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

[Prim]

Exclusif : Remco Evenepoel fera la Vuelta !

Fin août, Remco Evenepoel prendra le départ du Tour d'Espagne, qu'il a gagné l'an passé.

www.dhnet.be

He's in.

Paywall? Any other source or link?

 

[DNP-Old]

Something lost in translation here? Is it that he won't lead in the Vuelta, but gets thrown Pologne as a bone?

No, he will just not start.

 

[Salvarani]

Probably best for Van Wilder not to do a second GT. He finished the Giro in a respectable 12th place. Not too bad after dropping a lot of time in the first week doing domestic work.

He should get more chances in races as a leader for the rest of the season. Any news on his contract being renewed or will he be taking his talents elsewhere? I hope so for him.

 

[saunaking]

Man I hope he does leave. Take his talent to Chemical Beach, Ineos.
I'm done with this nanny approach from Lefevre, give this man the same schedule as Pogacar, proper one day races and the Tour. I want to see him in Flanders, Amstel, Lombardia, heck even MSR. There's no point holding him back, he can win these.

Yep, just sell him to Ineos. He's in the media now pumping up the price.
Then go back to classics focused squads.
Pat not cut out for GC racing

 

[Berniece]

Yep, just sell him to Ineos. He's in the media now pumping up the price.
Then go back to classics focused squads.
Pat not cut out for GC racing

There are rumours that the team is being sold to Americans, not sure how such a thing works. Is Don Patrick still the GM then? If so there will be a lot more money and they'll definitely focus on GC's.

 

[Didinho]

Vuelta confirmed.

San Sebastian and Worlds before.

 

[Andre]

Probably best for Van Wilder not to do a second GT. He finished the Giro in a respectable 12th place. Not too bad after dropping a lot of time in the first week doing domestic work.

He should get more chances in races as a leader for the rest of the season. Any news on his contract being renewed or will he be taking his talents elsewhere? I hope so for him.

No. Van Wilder will be a great help in La Vuelta. Things are looking up. Hopefully by next year Quickstep will have a much stronger squad for Remco in the Tour

 

[Salvarani]

No. Van Wilder will be a great help in La Vuelta. Things are looking up. Hopefully by next year Quickstep will have a much stronger squad for Remco in the Tour

He should win it easy, since he had a 50% chance to win the Giro. Should be no less than a 40% chance to win the Tour.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Something lost in translation here? Is it that he won't lead in the Vuelta, but gets thrown Pologne as a bone?

Van Wilder was promised to be able to ride for himself in the 2nd part of the season. You could argue that he was now able to do that in the Giro, so he could again take up a role as domestique in the Vuelta, but trainers and managers agreed that it was still too early for him to do 2 GT's in one year anyway. So they will stick to the original plan and give Van Wilder a personal schedule consisting of a few 1 week races as well as 1 day races while Evenepoel does the Vuelta.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

When it comes down to production values, they clearly have a lot to learn from Jumbo Visma. But at least it's good to see that they have the bad acting and cringe factors down as well.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1678396334364033030

View: https://twitter.com/soudalquickstep/status/1678396334364033030

 

[red_flanders]

Really glad to see he's doing the Vuelta. It's interesting to see Lefevre's comments.

“At first, I said it was preferable that he didn’t do the Tour of Spain,” Soudal-QuickStep team manager Patrick Lefevere told La Dernière Heure. “But when I saw the level he achieved again and how keen he was, I could only follow his lead."

"Remco wants big challenges. If everything goes well in the training camp and he doesn’t have any problems, he’ll be at the Vuelta.”

I think I recall Remco saying he wasn't really looking forward to living like a monk again to prep for another GT, so I thought the trepidation about the Vuelta was (also) coming from Remco. But now sounds like he was getting some (IMO) overly cautious and poor advice from Lefevre? Maybe that's too much speculation on my part, but it does seem bizarre how they want to hold him back.

At the very least it's another mark in the "please go to a team who knows how to handle a GT talent" column for me. The lack of a team is getting absurd at this point.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Vuelta confirmed.

San Sebastian and Worlds before.

Now if he loses one of those races he‘s won before, he will surely be horribly bullied. This is a bad mistake.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Really glad to see he's doing the Vuelta. It's interesting to see Lefevre's comments.


I think I recall Remco saying he wasn't really looking forward to living like a monk again to prep for another GT, so I thought the trepidation about the Vuelta was (also) coming from Remco. But now sounds like he was getting some (IMO) overly cautious and poor advice from Lefevre? Maybe that's too much speculation on my part, but it does seem bizarre how they want to hold him back.

At the very least it's another mark in the "please go to a team who knows how to handle a GT talent" column for me. The lack of a team is getting absurd at this point.

I think (as i basically said from the first time Lefevere said he would not be doing the Tour nor the Vuelta) that they just wanted some piece and quiet and wanted the press(ure) to take a hike. It would have made no sense, as he has always said he wanted to be a GC/GT racer and the new sponsor (Soudal) brought in extra money because they wanted GT successes.

