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

[Frobisher Bay]

To beat Bilbao in a 1-on-1 sprint, would have been impossible for Evenpoel '21. He's still making progress, wonder where it can take him. Tp be honest, he should be able to drop Bilbao if he wants to win Vuelta (although Bilbao was getting stronger in the 3d week). Off course, there is still some time left and other goals to achieve in the mean time. Will we ever see his Belgian Champion shirt

 

[Andre]

Another great victory for Remco!!!

 

[DNP-Old]

To beat Bilbao in a 1-on-1 sprint, would have been impossible for Evenpoel '21. He's still making progress, wonder where it can take him. Tp be honest, he should be able to drop Bilbao if he wants to win Vuelta (although Bilbao was getting stronger in the 3d week). Off course, there is still some time left and other goals to achieve in the mean time. Will we ever see his Belgian Champion shirt

I wouldn't take Bilbao for any reference currently, be it good, be it bad. I have seen, with my own eyes, a very young Wilco Kelderman, who finished like 7th in the Giro that year, go toe to toe with Froome and Contador in the Dauphine. Supercompensation is a weird, unpredictable animal.

 

[wickedw]

Didn't look like he went all out on the climbs, enough wattage down to severely hurt and drop some but it didn't look he ever went all in. He also said he felt he was the better of the four and dared to gamble on his sprint (post race interview with sporza). That's 3 out of 3 for Remco this year in one day races. So next to angry and emo Remco, we can now surely safely state that Remco in full white cannot be beaten.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Wooah, did you guys see these latissimus muscles and forearms at the victory pose (finish line)?… Seems like he has been in the gym all summer long, again, at 3000 meters altitude… Certainly 4 hrs gym exercise a day, plus 30 minutes of cardio on the spinning bike - and now he was unbeatable in San Sebastian, again… *thumbs up*

 

[Blanco]

Remco is born for one-day races, I think he's the best in the world at those, even better than Pogacar. He just kills his opponents with his tempo, he even may attack 100 km from the the finish if the terrain allows and no one can't do anything. It's just the matter of time when he is going to wnin on cobbles too...
GT's are going to be much more complicated though...

 

[Andy schleck]

Remco is born for one-day races, I think he's the best in the world at those, even better than Pogacar. He just kills his opponents with his tempo, he even may attack 100 km from the the finish if the terrain allows and no one can't do anything. It's just the matter of time when he is going to wnin on cobbles too...
GT's are going to be much more complicated though...

Pogacar has more monuments than remco, and already won this year, tour flandres, fleche wallone, amstel gold race. Van der poel won milan san remo and paris roubaix, so i don't think remco is the best in the world in one day races. He can be in the future, but he is not at the moment.
Certainly he is already one of the best riders in the world. I want to see more face to face between remco and pogacar, van der poel, van aert, pogacar in one day races.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Remco is born for one-day races, I think he's the best in the world at those, even better than Pogacar. He just kills his opponents with his tempo, he even may attack 100 km from the the finish if the terrain allows and no one can't do anything. It's just the matter of time when he is going to wnin on cobbles too...
GT's are going to be much more complicated though...

Possibly. He's extremely good, thats for sure, but I'd still bet on Pogacar vs Remco if both are on 100%. Pogacar has missed a bit at some of the big one day races, but is still winning Lombardia rather easily when he wants to and his showings in this spring is hard to argue with. At least Pogacar does better on a variety of one day races where as Remco is absolute deadly in these very long and very hard hilly/mountanious one day races.

But they yet have to compete against each other at 100%. Pog was scheduled for Liege both years Remco won, unfortunately.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Pogacar has more monuments than remco, and already won this year, tour flandres, fleche wallone, amstel gold race. Van der poel won milan san remo and paris roubaix, so i don't think remco is the best in the world in one day races. He can be in the future, but he is not at the moment.
Certainly he is already one of the best riders in the world. I want to see more face to face between remco and pogacar, van der poel, van aert, pogacar in one day races.

Two LBL starts. Two LBL wins.
Three CSS starts. Three CSS wins.
One WCC start as leader. One WCC win. And we all know he could have won in Leuven had the national coach not been a complete moron.
He won the Belgian National RR, which was a course tailormade for sprinters, solo.

"He can be in the future" lol. Van der Poel and Van Aert aren't even in the discussion. It's him and Pog. This isn't about palmares, it's about the likelihood to win when starting.

Last three 250+k one day races, he won 3 out of 3. He has started 20 one day races of over 200km since turning pro. He has won 8 of those 20. Of the last 7, he won 6. Of the last 5, he won 5. Yeah, maybe in the future.

Van der Poel has 6 out of 31. Pogacar 6 out of 27.

 

[Andy schleck]

Two LBL starts. Two LBL wins.
Three CSS starts. Three CSS wins.
One WCC start as leader. One WCC win. And we all know he could have won in Leuven had the national coach not been a complete moron.
He won the Belgian National RR, which was a course tailormade for sprinters, solo.

