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

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Bonimenier

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Apr 1, 2019
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IndianCyclist said:
Remco should have signed for Ineos instead of the miser Pat's team. I still find it surprising that the richest team isn’t able to sign the top 3 GT stars, Pogacar, Jonas, Remco. While the first 2 are well supported, Remco isnt.
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I guess he took them by surprise by winning the Vuelta so quick. It all really depends on what moves Lefevere is able to make this summer.
 
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Berniece

Berniece

Sep 12, 2022
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Venge 82 said:
Still puzzled about the situation yesterday. On Flemish television (VTM), Wuyts and Bakelants were critizing INEOS as if they were pacing Remco and bringing him safe to the finishline (like teammates). Nobody felt like attacking at the pace they imposed.

BUT, I can see 2 reasons:
- Making Remco nervous by displaying the weakness of his team.
- A bit far-fetched perhaps, but showing that Remco would be a better fit at Ineos also crossed my mind for a while

Anyway, good that the SQS can "rest" for a few days.
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2 weak reasons in my opinion. Making Remco nervous doesn't work for someone that is mentally strong and really believes in his own strength. Second reason is not something they take into account while racing.

INEOS is just a very defensive team, and to me it didn't make any sense why they rode like this. Just let Thomas or Sivakov attack
 
Berniece

Berniece

Sep 12, 2022
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red_flanders said:
Here’s a thought. INEOS rode the way they did because it was good for INEOS, in that they were riding to keep a high pace and discourage attacks on their guy (Thomas) who prefers a steady pace. Imagine a tactic having nothing to do with Remco?
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If you don't focus on your opponents you will lose. Because in the end Roglic and Remco are individually stronger than any rider of INEOS. So you need strategy and multiple people from your team to win from them. So sure, they can create a steady pace on every mountain, but then you won't win.
 
BR2

BR2

Feb 26, 2022
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red_flanders said:
Have they done it in every mountain? If they do I’m with you.
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One hardly ever sees them doing anything else. That's the thing. One can usually find a reason why this is advantageous, but it doesn't look like they are capable of coming up with anything else. So, question is not "is this extremely dumb and not called for at all", but "are there, in certain situations, maybe better options? And can they, with some flexibility, decide on the best tactics depending on certain race situations and circumstances? And it doesn't look like they can. Or dare.
 
red_flanders

red_flanders

Apr 3, 2009
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BR2 said:
One hardly ever sees them doing anything else. That's the thing. One can usually find a reason why this is advantageous, but it doesn't look like they are capable of coming up with anything else. So, question is not "is this extremely dumb and not called for at all", but "are there, in certain situations, maybe better options? And can they, with some flexibility, decide on the best tactics depending on certain race situations and circumstances? And it doesn't look like they can. Or dare.
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Yeah, they do it a lot. Except when they don't, and the guys they have don't fit that tactic. Right now they have Thomas still rounding into form, and TGH who is...well TGH. Presumably they watch cycling and realize there's zero chance either guy is going to drop Remco, who is on incredible form, on a short steep section of less than 3k, 4 stages into a race. I would hope they are saving those bullets for later in the race, and hoping Remco starts to fall off a bit. If they do it the whole race, yes, that would be dumb.
 
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red_flanders

red_flanders

Apr 3, 2009
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Berniece said:
I agree, it's still a long way to Rome so more than enough time to play their cards properly. Laurens De Plus also said that they just found that it wasn't worth it because it would only be a performance of 15min, not enough to create proper differences.
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100%.

Beyond yesterday, INEOS is in a bit of a pickle, tactically. They simply don't have the horses to compete here, unless TGH shows form he's never shown before. IMO. Thomas will hang on as best he can when the going gets tough later in the race, and is a threat for a podium. Barring accident or explosion, he's not a threat to win. He's dogged, but not going to launch up the road on this field. TGH might be here with his best ever form, but is it enough? I don't really see a scenario where they employ a Jumbo-esque tactic where TGH and Thomas repeatedly attack Roglič and Evenepoel. The far more likely scenario is that they will be doing all they can to respond to the inevitable attacks from these guys and just hoping to stay in the race. TGH will likely attack at some point, but it seems wildly unlikely to me that it'll work well enough to win. So what can they do? Can they isolate Remco by dropping his team? Looks like it, but maybe that was an aberration. Sure would try it again if I were them. Give him and Roglič the ol' one-two? Not seeing it. Hang on with TGH and hope he can attack at some point in the high mountains? Yep, that seems likely.

But at the end of the day, they don't have a Vingegaard or a Roglič on their team. Their options are quite limited. We can complain about their tactics, and I'll grant if they hadn't been doing this for like 12 years now it would seem less silly and tiresome, but they don't have a lot else. For sure yesterday they didn't have a sensible second option and they learned a fair bit about QS with their tactic.

But at the end of the day, they don't have the strongest riders in the race. They have a strong team.
 
R

Riek s

Jun 24, 2010
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If he is in pain it will be a tuff coupe of days. (if he doesn't have a fracture somewhere).
Maybe luckily we are not yet in the high mountains, altough some dangerous days are coming up where he will need to hang on for deer life to not loose time. (instead of potentially take time).
And lets hope the crash doesn't affect his TT...


This is not turning out to be the giro of his dreams :(.

It might have been better if he still had pink... (but that is talk for after :/)
 
Didinho

Didinho

Jan 10, 2019
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2 stressy days, 2 crashes. But no time loss. Recover tomorrow and normally the 2nd day after the crash you feel worse. Hopefully not to bad for the mountain finish and the upcoming TT.

Another crash on his hip/pelvis region, after his operations it's always waiting how he will feel the next days.
 
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Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

Jun 7, 2011
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Jagartrott said:
Stay focused until the end - that's the lesson here. Keep your eyes on the road in front of you. The crash - in my opinion - is not only his fault (Kirsch line was too aggressive), but it was likely avoidable.
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He was definitely at fault, but so was Kirsch. Evenepoel's fault was that he did not look to the side he wanted to move into. I don't really understand how that happened as it is something that you should do instinctively. If you ride like that in traffic, you're dead within a week.
 
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