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

[Ulle97]

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.

Ah man, are you for real?

You say the evidence for him being able to deal with a multiple HC climbing stage is completing long one day races?

 

[proffate]

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.

MVDP is a better (more well rounded) and more exciting cyclist/racer. You will not get any argument from me. Doesn't change the fact that Remco will likely retire with more PCS points overall as well as per km. The only riders who have more points per km raced than Remco are pog and woot.

 

[FroomeWagon]

I wonder if Remco just rode himself off a $5M contract today. It doesn't appear he is going to fix Ineos' GT woes.

 

[Panda Claws]

Evenepoel just reclaimed his national jersey.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Oh la la, Remco hasn‘t finished yet?

Lost around 20 minutes, is this possible?…

 

[frisenfruitig]

You guys are ridiculous. He had a massive off-day, it happens even to guys like Pogacar. I don't know whether it's illness or just a terrible day but it doesn't suddenly mean he can't do a GC. He's 23 years old and already has won a GT so things could be worse I would say.

 

[HelloDolly]

I wonder if Remco just rode himself off a $5M contract today. It doesn't appear he is going to fix Ineos' GT woes.

Dunno but how much for a rider to win all the classics and the worlds in one year

 

[Oldermanish]

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

This could go as far back as the WC training focus, IMO. His TT in the Vuelta was harder for him than he expected and certainly not the domination many here forecasted. After that stage there haven't been any prolonged hard efforts to open up before this stage. This could be a result of rest day to today staleness.
Realistically, once Remco knew he didn't have climbing legs he resigned himself to a group for the ride to the finish. The added time loss might have been much less had he regrouped and kept going. This is the reality of longer races and the rythm necessary to recover each day.
He'll need to assess and there will be many theories but the finishing contenders were all as expected. Vindegaard showed he is able to climb but at a significant cost and probably did well because they largely had a tow until the last 15km.

 

[Oldermanish]

Oh la la, Remco hasn‘t finished yet?

Lost around 20 minutes, is this possible?…

He's riding gruppetto tempo. More of a loss of will, today.

 

[ManicJack]

Dunno but how much for a rider to win all the classics and the worlds in one year

Please list his wins in "all of the classics".

 

[Panda Claws]

Please list his wins in "all of the classics".

Victories for Remco Evenepoel

Remco Evenepoel has 13 career victories. The biggest victories were Vuelta a España in 2022 and Olympic Games ME - Road Race in 2024.

www.procyclingstats.com

 

[ManicJack]

Victories for Remco Evenepoel

Remco Evenepoel has 13 career victories. The biggest victories were Vuelta a España in 2022 and Olympic Games ME - Road Race in 2024.

www.procyclingstats.com

"All the classics and the world's in one year" were the words used. Thanks for wasting your time.

 

[theyoungest]

You guys are ridiculous. He had a massive off-day, it happens even to guys like Pogacar. I don't know whether it's illness or just a terrible day but it doesn't suddenly mean he can't do a GC. He's 23 years old and already has won a GT so things could be worse I would say.

This is probably the closest to a Tour de France type of mountain stage he's done so far. So this doesn't look very promising for his TDF ambitions.

A bad day can happen, of course, but this is not a bad day. This is a complete collapse.

 

[HelloDolly]

Please list his wins in "all of the classics".

He hasnt done it YET

I think if he concentrated on this he could ..well get near it anyway

 

[Boehmand]

A lot of people jumping to conclusions the last couple of hours in this thread.

We don't know what happened to Evenepoel, or why he had a massive off day.

It MAY be indicative of something, but he may also just have gotten a stomach bug or some similar momentary handicap - we just don't know yet.

However, as Rolf Soerensen often says, "great champions never crash and never get ill"

 

[Red Rick]

You guys are ridiculous. He had a massive off-day, it happens even to guys like Pogacar. I don't know whether it's illness or just a terrible day but it doesn't suddenly mean he can't do a GC. He's 23 years old and already has won a GT so things could be worse I would say.

Pretty sure Pog literally never finished 27 minutes down.

 

[houtdffan]

reminds me of the 2005 giro when Basso lost 45 minutes on the Stelvio stage

 

[Panda Claws]

"All the classics and the world's in one year" were the words used. Thanks for wasting your time.

I provided you the information needed to draw your own conclusions from. I just didn't cut your sandwich for you too.
No matter how you interpreted 'in one year' it is not clear whether it is this (yet unfinished) year, last year or two years ago.

Feel free to filter by season.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

This is probably the closest to a Tour de France type of mountain stage he's done so far. So this doesn't look very promising for his TDF ambitions.

A bad day can happen, of course, but this is not a bad day. This is a complete collapse.

It's worth noting that he was dropped on the first big col. So it's not like we've found out a big mountain stage with multiple passes will be his undoing. Because he collapsed before the stage got super hard. Something was off from the start of the day.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Pretty sure Pog literally never finished 27 minutes down.

He abandoned six one-day races since turning pro but in that time span, he hasn‘t even finished 27 minutes down on GC I think.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

reminds me of the 2005 giro when Basso lost 45 minutes on the Stelvio stage

Or Simon Yates in Giro 2018.

 

[ManicJack]

I provided you the information needed to draw your own conclusions from.

Yes, you did and the conclusion that I drew was that he has come nowhere close to achieving the claim that was made.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm not gonna lie, I had the feeling Evenepoel didn't have it for a while this Vuelta, and I suspected he might get dropped hard today, but I didn't expect him to get shitcanned on the Aubisque already today. It's up to him and his team to figure out why this happened, but at the same time I don't think I ever see the top GT riders get dropped that hard even if they have crashed or whatever

 

[saunaking]

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.

Excellent comparison for his stage racing!!

 

[Andre]

Sad day for cycling today. I'm a big Remco fan all the way. Life, just like cycling, has its valleys and hills. I for one, thought he would contest with the best riders today...I'm often wrong. It is by no means the end of the road as far as GT's for Remco. His fighting spirit, the one that all his followers and media and the country of Belgium adored in him will help Remco find a solution and push forward to many more great victories. I see the trolls and are partying today at the expense of our hero. But that's ok...these trolls and haters became what they are because of the fear they had for Remco's success. They've been poisoned by their own vitriolic hatred only because they really thought and still do, that Remco is one of the most exciting racers to come along in many years. They criticize him for almost anything he does, but you only see that when he is in fact racing at a high level. They like to put him down so they can feel better about their own dull and life which is probably filled with failures in their own personal life. It is human nature for trolls like these to act like that. Pick yourself up Remco! The world can still be yours. There will be many more victories heading your way. You have a solid family, a beautiful wife, and the fire in your soul to bring us and yourself, your fans and followers back to glory. Go Remco Go!!!