Trainer Pilgrim and boss Lefevere about the wider thighs of Evenepoel: 'In function of Liège-Bastogne-Liège'
Remco Evenepoel is the talk of the town in the Tour of Valencia. Thanks to his victories and wider thighs. Last winter he worked extra on his leg muscles and explosiveness to be able to compete with the world top in the short climb. Team boss Patrick Lefevere and trainer Koen Pelgrim indicate: 'Remco has become a bit more man.'
BVDC and BA5 February 2022, 03:00
Remco Evenepoel has the habit of immediately setting the tone in his first race of the season. In the past, this was successful in Argentina and the Algarve. Since this week, Valencia has also been part of that list.
Surprisingly, that quick success is not. What's new: its increased explosiveness. “Last winter I worked hard on my explosive ability: more sprints, better minute values,” says Evenepoel, whose thighs look more muscular than ever.
The expert eye of Patrick Lefevere agrees with this thesis. “Remco has become a bit more of a man physically. You can see that in his face,” says the CEO of QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl. His trainer Koen Pelgrim confirms this visual suspicion: “Remco does indeed weigh one and a half kilos more, but what matters is fat-free mass: muscles. No excess winter kilos.”
The metamorphosis is remarkable because it happened without extra hours in the weight room. “The extra muscles in the thighs were already there in November after his rest period,” says Pelgrim, who adds that it is not an unnatural development when a rider gains more muscle mass at the age of 22. On the contrary. “Between the age of eighteen and twenty-second, each rider gains two to three kilos of lean body mass. In the race that is called: body. I also see this evolution on dexascans (scan that measures the ratio between fat, bone and muscle tissue, ed.) by Mauri Vansevenant and Stan Van Tricht.”
Pilgrim cannot say how many centimeters extra thigh circumference is involved with Evenepoel. “We are not concerned with the aesthetic aspect. It's not about the thickness of the muscles, but what they are capable of.”
The extra muscle power provides more explosiveness. That was necessary. “In recent years I have sometimes had difficulties on steep arrivals,” Evenepoel admits. Pelgrim also makes no secret of the fact that his poulain's sprint speed was the shortcoming: "It was his biggest working point, but his performance during one-minute efforts has improved considerably."
Not that thanks to those one and a half kilos of extra muscles he would suddenly pop Sonny Colbrelli out of the wheel on the climb of the past European Championship or Wout van Aert would now beat Wout van Aert in the sprint at the Belgian Championship, but it should help Evenepoel in the first part. to perform optimally this season. For many, his season is completely dominated by the Vuelta in the autumn, but with the Tirreno-Adriatico and certainly Liège-Bastogne-Liège, there are also big goals in the spring. When you ask Evenepoel which race he absolutely wants to win in 2022, he answers 'Liège'.
“In the Ardennes classics, short and steep slopes of several kilometers await. He will perform better on those slopes thanks to the extra muscle and explosiveness. Also in the Algarve and Tirreno-Adriatico there are no long cols, but shorter and steep climbs”, says Pelgrim.
Depending on his season, Evenepoel's changed morphology is ideal, but is he becoming more of a one-day rider than a pure round rider? “The Remco of the Vuelta will not be the same as the Remco of the spring. Long cols await in the Vuelta. From May we will focus on training for long efforts, for example with altitude internships. Against the Vuelta, the aim is to lose two kilos in order to compete in the high mountains. But we're not working on that yet. It is still a long time until the Vuelta”, explains Pilgrim.
What is certain is that Evenepoel will never have the wafer-thin physique of a Chris Froome. At 1.71m, he is also 15 centimeters shorter than the four-time Tour winner. “Each rider has to choose for himself with which weight he performs best,” says Pelgrim. But what about the watts per kilo? The power per kilogram of body weight that must be above the number six to be able to follow the best in the cols.
“The ratio of watts per kilo is not sacred. As a rider you can try to lose another three kilos, but as a result you are too skinny. In big rounds, it's important to recover well for three weeks and keep pedaling those watts. If a rider is too skinny and doesn't recover enough, those higher watts per kilo are of no use," says Pelgrim.
Evenepoel will never be a type like Froome. In terms of morphology, he leans more towards Primoz Roglic (1m76). The other topper Tadej Pogacar also measures 1m76, but is built more spindly and yet very explosive. He won Liège-Bastogne-Liège after a sprint against Julian Alaphilippe and Alejandro Valverde. “Explosivity is partly innate, but that Pogacar is still so fast in the final kilometer of mountain stages or difficult races is because he has surplus. You may still be very explosive, but the condition is ultimately the determining factor. Two years ago, Remco also sprinted uphill away from the rest in the Algarve. He certainly wasn't the most explosive back then, but unlike the others, he wasn't a bloc yet.”
The litmus test will follow within a month. Then Evenepoel takes on Pogacar in the Tirreno-Adriatico. Lefevere realizes that too. "It is promising what he is showing now, but it is not yet against Pogacar and Roglic." If Evenepoel Liège wants to win, he will also have to flex his (extra) muscles against the two Slovenians.
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