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

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Krzysztof_O

Krzysztof_O

Jul 7, 2013
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Big Doopie said:
i would put Rog in there but he’s not really the same generation and tho I admire him for his amazing sportsmanship I don’t think he quite matches the natural pizazz of those mentioned above.
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Roglic is a monstrous talent, we all saw how fast he was improving. He was learning how to ride a bike at the age Pog won the Tour and yet he managed to get to the cycling top by the age of 30.
 
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Big Doopie

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houtdffan said:
Remco again waits too long. Rapidly catching up at the line, but too late.

Just give it full gas from 1K to go. Get that diesel engine going
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And drag Pog and everyone else with him?

I actually think he could not respond to the abrupt jump in the pace, but managed (as you say) to diesel his way back past several riders.

He was very cool earlier on the final climb. Dropping back quite a few places and Pog was looking around for him. He then came through with an attack but someone grabbed his wheel and then Pog latched on.

At pro tour level, Remco needs a train to whittle it down to isolated leaders before launching. And Quickstep don’t have it. Not that he would drop Pog but he might get away with him, that kinda thing.

Right now I fear he may drop in the standings during stage 6. He needs to go steady pace the whole way up and not follow attacks. And he might be able to podium. We’ll see.
 
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houtdffan

Jul 20, 2019
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Big Doopie said:
And drag Pog and everyone else with him?

I actually think he could not respond to the abrupt jump in the pace, but managed (as you say) to diesel his way back past several riders.

He was very cool earlier on the final climb. Dropping back quite a few places and Pog was looking around for him. He then came through with an attack but someone grabbed his wheel and then Pog latched on.

At pro tour level, Remco needs a train to whittle it down to isolated leaders before launching. And Quickstep don’t have it. Not that he would drop Pog but he might get away with him, that kinda thing.

Right now I fear he may drop in the standings during stage 6. He needs to go steady pace the whole way up and not follow attacks. And he might be able to podium. We’ll see.
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But if he were to diesel his way up the entire climb, he would start blowing riders off the back, much like Indurain and Ullrich did. He just needs to commit to going to the front and staying there
 
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Big Doopie

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houtdffan said:
But if he were to diesel his way up the entire climb, he would start blowing riders off the back, much like Indurain and Ullrich did. He just needs to commit to going to the front and staying there
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I don't think he is enough above the rest at Pro Tour level, they will just sit on him.

He needs a much stronger train that makes it only team leaders left. He is very astute (or has been) at letting other riders knock themselves out a bit, before launching over the top to get a gap. He needs to get the gap so that he can TT and hope that the others look at each other.

Having said that, at this stage, none of that would drop Pog.

How do Pog and Remco compare in kg? Because, my guess is that Pog was able to push more watts in the ITT, because he was close and Remco is much more aero. Once you get to climbing, the aero doesn't matter nearly as much, but Pog is still pushing more watts...

my 2 cents.
 
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Big Doopie

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Red Rick said:
Hasnt given a reason to overreact to in weeks
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in which way?

i think his TT win was pretty spectacular to be honest, the gap he took out of Kung.

however, his top climbing ability is still very much in doubt. he has been strong/solid, but certainly not enough to shake the feeling that he may struggle in certain conditions and against certain opponents.

and I am not sure the purported extra muscle weight in his thighs has added much to his (lack of) explosivity.
 
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peterfin

Feb 24, 2020
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I have the impression that his extra muscle power gives him a bit higher top speed during sprints but he still lacks the initial acceleration of a puncher and this will likely remain his weakness as I doubt this can be trained effectively. Examples of his higher top speed, even on the flats, are the 2 top 10 places in a bunch sprint he had earlier this year. The speed does help him to lose less time during a climb finish as well as I think he more or less matches Pogacar's watt/kg during such an effort but he loses a handful of seconds during the initial part of Tadey's punch.
 
Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

Jun 7, 2011
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peterfin said:
I have the impression that his extra muscle power gives him a bit higher top speed during sprints but he still lacks the initial acceleration of a puncher and this will likely remain his weakness as I doubt this can be trained effectively. Examples of his higher top speed, even on the flats, are the 2 top 10 places in a bunch sprint he had earlier this year. The speed does help him to lose less time during a climb finish as well as I think he more or less matches Pogacar's watt/kg during such an effort but he loses a handful of seconds during the initial part of Tadey's punch.
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I'm not seeing a noticeable improvement over his finishes in the 2020 Algarve and 2021 Euros. He will never match Pogacar, who now is even outpunching Alaphilippe, so it's stupid to try. He will always lose those boniseconds, so he should focus on other things. I fear by focusing on these <1 minute efforts, he is losing focus on what matters in terms of becoming a GT/GC rider: long climbs in succession and endurance efforts in general. My initial suspicion was confirmed in Valencia. The extra muscle weight isn't helping him climb any better, quite the opposite. And the benefits are nearly non-existent. What does it matter whether he loses 2 seconds or 5 seconds on a finish like yesterday, if in turn he can't follow on a long climb because of it.
 
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