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

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I'm not sure if I should feel glad or disillusioned about Remco coming in second place 10 seconds down.

Why should you feel any of those things? It was a solid good result for Remco. In normal condition he will rarely beat Ganna, which is normal and it doesn't say anything bad him. Pogacar a bit better than expected, but he tends to fluctuate his TT performances, and based on the weekend result he seems to be in pretty good form already.
 
Both Ganna and Pogacar got to overtake a slow rider that started earlier, that means you get draft for quite some time behind a team car. In a short TT that makes a big difference.

hmm. I think u may be giving too much influence to that.

going out in the headwind Remco did better because he is so aero.

i don’t think there is any doubt that Pog is pretty untouchable at the moment. And, quite frankly, appears to still be progressing (normal for a 23 year old).

hard to see where Remco has an advantage other than being more aero which won’t help while climbing 6kms at 10%.

I truly hope I am wrong.

However, I am trying to satisfy myself with a competitive outing in TA. One where he can be one of the challengers and perhaps surprise.
 
hmm. I think u may be giving too much influence to that.
I'm quite sure i'm not. Getting a draft for some hundreds of meters will give you a significant advantage. This only accounts for a handful of seconds, and in a long TT it usually doesn't come down to that, and all the top players get to overtake someone eventually. Here in a short TT it means some get to benefit and others don't, while gaps are small due to the short distance. In other words 5 or 10 seconds are a big deal. There is a thread about wind resistance and drafting, check it out. Also, watch a replay of last years Giro prologue, with some guys having a ''remarkable'' result, all having overtaken a slower rider.
 
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Actually his TT isn't that suprising. In the part with more headwind he keeps up with Ganna on a freaking flat course, and puts 10 seconds into Pogacar.

When it is tailwind, and aero becomes less important, but power is more dominant they pull away from him. This was also the case in previous flat TTs. His main attribute is low drag, not power. Ganna is moslty power with relative low drag. Pogacar is to much power for his size with a good, but not optimal position.
 
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Remco trying to talk himself down. I think he has a good chance, he doesn't need to attack, just follow.

"I think the only way that I have to hope to beat him is if he has a really bad day and he doesn't recover from last Saturday," he said after noting that his eight-second advantage won't be enough to hold. "But he's such a strong and spectacular rider that he probably won't have a bad day this week.

 
Remco trying to talk himself down. I think he has a good chance, he doesn't need to attack, just follow.

"I think the only way that I have to hope to beat him is if he has a really bad day and he doesn't recover from last Saturday," he said after noting that his eight-second advantage won't be enough to hold. "But he's such a strong and spectacular rider that he probably won't have a bad day this week.


I don’t think Remco is talking himself down. It’s realistic. Carpegna is the type of climb that Remco typically has problems with and Pogacar is the best rider in the world, especially for that type of climb.
 
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No, in fact I agree with you that it was an advantage for both Ganna and Pogacar, :)
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