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

[Flurk1982]

Remco will never win a grand tour.

Very special rider though.

Not possible to judge this right now. He's only 21 years old.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

No wonder Remco won. Roads near his home are hard to navigate!

 

[JosefK]

Another long-range solo attack. He looks to be back to his pre-2020-crash form, maybe even a little better (i.e., better bike-handling skills, more experience riding high-level races).

 

[Red Rick]

more experience riding high-level races

About that.....

 

[RedheadDane]

So, in the last two races he's done there has been a fire, and his competitors have been lead astray.
What will happen at Benelux Tour? Earthquake? Meteor-strike?

 

[tobydawq]

So, in the last two races he's done there has been a fire, and his competitors have been lead astray.
What will happen at Benelux Tour? Earthquake? Meteor-strike?

The whole BeNeLux being annexed by Denmark.

 

[RedheadDane]

The whole BeNeLux being annexed by Denmark.

Would that necessarily have any impact on the race?

 

[tobydawq]

Would that necessarily have any impact on the race?

He'd have to stop up and learn Danish.

 

[RedheadDane]

He'd have to stop up and learn Danish.

He would be allowed to wait until after the stage in question.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The whole BeNeLux being annexed by Denmark.

I wish good luck to the national coaches, who'll have to get a lot of egos to work together in Leuven.

 

[RedheadDane]

I wish good luck to the national coach, who has to get a lot of egos to work together in Leuven.

And I thought just selecting among the Danes would be difficult enough!
Or among the Belgians!
Or among the Dutch!
Not sure about the Luxembourgers.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

So, in the last two races he's done there has been a fire, and his competitors have been lead astray.
What will happen at Benelux Tour? Earthquake? Meteor-strike?

Crash

 

[Samu Cuenca]

And I thought just selecting among the Danes would be difficult enough!
Or among the Belgians!
Or among the Dutch!
Not sure about the Luxembourgers.

It will depend on whether they'll be limited to 8 or 9 riders.

 

[RedheadDane]

It will depend on whether they'll be limited to 8 or 9 riders.

Would be 8, surely. Unless we also annex France, which - I guess - was the original plan.

 

[tobydawq]

Would be 8, surely. Unless we also annex France, which - I guess - was the original plan.

France can wait until later, just before next year's Tour.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Would be 8, surely. Unless we also annex France, which - I guess - was the original plan.

If one of the BeNeLux riders wins the EC, wouldn't it be 9 then?

 

[Danskebjerge]

The other teams should be thinking about one thing ahead of the Worlds: how to prevent Evenepoel or Van Aert from winning. It worked to some extent in Tokyo, but with Evenepoel in the Belgian squad, too, in a terrain that suits him perfectly, I can’t see any other way for the French, Italians, Danes etc than to sit on Belgium’s wheels and tire them out.

 

[Extinction]

His form does indeed seem to be pre-incident level. If he can land a major victory during the end of the season races, I'm thinking Words and Lombardy, against top tier competition, then he should be back on track towards meeting the buildup/expectations that have accompanied his precocious career thus far.

I think some have been too quick to write him off as a grand tour contender, because on the one hand he entered his first Giro coming back too quickly from a major injury, without proper time to prepare and with no prior racing to boot. In hindsight that was pure folly, at least in terms of having any expactations for GC. Even so, after 10 stages Remco was lying second overall. It all went south after that, but, apart from bike handling issues, he simply didn't have the training/racing in his legs to maintain form. With a proper buildup, perhaps he will be good over three weeks. Time will tell.

On the other hand, as Remco faltered in his first grand tour, another youngster would go on to win his second consecutive Tour. All of a sudden, the Belgian looked like an amateur in comparison to Pogacar, but I don't think the final verdict is out on this account. The Slovenian has indeed set a very high bar and whatever the outcome a rivalry between them could be an epic history maker, which would be great for the sport.

Remco needs to prove himself in the high mountains in a grand tour and ultimately at the Tour, but I don't think his performance at this year's Giro gives a fair indication of whether or not he is capable. If he falters after having a proper buildup to a grand tour, then it will seem more unlikely that his qualities are cut out for GC. Although he is still so young that perhaps he just needs more time to mature into full potential. Not everyone progresses at the same rate.

