeks of rest for Evenepoel, according to Lefevere on Sporza. They don't want to repeat the first mistake again. The bone needs to heal further.
I've been critical of how they did not caution him enough before/in the actual race, back in August, but this is next level. They knew his temperament, the fact that he has no experience with such situations (rehab, understanding his body, interpreting signals) and how to handle himself under such conditions. I can not understand there was no better medical follow up for this case. He got the best care in Herentals, got treated by Maesschalck... and then he was off to train in Spain on his own. And 2 months later, this happens.

------

So, "if" he can start training in 3 weeks, that means there are only 3 months left before the Giro starts. That would mean, again "if" he can even start the Giro, that he will have to start "without ambitions/expectations". Riding the TDF instead still doesn't seem likely in that case. Riding the Vuelta after the Olympics could be an alternative. According to Lefevere in a Sporza podcast.
 
Last edited:
This is a big issue. I always wondered why he was training so early and so hard in november/december. What happened now is that the fracture is not just not healed, but that the (almost) healed, but weak fracture, has opened again. The problem is that two layers of bone growth arise. Two layers of lime (calcium). After healing he will have a bulge at for a cyclist most vulnerable area. Result ? A pressure point. Pain. Later sensitivity. A forced sitting position. If the problems persist, surgery and planing of the bulge will be necessary.
 
I think the delay in his recovery is mostly a result of him just being who he is as a person. Patience and taking it easy, when you need to, is not his style. Probably something he needs to get better at for his own sake in life.

The team could have monitored and been more-hands on, sure, but that has probably been easier said than done with all the restrictions. Then you have a person that is young, driven and who maybe decides to take own initiatives in his recovery. Not being completely transparent with how his body is responding. They seem to have found that problem at least and slowed him down. Hopefully this experience has changed him for the better in terms of growth in him as a person and that he will recover just fine. That none of this will have any lasting damage for his career.
 
  • Like
Reactions: red_flanders
According to the cyclingnews article he had pain when he started training again, but didn't mention it because he thought it was normal to have pain in the rehabilitation process. In hindsight, a mistake that set his recovery back quite a bit. let's hope he heals up quickly and fully now that they put the brakes on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
It's very hard to tell when pain is
According to the cyclingnews article he had pain when he started training again, but didn't mention it because he thought it was normal to have pain in the rehabilitation process. In hindsight, a mistake that set his recovery back quite a bit. let's hope he heals up quickly and fully now that they put the brakes on.

This sounds totally normal. It's hard for even a longtime pro to tell the difference between "normal" pain and something more serious.

Tom Dumoulin raced through a fairly serious tendon tear (I think that's what it was) and with a small stone (if I recall correctly)? in his knee -- and nearly 2 years later he's still trying to find his level again. So I'd cut Remco a lot of slack here.

I've had a bunch of structural type injuries from various sports -- the worst was a torn labrum that was repeatedly diagnosed by "sports medicine" experts as a groin pull. Even after it was diagnosed, the first surgery didn't go that well but the therapist pushed me through what I thought was not quite normal pain. Upshot was that I had to go under the knife again for a full femoral head resurfacing...so I feel a lot of sympathy for Remco at this point.
 
It's very hard to tell when pain is


This sounds totally normal. It's hard for even a longtime pro to tell the difference between "normal" pain and something more serious.

Tom Dumoulin raced through a fairly serious tendon tear (I think that's what it was) and with a small stone (if I recall correctly)? in his knee -- and nearly 2 years later he's still trying to find his level again. So I'd cut Remco a lot of slack here.

I've had a bunch of structural type injuries from various sports -- the worst was a torn labrum that was repeatedly diagnosed by "sports medicine" experts as a groin pull. Even after it was diagnosed, the first surgery didn't go that well but the therapist pushed me through what I thought was not quite normal pain. Upshot was that I had to go under the knife again for a full femoral head resurfacing...so I feel a lot of sympathy for Remco at this point.
I don't blame Remco, i feel the team could have done a better job guiding him. Again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
Does he go to the tour if the Olympics end up being cancelled?

The latest interviews with him and Lefevere suggest that they still want to try another Grand Tour first, if not the Giro then the Vuelta, but if The Olympics are cancelled and he doesn't make it to the Giro, I'd guess chances grow significantly that he might go to the Tour this year. Under those circumstances and with this years route, I would love to see him start the Tour but I still hope he makes it to the Giro first.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan

TRENDING THREADS