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

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Of course, that must be the reason. Thank you for clarifying !

I literally didn’t state any reason at all. I said something is wrong. That’s not me explaining you any reason for it.

 

[LesDiablesRouges]

Sure, we'll throw logic out of the window

No, he was already banned he needs time to recover.

 

[Ulle97]

I am gutted about his collapse. I'm a big Remco fan, but deep down I always had a fear that he would struggle on such a day.

I didn't think the struggle would be of this magnitude. Perhaps he just isn't able for the rigours of such an arduous event. He broke down at the Giro, was poor in the Tour de Suisse mountains and now blows up again in Spain. He is a mediocre defensive climber at best.

Before anyone lists last year's Vuelta as evidence of his climbing prowess....... please stop!!!! The Alto de Piornal and Navacerrada and Tentudia as 5% uphill finishes absolutely pale in comparison to what real GT mountains are all about.


We are seeing that today.

 

[Oliver]

I cant believe it. The best rider?! How?! Nobody could predict this...

The best? I wouldn't say the best...

 

[wickedw]

Obviously this performance is way off. His climbing ability, even if "unproven", is still better than his team, which he could barely follow. What is wrong? We'll hear an excuse later. He's been showing weaknesses throughout this vuelta already, including the ITT. So I kind of saw it coming, but not of this magnitude. This looks like jakobsen in the Tour.

Self burn: I was worried about his team strength this vuelta. Ha.

 

[Lequack]

He won the Vuelta last year, and was looking good this year. Any doubt about his performance are unfounded, but it seems Quickstep have a problem with keeping their riders not sick, or isolating those who do become sick.

 

[KZD]

I am gutted about his collapse. I'm a big Remco fan, but deep down I always had a fear that he would struggle on such a day.

I didn't think the struggle would be of this magnitude. Perhaps he just isn't able for the rigours of such an arduous event. He broke down at the Giro, was poor in the Tour de Suisse mountains and now blows up again in Spain. He is a mediocre defensive climber at best.

Before anyone lists last year's Vuelta as evidence of his climbing prowess....... please stop!!!! The Alto de Piornal and Navacerrada and Tentudia as 5% uphill finishes absolutely pale in comparison to what real GT mountains are all about.


We are seeing that today.

I think before jumping to any conclusion, its important to understand if Remco is sick or not...

Plus in the Giro 2021 he was coming back from injury and in the Tour de Suisse he was coming back from covid.

 

[Berflamand]

Kuss must be shaking in his boots now with only 1 minute left for Remco to gain back, with tough mountain stages coming up for the rest of this Vuelta!

Remco will show who is boss. No doubt. The almighty is winning this one easily. It has been written.

Thank you, I feel even more confident now that he will win this. Up with the fists Remco and fight for it!

He is just holding back. Cant wait until he unleashes on the stages coming up! We have been promised.

Tomorrow he shows everyone how strong he is. I dont see how it could go wrong.

Looking forward to see the best rider in the world smashing everyone today! Lets gooo

I thought he was gonna smash everyone today based on what we have been told. Maybe those saying he cant climb with the best were on to something.

You mean it was you who kept telling it even though you obviously were always trolling? You must feel very good having carefully upheld the image and now being able to completely undermine the kid.

I really don't know why you keep trolling this thread because your other posts are usually quite reasonable.

 

[proffate]

I am gutted about his collapse. I'm a big Remco fan, but deep down I always had a fear that he would struggle on such a day.

You feared he would drop on the first of three climbs? No, obviously you did not. There is nothing to indicate he can't deal with a stage like this. If anything recent history is an indication he can't stay healthy/energetic for three weeks which is also important for GTs, of course.

 

[Salvarani]

You mean it was you who kept telling it even though you obviously were always trolling? You must feel very good having carefully upheld the image and now being able to completely undermine the kid.

I really don't know why you keep trolling this thread because your other posts are usually quite reasonable.

I am only basing that on what has been said in the thread!

I was at the edge of my seat today, as you can see by my excitement, but I am deeply disappoined now

 

[peterfin]

Regardless what the issue is, we are missing an opportunity to see him in a huge mountain battle against his biggest opponents. It's very unfortunate. To me this stage was more important than him winning a 2nd GT.

 

[Rackham]

You feared he would drop on the first of three climbs? No, obviously you did not. There is nothing to indicate he can't deal with a stage like this. If anything recent history is an indication he can't stay healthy/energetic for three weeks which is also important for GTs, of course.

It's not the first of three climbs, it's a special category col going into the second weekend of a GT. It's reductive to downplay the difficulty here.

It's accumulated wear, tear, fatigue & everything that goes with it. That's Grand Tour racing. And isn't this the first time he's ever done a stage profile like this on French soil?

Everyone knew this Vuelta was way more mountainous than last year's. So there was a question mark over Evenepoel & how he'd cope with this route.

 

[proffate]

very unusual or remarkable....not in comparison to many riders including Sagan, Gilbert, Pogacar , etc is my point

Do you even know what you're saying? Young Remco is on pace to exceed Gilbert, Sagan, and even MVDP in career palmares even if he never wins another GT. And those are the three most exciting riders of the last dozen years!

And I happen to think GTs are boring and (deservedly) give cycling a poor reputation among non fans. You think cricket is hard to watch? GTs are on another level. So to me, all of the above classics riders are far more legendary than Vingo, who can barely win a road stage in a GT much less a monument. If Remco never wins another GT I will not think much less of him. Let's see him win MSR by attacking the Cipressa instead.