 

[RedheadDane]

His form does indeed seem to be pre-incident level. If he can land a major victory during the end of the season races, I'm thinking Words and Lombardy, against top tier competition, then he should be back on track towards meeting the buildup/expectations that have accompanied his precocious career thus far.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

He better stay away from that or there'll be consequences!

 

[RedheadDane]

He better stay away from that or there'll be consequences!

Don't worry. You're still the undisputed Word Champion in my heart.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Don't worry. You're still the undisputed Word Champion in my heart.

Thank you! If he does try to challenge me, I might cut his rakes.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

Would guess he's a huge underdog vs Ganna in a pan flat ITT.

It's near impossible to take many conclusions from his last few results tbh. Even judging by his ITT results are they even really better than say his Giro prologue?

Now I mostly wonder what sort of hilly terrains are best suited for him and at what levels. I would guess it gets harder when you get Lombardia sized climbs cause the climbs basically dominate the racing situation whereas in Liege you might still find a weak spot in the domestiques on the flats.

He'll get marked much better at races like the Worlds though, and he's not gonna outkick anyone important uphill, so basically it takes one rider to neutralize him

Nowadays, Evenepoel, even in good shape, has few chances to win a timetrial against Ganna (in good shape) and even against Van Aert on a flat course. In 2019 (Europeans) he has beaten Ganna on a flat course, but that wasn't the Ganna of 2021. Because Ganna has an important advantage in power and watts. But an Evenepoel in top shape, on a hilly course, could beat Ganna and other riders. On a difficult course, including real climbs, he doubtless would defeat Ganna. But not Pogacar and Roglic.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

His form does indeed seem to be pre-incident level. If he can land a major victory during the end of the season races, I'm thinking Words and Lombardy, against top tier competition, then he should be back on track towards meeting the buildup/expectations that have accompanied his precocious career thus far.

I think some have been too quick to write him off as a grand tour contender, because on the one hand he entered his first Giro coming back too quickly from a major injury, without proper time to prepare and with no prior racing to boot. In hindsight that was pure folly, at least in terms of having any expactations for GC. Even so, after 10 stages Remco was lying second overall. It all went south after that, but, apart from bike handling issues, he simply didn't have the training/racing in his legs to maintain form. With a proper buildup, perhaps he will be good over three weeks. Time will tell.

On the other hand, as Remco faltered in his first grand tour, another youngster would go on to win his second consecutive Tour. All of a sudden, the Belgian looked like an amateur in comparison to Pogacar, but I don't think the final verdict is out on this account. The Slovenian has indeed set a very high bar and whatever the outcome a rivalry between them could be an epic history maker, which would be great for the sport.

Remco needs to prove himself in the high mountains in a grand tour and ultimately at the Tour, but I don't think his performance at this year's Giro gives a fair indication of whether or not he is capable. If he falters after having a proper buildup to a grand tour, then it will seem more unlikely that his qualities are cut out for GC. Although he is still so young that perhaps he just needs more time to mature into full potential. Not everyone progresses at the same rate.

A nice analysis that I can fully agree with.

 

[Extinction]

Nowadays, Evenepoel, even in good shape, has few chances to win a timetrial against Ganna (in good shape) and even against Van Aert on a flat course. In 2019 (Europeans) he has beaten Ganna on a flat course, but that wasn't the Ganna of 2021. Because Ganna has an important advantage in power and watts. But an Evenepoel in top shape, on a hilly course, could beat Ganna and other riders. On a difficult course, including real climbs, he doubtless would defeat Ganna. But not Pogacar and Roglic.

I really like Ganna, but two years ago Evenepoel was a better time trialist. Then the Belgian got sertiously injured, whilst the Italian came into his own with the support of a state of the art preparation. I think we need to see after a couple of seasons, without injury, how things stand. Ganna has the physiscal prowess to become unbeatable in a TT, but will he limit himself to this specialty or will he also target other obectives that may diminish his purity against the clock?