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

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hayneplane

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red_flanders said:
I don’t think many people think he’s going to beat Pogačar. Where is the weakness? Even if he and Pog are equal in strength, the sprint would decide things. Hard to see where he’ll be strong enough to beat an in form Pog. I think he will win some GTs, course and field depending.

Agree this year will tell much, and agree he’s got a chance to do quite well in the Ardennes, but again the sprint is too much a limiter against the top guys to be talking triple crown, IMO.
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Where he can beat Pogacar - He can put time into him potentially on flattish ITTs especially courses that reward strong aerodynamics and also TTTs where Quick Step have always been seriously strong if they come back into vogue in GTs.

He might also put time in on long raids in hilly undulating days where he could majorly weaken and stress Team UAE albeit Pogi has shown he is more than handy in this aspect himself as well if he takes off the leash and chooses to respond personally.

All that taken into account he will still need to find a lot more than has been able to be shown so far to be able to win with both in great form as Red Flanders rightly points out bonus seconds could be a big factor giving Pogacar maybe another 30+ seconds in the bag.
 
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rghysens

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hayneplane said:
Where he can beat Pogacar - He can put time into him potentially on flattish ITTs especially courses that reward strong aerodynamics and also TTTs where Quick Step have always been seriously strong if they come back into vogue in GTs.

He might also put time in on long raids in hilly undulating days where he could majorly weaken and stress Team UAE albeit Pogi has shown he is more than handy in this aspect himself as well if he takes off the leash and chooses to respond personally.

All that taken into account he will still need to find a lot more than has been able to be shown so far to be able to win with both in great form as Red Flanders rightly points out bonus seconds could be a big factor giving Pogacar maybe another 30+ seconds in the bag.
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Before we assess Evenepoels possibilities as a GT rider, we have to know how he performs in the high mountains. It's his 4th pro year, and so far he has raced only very few high mountain stages, and hasn't performed good in any of them (circumstances weren't always in his favor, but still....). We assume he'll be good, but we don't KNOW.
 
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TomBonnen2005

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hayneplane said:
Where he can beat Pogacar - He can put time into him potentially on flattish ITTs especially courses that reward strong aerodynamics and also TTTs where Quick Step have always been seriously strong if they come back into vogue in GTs.
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Don't forget that once a year, during the Tour de France, Pogacar is crushing all ITT specialists with astonishing performances. Outside of the Tour he never did a podium. So yes Remco can beat him the rest of the year, but probably not in the Tour.
ITT-results.png
 
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houtdffan

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rghysens said:
Before we assess Evenepoels possibilities as a GT rider, we have to know how he performs in the high mountains. It's his 4th pro year, and so far he has raced only very few high mountain stages, and hasn't performed good in any of them (circumstances weren't always in his favor, but still....). We assume he'll be good, but we don't KNOW.
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He was really good in the high mountains before the giro rest day
 
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Sciatic

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houtdffan said:
He was really good in the high mountains before the giro rest day
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The phrase “in the high mountains” when used in these forums typically refers to climbs (particularly a succession of them) up to and beyond 1900-2000 meters as in a classic queen stage (which we don’t get as often). The Giro hadn’t gotten into those by the 1st rest day.
 
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rghysens

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Sciatic said:
The phrase “in the high mountains” when used in these forums typically refers to climbs (particularly a succession of them) up to and beyond 1900-2000 meters as in a classic queen stage (which we don’t get as often). The Giro hadn’t gotten into those by the 1st rest day.
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Yeah, that's my opinion too: high mountains = long, high altitude climbs and preferable more than 1 or 2 of them.
 
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red_flanders

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hayneplane said:
Where he can beat Pogacar - He can put time into him potentially on flattish ITTs especially courses that reward strong aerodynamics and also TTTs where Quick Step have always been seriously strong if they come back into vogue in GTs.
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Possible. Not a lot if he does.

hayneplane said:
He might also put time in on long raids in hilly undulating days where he could majorly weaken and stress Team UAE albeit Pogi has shown he is more than handy in this aspect himself as well if he takes off the leash and chooses to respond personally.
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He might, and I think this is where he can be a wild card. But this has a cost at the end of a GT. I think this is the one place where he could take real time, enough for a potential win. Risky.

hayneplane said:
All that taken into account he will still need to find a lot more than has been able to be shown so far to be able to win with both in great form as Red Flanders rightly points out bonus seconds could be a big factor giving Pogacar maybe another 30+ seconds in the bag.
Click to expand...
Yeah I don't see how he gets past that. He will win zero sprints vs Pog, he has to drop him. Heck of a challenge.
 
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Wvv

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I don't always participate in these speculations, but let me add this:

If there occurs a scenario where Remco got a time gap on Tadej or anyone for that matter, like for example after a TTT or echelons or bad luck or whatever, who will have the most pressure and stress at the start of an individual time trial? I honestly don't think it will be Remco. He will almost always have the mental advantage there.
 
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rghysens

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Wvv said:
I don't always participate in these speculations, but let me add this:

If there occurs a scenario where Remco got a time gap on Tadej or anyone for that matter, like for example after a TTT or echelons or bad luck or whatever, who will have the most pressure and stress at the start of an individual time trial? I honestly don't think it will be Remco. He will almost always have the mental advantage there.
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Like the better TT'er Roglic at the start of the LPdBF tt?
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

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Wvv said:
I don't always participate in these speculations, but let me add this:

If there occurs a scenario where Remco got a time gap on Tadej or anyone for that matter, like for example after a TTT or echelons or bad luck or whatever, who will have the most pressure and stress at the start of an individual time trial? I honestly don't think it will be Remco. He will almost always have the mental advantage there.
Click to expand...
What race, and what mountains are still to come. It heavily depends on if Pog lost time to everyone or just Evenepoel
 
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hayneplane

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red_flanders said:
Possible. Not a lot if he does.


He might, and I think this is where he can be a wild card. But this has a cost at the end of a GT. I think this is the one place where he could take real time, enough for a potential win. Risky.


Yeah I don't see how he gets past that. He will win zero sprints vs Pog, he has to drop him. Heck of a challenge.
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Fair responses. They could work together to bury a lot of rivals but Remco dropping Pogacar is a tall order with less explosivity. As you say big day out is his best option for gaining time but risky as can cost a lot in accumulated fatigue that the body bites back later in the race.

Another area is crosswinds as Remco has a near perfect team for this and being so aero he should be suited to echelon racing but with coming late to riding and no real examples to cite in his pro career to date I cant posit this as a clear area of advantage right now.
 
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