That said, I'm pretty sure that if you take Remco and stick him on a team that has the "science" of cycling down, such as Jimbo Vodka, they would make sure his body doesn't crap out randomly after two weeks.

 

[proffate]

And isn't this the first time he's ever done a stage profile like this on French soil?

Does French soil have a high kryptonite content in it or something?

It's fine to say Remco is not consistent enough but w/kg are w/kg and he clearly has the most or close to the most on his day so there's nothing unique about an especial climb.

 

[HelloDolly]

This thread compares Evenepol to Merkx ...Merks was a grand tour champion and extra ordinary

 

[Ulle97]

You feared he would drop on the first of three climbs? No, obviously you did not. There is nothing to indicate he can't deal with a stage like this. If anything recent history is an indication he can't stay healthy/energetic for three weeks which is also important for GTs, of course.

Hello there,

If you care to read the next sentence of my post you might be able to see that I said that I did not think his collapse would be of this magnitude.

If you think there is nothing to indicate he can't deal with a stage like this, I would argue there is nothing to indicate he can deal with a stage of this difficulty with true HC climbs. Simply because he has never done one in this year's Giro or last year's Vuelta.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

This thread compares Evenepol to Merkx ...Merks was a grand tour champion and extra ordinary

We’ve had this discussion like 18 times already. The thread title was made when Remco was like 17 years old and there is a lot of tongue-in-cheek behind it.

Evenepoel is also a grand tour champion (he has won one) and extra ordinary (combination of both WC jerseys, a GT and monuments), so one could believe you are arguing that comparison with Merckx is very much justified?

 

[The fridge in the blue trees]

Weird.

Might be the shortness, not everybody deals with that equally. Short intense is different from a long mountain stage. Thought he might limit the losses after the Aubisque, but not at all. Maybe mentally down then. Not sick according to Soudal Quick... interesting how he was "clearly" sick for some here. Didn't expect that anyway. But that's cycling.

 

[HelloDolly]

Dont you think maybe you all put too much pressure on him

 

[nightowl]

Hello there,

If you care to read the next sentence of my post you might be able to see that I said that I did not think his collapse would be of this magnitude.

If you think there is nothing to indicate he can't deal with a stage like this, I would argue there is nothing to indicate he can deal with a stage of this difficulty with true HC climbs. Simply because he has never done one in this year's Giro or last year's Vuelta.

He was certainly an unknown quantity in true big multi-mountain stages coming into this race, but I’d also argue that there was no indication that he’d be dropping out of a group of 50 halfway up the Aubisque less than an hour into the stage that had mostly been downhill. That’s got nothing to do with it being a multi-mountain stage.

If he isn’t sick then it is quite puzzling and gives me Simon Yates vibes - all the climbing ability in the world but just inexplicably cracks sometimes.

 

[proffate]

Hello there,

If you care to read the next sentence of my post you might be able to see that I said that I did not think his collapse would be of this magnitude.

If you think there is nothing to indicate he can't deal with a stage like this, I would argue there is nothing to indicate he can deal with a stage of this difficulty with true HC climbs. Simply because he has never done one in this year's Giro or last year's Vuelta.

What indicates he can do it is that he has won races of the longest duration on the calendar with long solo efforts.

There was a time when 23 was considered young for a GT contender. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I still think he has room to improve. I think I will give him the benefit of the doubt for a bit longer, although as stated earlier I wouldn't mind if he focused on more exciting races.

 

[Rackham]

Does French soil have a high kryptonite content in it or something?

It's fine to say Remco is not consistent enough but w/kg are w/kg and he clearly has the most or close to the most on his day so there's nothing unique about an especial climb.

No, but the accumulated effort of a GT fight followed by the hardest GT stage he's ever done? Sure. It's unknown territory.

 

[IndurainsTdF1994]

I think the waiting game is to see whether he'll continue after the weekend. The writing is on the wall...

 

[Barkintheeye]

Do you even know what you're saying? Young Remco is on pace to exceed Gilbert, Sagan, and even MVDP in career palmares even if he never wins another GT. And those are the three most exciting riders of the last dozen years!

And I happen to think GTs are boring and (deservedly) give cycling a poor reputation among non fans. You think cricket is hard to watch? GTs are on another level. So to me, all of the above classics riders are far more legendary than Vingo, who can barely win a road stage in a GT much less a monument. If Remco never wins another GT I will not think much less of him. Let's see him win MSR by attacking the Cipressa instead.

That said, I'm pretty sure that if you take Remco and stick him on a team that has the "science" of cycling down, such as Jimbo Vodka, they would make sure his body doesn't crap out randomly after two weeks.

Completely agree that one day classic, OC and WC wins are much more exciting, entertaining and makes a lot more for legendary status. Surely this is not objective but yours and mine preferences but I hold Boonen, Cancellara and Gilbert in much higher esteem than for example Froome and Wiggins.

What I do not agree with is the comparison with eg Van der Poel who is a much more proficient cyclist than Remco, having MSR, RVV, P-R, WC, SB and Amstel on his palmares along with uncountable victories in CX plus five CX world titles and European MTB title. Remco isn’t even close and you will have to go the likes of Valverde and Gilbert to find something better in 1D road races.

 

[proffate]

I think he should try to recover and get another stage win.

And not just because of my fantasy team.