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

[Berniece]

And how does look without the joke of a TTT?

Lol, now that JV lost time it’s a joke of a TTT. It was the worst for SQS so no excuses

 

[Netserk]

Lol, now that JV lost time it’s a joke of a TTT. It was the worst for SQS so no excuses

Do you think it was a joke of a TTT or not?

 

[KZD]

And how does look without the joke of a TTT?

Even though the TTT was a joke, you can't change the past. If it bothers you so much, you can always do the math yourself, its not difficult.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

I can’t roll my eyes enough for some of you. Here’s me giving an effort though:

I’m going for Roglic, not Remco, for the record.

“Smoked” = turned on the turbo and dropped his rivals. As someone correctly pointed out, in this forums context, I should have used the term, “stomp.” It was raced like a sprint, so sprinters definitive apply. Or do you not think Usain Bolt smoked his rivals because he only beat them by a couple tenths of a second?

My point was that when Remco, fresh off WITT Gold, unexpectedly gained 30 seconds in that BS TTT, then mountain sprinted to victory, easily beating Roglic at his own game, many suddenly thought he was in the drivers seat. Bookies’ odds suddenly had him above Roglic.

All of these early swings in expectations are premature. Roglic got dropped harder early in last years Vuelta, then dropped Remco multiple times before crashing out.

 

[Salvarani]

F for Riek s, who has left without further elaboration.

Quite a few Evenepoel fans going in the past month, who is now left to defend him when he loses minor time on a mountain stage?

Ah they think darkness is their ally? They merely adopted the dark. We was born in it, molded by it. We didn't see the light until we saw Roglic won the Giro, by then it was nothing to us but blinding!

 

[SHAD0W93]

I can’t roll my eyes enough for some of you. Here’s me giving an effort though:

I’m going for Roglic, not Remco, for the record.

“Smoked” = turned on the turbo and dropped his rivals. As someone correctly pointed out, in this forums context, I should have used the term, “stomp.” It was raced like a sprint, so sprinters definitive apply. Or do you not think Usain Bolt smoked his rivals because he only beat them by a couple tenths of a second?

My point was that when Remco, fresh off WITT Gold, unexpectedly gained 30 seconds in that BS TTT, then mountain sprinted to victory, easily beating Roglic at his own game, many suddenly thought he was in the drivers seat. Bookies’ odds suddenly had him above Roglic.

All of these early swings in expectations are premature. Roglic got dropped harder early in last years Vuelta, then dropped Remco multiple times before crashing out.

Too be fair, many had Roglic and Vinge ahead of their rivals by 30 seconds or more at this stage due to the TTT and two stomping stages.

 

[Ulle97]

I think if Remco was to be told he'd be ahead of Roglic and Jonas at this stage of the race he'd have taken it.

I'm optimistic that he'll hold the wheels tomorrow and Sunday. Hoping for a big performance in the short ITT. It would be great if he's got a lead over Jumbo going into the big mountains. However, the potential losses in those stages are massive.

A podium overall at this point would still be a great result for Remco against a stacked field.

 

[Berniece]

Do you think it was a joke of a TTT or not?

I think that that has nothing to do with why Remco is still in front

 

[theyoungest]

I think that that has nothing to do with why Remco is still in front

It's the only reason why Remco is still in front. That's just an inarguable fact.

Also, to say that it was worse for Quickstep when they rode in the same conditions, and Vingegaard had a flat tire, seems quite a stretch.

 

[Volderke]

It's the only reason why Remco is still in front. That's just an inarguable fact.

Also, to say that it was worse for Quickstep when they rode in the same conditions, and Vingegaard had a flat tire, seems quite a stretch.

Same conditions would imply a team as strong as Jumbo.
Vingegaard lost around 20s with that flat, and 30s at the finish. Maybe Remco put those 10s into the super team of jumbo by pushing harder on the pedals, leading his inferior team over the line a bit quicker?

Do we happily ignore Remco is a monster TT rider and any other GC rider would have lost far more time leading SQS in that TT?

 

[Berniece]

It's the only reason why Remco is still in front. That's just an inarguable fact.

Not because the TTT was a joke, because SQS was just better

 

[Salvarani]

Not because the TTT was a joke, because SQS was just better

Jumbo have not done a recon of any stage. Vinging it.

 

[peterfin]

It's the only reason why Remco is still in front. That's just an inarguable fact.

Also, to say that it was worse for Quickstep when they rode in the same conditions, and Vingegaard had a flat tire, seems quite a stretch.

We can't change what happened and we do not know the outcome either if the TTT was not a joke. In that case, it could be that Remco was not in the red jersey so he could better conserve energy and not loose 30 seconds.

If we want to start hypothetical scenarios we can also just go all the way. If this GT would be more balanced as they were decades ago with proper TT kms and a decent stage mix so it really was a proper race to find the best overall cyclist instead of becoming the sport to find the best 'mountain goat' with 10 summit finishes and featuring actual goat paths such as the Angliru, things could be very different. It's not the case so we need to deal with what we have. We could think of seemingly "inarguable facts" in that case and they might be reasonable but we cannot be sure so they are no facts at all.