The support team... No Van Wilder normally speaking, but Serry, Vervaeke, Vansevenant and Hirt should be there i believe. Hirt should be able to do what Van Wilder was able to do last year. The Italians at DQS so far have not really been a success in support of Evenepoel. Cattaneo, Masnada, Bagioli... maybe a guy like Schmid could be more valuable at the moment. No idea whether Knox is back on form.

Now if he loses one of those races he‘s won before, he will surely be horribly bullied. This is a bad mistake.

Why? If he does not make the best impression there, it would actually not be a bad thing for him as other teams will be seen as favorites and have to work.

 

[KZD]

Great to see Remco not shying away from doing the Vuelta after his Giro setback. Even though this is year the route looks more difficult this is the type of challenge that I think will make Remco stronger for the future.

 

[Oldermanish]

Great to see Remco not shying away from doing the Vuelta after his Giro setback. Even though this is year the route looks more difficult this is the type of challenge that I think will make Remco stronger for the future.

He should be able to put the Giro in it's rightful place of his race history: a recovery year sign of progress. The Vuelta should also be considered a next step if he is truly planning for a Tour. Go in with as little pressure and hype as possible and ride it as a 3 week race that acknowledges what his team can contribute rather than what everyone hopes they can do.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Great to see Remco not shying away from doing the Vuelta after his Giro setback. Even though this is year the route looks more difficult this is the type of challenge that I think will make Remco stronger for the future.

I'm actually happy the route is harder than last year. That means no reason to put too much stock in the TT and no pussyfooting around when it comes to optimal climbing weight. He will need to be the strongest uphill if he wants to win this thing, and in order to do that, he will need to prove himself as a climber once and for all.

 

[Riek s]

Woehoe for REmco doing the Vuelta.

Bummer for the team they bring though... Still a lot of speculation, but doesn't look like the team that can help him when he is in a pickle. (But we are beating a dead horse when talking about the team).

I see in the papers they are aso not expecting anything from him (which is strange).
Regarding his weight, not sure what is the best. But since he is focussed on the WC ITT, i'm assuming he won't arrive at the vuelta with a weight of 60kg. I assume he wil be closer to his Giro weight than his vuelta weight of last year. (I'm also not sure if he really can't climb with that weight, we haven't seen him in action in the Giro, but the climbs before the giro he seemed strong enough).

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Woehoe for REmco doing the Vuelta.

Bummer for the team they bring though... Still a lot of speculation, but doesn't look like the team that can help him when he is in a pickle. (But we are beating a dead horse when talking about the team).

I see in the papers they are aso not expecting anything from him (which is strange).
Regarding his weight, not sure what is the best. But since he is focussed on the WC ITT, i'm assuming he won't arrive at the vuelta with a weight of 60kg. I assume he wil be closer to his Giro weight than his vuelta weight of last year. (I'm also not sure if he really can't climb with that weight, we haven't seen him in action in the Giro, but the climbs before the giro he seemed strong enough).

Belgian news asked Lefevere if he was going in order to win. His answer was "let's say we're going for a podium at minimum".

Regarding the WCC TT, yeah, you might be right. I completely forgot about that. Sigh.

 

[Ulle97]

I'm actually happy the route is harder than last year. That means no reason to put too much stock in the TT and no pussyfooting around when it comes to optimal climbing weight. He will need to be the strongest uphill if he wants to win this thing, and in order to do that, he will need to prove himself as a climber once and for all.

Some of the mountain stages in the Vuelta are savage this year.

 

[houtdffan]

Some of the mountain stages in the Vuelta are savage this year.

But they are junior length

 

[Rob5091]

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...s-grenadiers-attempts-to-sign-remco-evenepoel
So, Ineos are "love bombing" Remco? (when you know where the phrase comes from, it conveys the right icky sensation)
Remco off to the Vuelta? Not surprising as he's probably champing at the bit to race again ... watch out for the Lennys!

 

[Salvarani]

Now if he loses one of those races he‘s won before, he will surely be horribly bullied. This is a bad mistake.

70% chance that he wins all three.

Already won LBL, which he probably had a 90% chance of winning, so he is 1/4.

He did mess up a 50% chance though in the Giro, but he will get it this time though in the Vuelta. That should be garanteed. It is in the bag.

 

[Prim]

But they are junior length

He excels in longer races though even if a three week GT is a bird of a different color admittedly.

 

[ManicJack]

but he will get it this time though in the Vuelta. That should be garanteed. It is in the bag.

I thought trolling was a ban worthy offense

 

[red_flanders]

Now if he loses one of those races he‘s won before, he will surely be horribly bullied. This is a bad mistake.

Wut?

So riders should not do races they've already won...because...bullying? From who? I mean...what? Maybe I'm missing a joke here? Certainly no competitive athlete would entertain such thoughts.