"He can be in the future" lol. Van der Poel and Van Aert aren't even in the discussion. It's him and Pog. This isn't about palmares, it's about the likelihood to win when starting.

He has started 20 one day races of over 200km since turning pro. He has won 8 of those 20. Of the last 7, he won 6. Of the last 5, he won 5. Yeah, maybe in the future.

Van der Poel has 6 out of 31. Pogacar 6 out of 27.

As far as i'm concern van der poel and pogacar won more important one day races this year than remco. Some of them, are monuments, CSS doesn't have the same importance.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

As far as i'm concern van der poel and pogacar won more important one day races this year than remco. Some of them, are monuments, CSS doesn't have the same importance.

lol, he's won every one he entered. And in case you didn't hear, LBL is a monument.

 

[Andy schleck]

lol, he's won every one he entered. And in case you didn't hear, LBL is a monument.

Firstable he didn't won everyone he entered, and that doesn't mean anything.
Pogacar already won this year tour flandres, amstel, fleche wallone, he won in the end of last year il lombardia, won strade bianche last year.
Van der poel won two monuments this year(not one), milan san remo and paris roubaix, he also won travers la flandres, tour flandres last year.
Another important thing. Van der poel and pogacar beat the best on that races, they were fighting each other.
I almost never see remco going to the that races going against the best, van der poel or pogacar.

Even in grand tours, i never see remco going against vingegaard or pogacar.

He's got talent, but don't call him yet the best one day race or the best GC guy(this would be ridiculous), when he didn't prove that he is the best.
He already has a great palmares, i don't deny that.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Firstable he didn't won everyone he entered, and that doesn't mean anything.
Pogacar already won this year tour flandres, amstel, fleche wallone, he won in the end of last year il lombardia, won strade bianche last year.
Van der poel won two monuments this year(not one), milan san remo and paris roubaix, he also won travers la flandres, tour flandres last year.
Another important thing. Van der poel and pogacar beat the best on that races, they were fighting each other.
I almost never see remco going to the that races going against the best, van der poel or pogacar.

Even in grand tours, i never see remco going against vingegaard or pogacar.

He's got talent, but don't call him yet the best one day race or the best GC guy(this would be ridiculous), when he didn't prove that he is the best.
He already has a great palmares, i don't deny that.

Every one. Not everyone.
He won every one day race this year, that he entered, as you used that argument for Pogacar and Van der Poel. One day races this year, remember? Then you said "some of those are monuments. So Pogacar only won one monument, which is the same amount as Evenepoel. And Evenepoel won every one day race he entered this year, winning 100% so far. He won 5 out of 5 of his last 200+km one day races, he won 3/3 of the last 250+km one day races. Future my ass. And clearly you also missed the WCC last year. If you think Van der Poel would have stopped him, you are delusional.

 

[Savant12]

In a one-day race with Remco, VDP, Pog and WVA starting, how many has Remco won?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

In a one-day race with Remco, VDP, Pog and WVA starting, how many has Remco won?

A one day race they all started? He won one more than Pog, MvdP and WvA combined.
Evenepoel won 1, Pogacar won 0, Van der Poel won 0, Van Aert won 0.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Firstable he didn't won everyone he entered, and that doesn't mean anything.
Pogacar already won this year tour flandres, amstel, fleche wallone, he won in the end of last year il lombardia, won strade bianche last year.
Van der poel won two monuments this year(not one), milan san remo and paris roubaix, he also won travers la flandres, tour flandres last year.
Another important thing. Van der poel and pogacar beat the best on that races, they were fighting each other.
I almost never see remco going to the that races going against the best, van der poel or pogacar.

Even in grand tours, i never see remco going against vingegaard or pogacar.

He's got talent, but don't call him yet the best one day race or the best GC guy(this would be ridiculous), when he didn't prove that he is the best.
He already has a great palmares, i don't deny that.

And Evenepoel won LBL and CSS this year and last year with the Worlds with a race program more focused on stage racing.

Evenepoel goes to the races he goes to and dominates those who partake in the race. The only one that could match him in those same races is Pog.

 

[Andy schleck]

Every one. Not everyone.
He won every one day race this year, that he entered, as you used that argument for Pogacar and Van der Poel. One day races this year, remember? Then you said "some of those are monuments. So Pogacar only won one monument, which is the same amount as Evenepoel. And Evenepoel won every one day race he entered this year, winning 100% so far. He won 5 out of 5 of his last 200+km one day races, he won 3/3 of the last 250+km one day races. Future my ass. And clearly you also missed the WCC last year. If you think Van der Poel would have stopped him, you are delusional.

The only one delusional here, is you, stop insulting someone just because others have a different opinion, have some respect, you should learn that, and maybe you wouldn't get "off" more times from this forum.
He is not doing, milan san remo, flandres, paris roubaix, fleche wallone, amstel, he never won a il lombardia, excepts for one or two important races, he never won the other most important races, and never face the best in that important races.

