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

[Logic-is-your-friend]

dont agree, 250km + races, reduced group sprint would be damn close

Van Aert isn't always very fast after a long or hard race. The Olympics road race is not the only example.

wouldn't be surprised if he gets outsprinted tomorrow even if he's not boxed in. Guys like Pedersen could be dangerous if it comes down to a sprint.

It depends on how much he's had to work. During last year's WCC the team was able to shelter him very well, and he only had to start working when Alaphilippe attacked. His sprint for 2nd was pretty impressive. He sprinted 20 meters ahead of the rest of that group.

In RVV2020 he was faster than Van der Poel, but he made a tactical error. Pidcock said after Brabantse Pijl that Van Aert probably did too much work in the break. The entire final in Tokyo was not in his advantage. The climb itself was more tailored to Pogacar & co, so Van Aert had to go deeper at that point already. After closing the gap, everybody started attacking him and he had to work harder than the others.

He can definitely be beaten, but i think the biggest questionmark is the finish itself. It's tricky because the final 200m are flat, but before that it's 5% or so.

 

[Pirazziattacks]

This race being without radios probably makes everyone involved a lot more anxious about tactical fuckups.

The biggest problem is that it's hard to rely on Remco knowing when to work and when to sit on a dangerous group that he shouldn't be dragging along.

 

[Riek s]

The biggest problem is that it's hard to rely on Remco knowing when to work and when to sit on a dangerous group that he shouldn't be dragging along.

Well.. not far from the truth... riding himself to death for an escape >150km before the finish where no other belgium contender is in. (Would be ok if he didn't ride full... but that isn't happening).

 

[Red Rick]

Well.. not far from the truth... riding himself to death for an escape >150km before the finish where no other belgium contender is in. (Would be ok if he didn't ride full... but that isn't happening).

He is riding one of Van Aerts big rivals out of contention tbh.

 

[Pirazziattacks]

Well.. not far from the truth... riding himself to death for an escape >150km before the finish where no other belgium contender is in. (Would be ok if he didn't ride full... but that isn't happening).

This attack has actually worked in WVA's favour because it forced the Italians to blow themselves and the peloton up by chasing hard. That said, things being so out of control so early in the race might cause problems for Belgium later.

 

[peterfin]

Great effort and team play by Remco. He is the main reason why have a 15 man elite group

 

[Rackham]

Just as expected, his talent was wasted.

Cycling has changed in recent years, i.e. the days when races were locked down by one team & they got the tactical result they dreamed of the night before are past us. These days, it's champagne cycling & attack, attack attck with constant ebb & flow in several directions.

Evenepoel should have been used as another option, instead of people shouting at him for not being a team player & forcing him to ride domestique with a Damocles sword over his head. Just my opinion.

 

[Red Rick]

Nobody was calling for Evenepoel to be used for domestique duty at 180km to go. That's 100% on the coach.

I think that by the time the 2nd attack went he was already weaker cause if he had been able to drop that group he would have because it woudl've been a much better scenario for Belgium if they wouldn't have to work.

In the end, the route wasn't good for him and he'll get better shots in the future.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Nobody was calling for Evenepoel to be used for domestique duty at 180km to go. That's 100% on the coach.

I think that by the time the 2nd attack went he was already weaker cause if he had been able to drop that group he would have because it woudl've been a much better scenario for Belgium if they wouldn't have to work.

In the end, the route wasn't good for him and he'll get better shots in the future.

The route was very good for him. And he could have gotten a medal here, had he been used like he should have been used. And it wouldn't have detracted from Van Aert's chances.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Belgium chasing when he was away with that group that included Bagioli was probably their biggest mistake. Let others organize the chase when you have him in the lead group.

 

[Salvarani]

Looking forward to Lombardia. Him, Bagioli and Ala should be great to watch if they all line up for DQS.

 

[Bonimenier]

Looking forward to Lombardia. Him, Bagioli and Ala should be great to watch if they all line up for DQS.

Almeida will ride Il Lombardia as well, I reckon. Not 100% sure about Alaphilippe.

 

[Salvarani]

Almeida will ride Il Lombardia as well, I reckon. Not 100% sure about Alaphilippe.

Ha, forgot about him for a second. They could have an amazing team on paper for the race. We will see, but I hope we will get to see the WC jersey a couple of times before the season is over.

 

[danielovichdk2]

I would like to hear the opinions on the tactics by Remco today, from the Belgium coach. To me it seemed like a foolish tactical error letting Remco go so early. Sure, it blew up the italians, but it sure as hell also blew up the belgium team. Remco should have been the last rider to help Wout imo, and then have the other teams playing catch-up. The talk of the town was that Julian was in really good shape so I can't really see how in the world this tactic helped them in any ways.

Going from the 170km marker in a world championship race is premature, in my opinion.