 

[kn0s]

We can't change what happened and we do not know the outcome either if the TTT was not a joke. In that case, it could be that Remco was not in the red jersey so he could better conserve energy and not loose 30 seconds.

If we want to start hypothetical scenarios we can also just go all the way. If this GT would be more balanced as they were decades ago with proper TT kms and a decent stage mix so it really was a proper race to find the best overall cyclist instead of becoming the sport to find the best 'mountain goat' with 10 summit finishes and featuring actual goat paths such as the Angliru, things could be very different. It's not the case so we need to deal with what we have. We could think of seemingly "inarguable facts" in that case and they might be reasonable but we cannot be sure so they are no facts at all.

Think I remember things differently from you. "the good old days" where terrible. The long TT's killed the races. And most of the "mountain goats" we have these days TT just fine.

 

[theyoungest]

We can't change what happened and we do not know the outcome either if the TTT was not a joke. In that case, it could be that Remco was not in the red jersey so he could better conserve energy and not loose 30 seconds.

If we want to start hypothetical scenarios we can also just go all the way. If this GT would be more balanced as they were decades ago with proper TT kms and a decent stage mix so it really was a proper race to find the best overall cyclist instead of becoming the sport to find the best 'mountain goat' with 10 summit finishes and featuring actual goat paths such as the Angliru, things could be very different. It's not the case so we need to deal with what we have. We could think of seemingly "inarguable facts" in that case and they might be reasonable but we cannot be sure so they are no facts at all.

I'm simply saying that the only reason Evenepoel is still in front of the two Jumbo guys is the TTT. That's just a fact, I don't see how you can dispute that And probably without the flat tire Jumbo would at least have been close.

That there's too few TT kilometers in recent GTs is open for debate, although I think I agree. I also don't really know why the organizers hate TTs so much. I would certainly welcome a GT with Pogi, Vingo, Remco, Ayuso, and then one or two 50 k rolling TTs in it. Mainly because I don't know who would really benefit from that. None of them is particularly bad at TTing.

 

[Andre]

Also Quickstep was the last team out...when it was darkest and heavier rain.

 

[Ripper]

Thank goodness Remco is racing. His personality animates races and forum boards alike

 

[Flurk1982]

Lefevre confirmed today in newspaper Evenepoel has pain in his hip and head after crash stage 3. To me this is the only reason why he lost half a minute in stage 6. Hopefully he's recovered today otherwise GC is lost.

 

[Ulle97]

It's the only reason why Remco is still in front. That's just an inarguable fact.

Also, to say that it was worse for Quickstep when they rode in the same conditions, and Vingegaard had a flat tire, seems quite a stretch.

It's also an inarguable fact that Jumbo have an insanely stronger team SQS. Yet they couldn't put any time into Remco's far inferior outfit.

I'm not sure even without the flat from Vingegaard that Jumbo would have beaten SQS. I think SQS would still have beaten them.

 

[peterfin]

In confirmation of the manic-depressive nature of the social media about Remco, betting markets have him listed at 1:18 odds today vs 1:7 for Roglic. The "depressive" periods are when you get the best bets as it only fires him up to outperform. I am not in particular thinking he will win today, the GC probably doesn't fight for the win, but his odds versus Roglic are much better than that.

 

[theyoungest]

It's also an inarguable fact that Jumbo have an insanely stronger team SQS. Yet they couldn't put any time into Remco's far inferior outfit.

I'm not sure even without the flat from Vingegaard that Jumbo would have beaten SQS. I think SQS would still have beaten them.

But that's because it was an insane TTT. Now it was about which risks you were prepared to take, and Quickstep knew they had to take more risk whereas Jumbo clearly just took it relatively easy. I mean, Sepp Kuss was still there at the finish, not exactly a TTT weapon.

 

[Red Rick]

Lefevre confirmed today in newspaper Evenepoel has pain in his hip and head after crash stage 3. To me this is the only reason why he lost half a minute in stage 6. Hopefully he's recovered today otherwise GC is lost.

Today is not the sort of day where you lose minutes normally anyway.

 

[Lexman]

Lefevre confirms that they had 3 sick riders in the team on the night from tuesday to wednesday : Knox, vervaeke and Bagioli

Knox was relativily fast retablished buit Vervake and bagioli suffered,

COLUMN. Patrick Lefevere: “Drie zieke renners en Jumbo dat ons de dag nadien van kilometer één onder druk zet: in hun plaats had ik hetzelfde gedaan”

Patrick Lefevere is de algemeen manager van Soudal-Quick-Step. Wekelijks schrijft hij zijn gedachten neer in een column.

www.nieuwsblad.be

 

[Elos Anjos]

Lefevre confirmed today in newspaper Evenepoel has pain in his hip and head after crash stage 3. To me this is the only reason why he lost half a minute in stage 6. Hopefully he's recovered today otherwise GC is lost.

Sounds like an excuse in the making and damage control mode. Lefevre probably blames Remco for those injuries.

 

[Jagartrott]

Crashes affect riders' performance. It is known. Why call it an excuse as if it is somehow irrelevant?