That's unbelievable how you can think that he can be even a better one day racer than pogacar.
Go check his palmares and the palmares that van der poel and pogacar have, you need to the that, and see what van der poel and pogacar won in the last 2 years in terms of one day races, compared with remco. They won more one day races, and more important one day races like monuments.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Go check his palmares and the palmares that van der poel and pogacar have, you need to the that, and see what van der poel and pogacar won in the last 2 years in terms of one day races, compared with remco. They won more one day races, and more important one day races like monuments.

What is your definition of two years? Evenepoel and MVDP are both at 3, Pog 2 over the last two years and Pog 4 if you count 2021 too.

 

[Jagartrott]

Evenepoel won the most important one-day race there is though, i.e. the Worlds. If he can do that again this year, in my opinion he would clearly top Pogacar in one-day racing success.

 

[Blanco]

Pogacar has more monuments than remco, and already won this year, tour flandres, fleche wallone, amstel gold race. Van der poel won milan san remo and paris roubaix, so i don't think remco is the best in the world in one day races. He can be in the future, but he is not at the moment.
Certainly he is already one of the best riders in the world. I want to see more face to face between remco and pogacar, van der poel, van aert, pogacar in one day races.

You have a point, I agree. Pogacar and Van Der Poel won a bit more. Purely statistically Van Der Poel is maybe the best, but it's not just about statistics, the boy is destroying everyone left and right in hard one day races, I've never seen that in my life, and I'm not even a fan, on the contrary. I like Van Der Poel most by far out of these three, but I have a feeling this boy is going to be the best hands down.

 

[KZD]

Ok this one is actually an interesting discussion and because Pogačar and Evenepoel are two of my favourite riders, together with Van der Poel which is also being discussed, I will jump right in.

I think that Pogačar still leads Remco in one-day races but the gap is definitely getting narrower. Pogačar has the advantage of having a bigger range than Remco, he has won a bigger number of one-day races than anyone else in the current peloton apart from maybe MVDP and on races like Strade Bianche or De Ronde, probably Roubaix too, I think he has an advantage over Remco because he seems to be better riding on alternative surfaces.

However in hilly classics on tarmac, I think Remco is on par with Pogačar. He has won Liège twice in two starts, San Sebastian thrice in three attempts, the only one that he failed to win (among the ones he has ridden so far) is Lombardia but in 2020 he crashed and in 2021 he was not in great shape climbing wise after the crash the year before. And while before this season I would have said Pogačar's sprint would give him an advantage over Remco, now I am not sure he has that advantage anymore.

Then we have the Major Championships and there Remco has a clear advantage over Pogačar, in my opinion. He is already World Champion and was three times on the podium in the time-trial, though he has never won. Compared to him, Pogačar only achieved a bronze medal in the last Olympic RR. The fact that Belgium has a stronger team than Slovenia makes Remco a bit more likely to get a second rainbow jersey than Pogačar a first and in the time trial he is also more likely to get the rainbow jersey as he is the best time trialist of the two. When I look to Paris 2024 routes I would also give the upperhand to Remco on both races.

So I wouldn't be surprise if Remco overtakes Pogačar in one-day races in the next years espcially if he rides the Tour as he should, because it would open up space to ride more spring classics.

 

[Salvarani]

Remco only targets races where he has a 50% of winning. He can try winning the same races over and over again, that suits him the best. His palmares is starting to look similar to Valverde atm. Thats not a slight to anyone, so dont take it as that.

Talking about who is the best one-day racer in the peloton, though?

How could it be anyone else in the peloton, than Pog.

Nobody comes close to be able to compete in as many different types of races as him. Has won as many different types of races in the current peloton. So who is the best "one-day racer" should be pretty obvious.

Remco might arguably be the best on a hilly and long course... but he is not a better one-day racer than a guy who has won SB, competes in MSR for the win, Ronde, LBL, Fleche, Amstel and Lombardia. Gravel, hills, cobbles and mountains.

The best one-day racer should be someone who can compete on pretty much every type of course and has the results to back it up. Thats Pog atm.

 

[DNP-Old]

Remco only targets races where he has a 50% of winning.

Anyone has a 50% of winning in every race they start. Either you do or you don't.

 

[Red Rick]

Pogacar vs Evenepoel in one days for me depends a lot on what Evenepoel can do in Sanremo and De Ronde. And I'm not very high on Evenepoel for Sanremo. Ronde depends a lot on how Evenepoel fares on the cobbled hills, which he seems to hate with a passion.

I'm also not convinced Evenepoel is actually better for Liege despite going 2 for 2.

IMO Pogacar is better for at least 4 of 5 monuments but Evenepoel is better on most WCRR parcourses.

 

[Salvarani]

Anyone has a 50% of winning in every race they start. Either you do or you don't.

Cool. Putting it like that and taking things out of context makes it a funny joke. Haha.

I think the point was that he often goes and targets races where he is the clear favorite or is highly favored by the route/course. Nothing wrong with that, but you cant be called the best one-day racer when you dont race as many different types of races or can win them. Maybe in the future, who knows.