 

[Sciatic]

I would like to hear the opinions on the tactics by Remco today, from the Belgium coach. To me it seemed like a foolish tactical error letting Remco go so early. Sure, it blew up the italians, but it sure as hell also blew up the belgium team. Remco should have been the last rider to help Wout imo, and then have the other teams playing catch-up. The talk of the town was that Julian was in really good shape so I can't really see how in the world this tactic helped them in any ways.

Going from the 170km marker in a world championship race is premature, in my opinion.

But oh so fun for us!!!

 

[memyselfandI]

I would like to hear the opinions on the tactics by Remco today, from the Belgium coach. To me it seemed like a foolish tactical error letting Remco go so early. Sure, it blew up the italians, but it sure as hell also blew up the belgium team. Remco should have been the last rider to help Wout imo, and then have the other teams playing catch-up. The talk of the town was that Julian was in really good shape so I can't really see how in the world this tactic helped them in any ways.

Going from the 170km marker in a world championship race is premature, in my opinion.

I think they did everything very right, except the change of guard with Wout and Jasper. Should have done it about 30-40k earlier.

 

[Ripper]

I think Remco did 100% what the coaches asked of him. The team strategy was off, but he played his role as requested. Having said this, I cannot believe they asked him to pull for so long especially, as has been suggested in interviews, given Wout was not feeling that great

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I think they did everything very right, except the change of guard with Wout and Jasper. Should have done it about 30-40k earlier.

If having your best rider (of which you knew beforehand he was one of the two best in your squad) blow himself up with no good reason is doing everything right, then i agree.

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1442173017992404997

View: https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/1442173017992404997

 

[Red Rick]

If having your best rider (of which you knew beforehand he was one of the two best in your squad) rider blow himself up with no good reason, then i agree.

Overall it made no sense why Belgium was making the race that hard in the first place. The harder it gets the more of a lottery the race becomes and I think WvA, just like in De Ronde got found after repeated efforts

Evenepoel following a group he could attack from would have been fine, but him driving groups at 180km basically meant he couldn't drop the 2nd group which in turn meant the Belgians couldn't sit back and chill.

 

[memyselfandI]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1442173017992404997

View: https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/1442173017992404997

I hope he really doesn't feel that way as he was best man for the part he played today. Wout and Jasper were best players for the finish but it didn't work out right this time.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Overall it made no sense why Belgium was making the race that hard in the first place. The harder it gets the more of a lottery the race becomes and I think WvA, just like in De Ronde got found after repeated efforts

Evenepoel following a group he could attack from would have been fine, but him driving groups at 180km basically meant he couldn't drop the 2nd group which in turn meant the Belgians couldn't sit back and chill.

It did make sense, because it was effectively killing guys like Ewan off. It would also make sense to make the race hard to set off Evenepoel for an attack from a reduced peloton or breakaway somewhere within 60k to go, so the chances of chasing him down would be smaller. But it does not make sense to have Evenepoel make the race hard by blowing his own chances, which in turn did not help Van Aert at all (with Evenepoel as a genuine threat, van Aert had less pressure on his shoulders and could follow wheels in the chase).

 

[Rackham]

The Belgian team overrated WvA whilst underrating Alaphilippe (& to some extent underrated Remco Evenepoel himself, i.e. a rider more than capable of going solo on a real hard day).

 

[BlueRoads]

Well, it was all a bit off and wrong... but betting on Wout like they did in the first place was understandable. He was imperious during the Tour of Britain. He won every bunch sprint he contested, and after the juniors and women's races everybody was expecting a sprint of some kind, and he also outdid Alaphilippe on his absolute specialty. Before, during the Tour, he had shown incredible performances without perfect preperation. In the time trial he was only beaten by a few seconds by Ganna. Nothing hinted at him not being at his best today. Who knows if, had the French not opened the race so early, it would have become such a hard race?

I think the telling off towards Evenepoel beforehand by the media and pundits was bad. There was no reason to, I didn't see any reason to question his loyalty and you could have given him the task to see Wout as No1 today and still give him a bit more freedom today, just in case it comes in useful. This way it was clear from the beginning that Evenepoel had to "prove" his loyalty by burying any chance of his own.

If van Aert only told the others he didn't feel great long after he knew or suspected that's not good, but on the other hand I think he put a lot of pressure on himself and everyone else (including me, although he won't care about my thoughts, lol) did as well. It must be hard in that situation to say "I just don't have it". Maybe he should not have claimed so openly they should only go with one leader in the beginning...

 

[Red Rick]

It did make sense, because it was effectively killing guys like Ewan off. It would also make sense to make the race hard to set off Evenepoel for an attack from a reduced peloton or breakaway somewhere within 60k to go, so the chances of chasing him down would be smaller. But it does not make sense to have Evenepoel make the race hard by blowing his own chances, which in turn did not help Van Aert at all (with Evenepoel as a genuine threat, van Aert had less pressure on his shoulders and could follow wheels in the chase).

I don't think Ewan is reason to drill it on the first Flandrien circuit