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

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Remember this is Evenepoel even after he's had media training drilled into him by daddy pat.

Well, i have no issues with the first part of his statement, that sometimes balls are needed to race. He could have left it there and the rest would have been implied. No need to actually call out Vingegaard specifically, but i'll be honest, i did laugh.

 

[hfer07]

Remco doesn't seem to visualize the long game that Jonas & Visma are playing, and how good they're at executing it....

 

[snipeheem]

Remco doesn't seem to visualize the long game that Jonas & Visma are playing, and how good they're at executing it....

What kind of game xd Pogi will break jonas in week 3.. no way with prep like jonas had he will be able to survive

 

[scribers]

Remco and pogi are team Mean Girls

 

[jmdirt]

RE is the first interview so I'll put it in his thread:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhD7SfiJxxM

 

[saunaking]

I love Remco but he is racing like Pog's useful idiot trying to distance Vingo while Pog smiles
Then Pog will annihilate Remco in the big mountains anyway

 

[saunaking]

What kind of game xd Pogi will break jonas in week 3.. no way with prep like jonas had he will be able to survive

You are probably right, but either way it is the only option since it has maybe a 20% chance of success, far more than anything else they can do. Jumbo is smart, we don't know if they will be strong enough

 

[Berniece]

I love Remco but he is racing like Pog's useful idiot trying to distance Vingo while Pog smiles
Then Pog will annihilate Remco in the big mountains anyway

Because he wants to distance Vingegaard too…

 

[Miha81]

I love Remco but he is racing like Pog's useful idiot trying to distance Vingo while Pog smiles
Then Pog will annihilate Remco in the big mountains anyway

If he wants to win it all this is his only way. Get rid of Rog and Vinge then hope that Pogi feels the Giro in the legs.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

I love Remco but he is racing like Pog's useful idiot trying to distance Vingo while Pog smiles
Then Pog will annihilate Remco in the big mountains anyway

Pogi is an underrated manipulator. He got Roglic to big brother him to victory in the 2020 Tour, has gotten MvDP to gang up on Wout, now cozied up to Remco and set him against his arch rival, Vingegaard…

 

[Peter von]

Because he wants to distance Vingegaard too…

That does seem like a good way to finish ahead of at least one of Pogi and Vingo in the GC.

 

[ontheroad]

Nobody can accuse Remco of not having balls anyway. A rider speaking his mind rather than the wooden PR conscious stuff we mostly hear should be celebrated and not criticised.

Having said that, Vingegaard done what he had to do and what was ultimately best for him in order to stay in the race for yellow.

 

[shadowrider]

Why would ving cooperate? He is not racing to secure third place against Rodriguez. Remco is probably the only one of the top 4 who would consider third place at this race an accomplishment. I even think that if you're in second and trying to crack the nut that is Pog, you may want more riders close in GC so Pog has to respond to more attacks, and perhaps eventually leave himself open to a final coup by you.

Even if they cooperated for 50km, at some point one of those guys is going to start conserving matches. That is the nature of competition. And as soon as someone starts pulling their punches, the others sit up as well. Then it's all back together and a big waste of energy.

As we saw, the GC group eventually realized that racing was pointless and just sat up. A GT is as much about saving energy, or forcing your opponents to waste energy, as it is about using energy. On this day we saw that Remco wasted energy on the gravel just sitting in the bunch as compared to Pog and Ving. Therefore Pog and Ving should want to just sit in the pack, perhaps using doms to keep the pace high, and apply their superior handling/energy conservation skills while whittling away at Remco's reserves.

Ving is also banking on riding his way into form in this tour, so every day in week 1 that he doesn't lose time is a victory. No need to dip into the red till later in the race. As a biased fan, I don't love it, but today was smart riding and a good outcome for Ving.

Well, what you don't realize is that almost nobody would have chased. Of course not UAE and VLAB. Not Landa, Not Roglic and his teammates because they were cooked. Maybe INEOS for a while. But after a while, not being helped by other teams, they would have stopped their efforts. Also, INEOS didn't make impression. So, even not riding full gaz in the final, Pogacar, Evenepoel and Vingegaard would have kept 1 to 2 minutes at the finish.
If Vingegaard will prove being the strongest during the last mountainstages (what would be medically a miracle and almost unbelievable), then he made the right decision during the gravel stage by not riding. If not, it will turn out to have been a big mistake. He and his team give the impression he only wants to go for the win at the end of the Tour. So, what will Vingegaard do if it turns out that Pogacar, and maybe even Evenepoel, Rodriguez, Roglic turn out to be stronger at the end. Will he then leave the Tour?

 

[Venge 82]

I must admit that at first I shouted " coward dog" at my screen when Vingegaard did not take over. But, once reason sunk in, I could understand Vingegaard. Analysts suggested several theories that could explain VLAB and Vingegaard's behaviour.

• Scared of falling alone and then being unfortunate (puncture, fall,...)
• Fear of being ridden into the loss by a stronger Pogacar
• Not wanting to go for podium, but only for first place
• Not considering Remco as an opponent, but only Pogacar (need to find out if this is the right tactic)
• Not wasting energy and putting everything on last week

Even though I am not a fan of super reasoned riding, I do understand Vingegaard. Winning a tour is not only done with your legs, but also with your brains. We have to give Vingegaard credit for riding at this level after his serious injuries. That alone is admirable.

I hope Remco didn't waste too much energy, because as Logic pointed out, he loses a lot of time due to poor cornering and positioning, and all those little bits potentially cost more energy than that one attack at +/- 76km from the finish. Fantastic to see the little one from Schepdaal give colour to this TdF and I really hope his shape goes up towards the third week. It will be needed.

 

[Elos Anjos]

Just to say I'm delighted to see how Remco is riding this Tour. He's in great form. Some posters @Extinction, @Berniece, @Logic-is-your-friend, @shadowrider hold me as a hater. For all I care I was and still am skeptic about him faring in multi mountain stages, but I would love to be proved wrong.

 

[shadowrider]

loooool so now you are claiming his GT weight is 61-61.5kg after you have been claiming for months that was not feasible for him due to his Indurain metabolism, so you are now agreeing with me that THAT should indeed be the standard for his GT weight. Glad you finally saw the light my man, and glad you finally low key acknowledged you have been talking out of your ass all along!

In Valencia, he was clearly overweight (for a pro athlete). But you seem to have forgotten Valencia started on the 2nd of february, only a month after new year and he simply carried his winter/off-season weight to the first race. Still think i'm "lying"? Yeah, 68.5kg.

Hey Shadowrider, remember this below? You seem to be an expert on his weight, right?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1807443210601410994

View: https://x.com/LeGruppetto/status/1807443210601410994

You've been calling me a liar, but the facts are here for everyone to see. Now, i won't call you a liar, i 'll simply call you a quack.

Of course, those very many extra kilos was extremely ironic. Not understanding that..... ?

So, again. I always wrote Evenepoel had problems with his weight (far more than Vingegaard and more than Pogacar, other climbers and allround GC-riders). But NOT because himself and his staff didn't act professionally. But because of his built and metabolism. Which was confirmed by the team's nutritionist. So, unless you are a world class nutritionist or a scientist, you have nothing to write about that. In addition, you insulted and mocked the nutritionist, the trainer and the supervisors at the altitude training camp at Evenepoel. How do you describe such a person?
I always wrote that Evenepoel was already good (but not good enough as it should be) and still overweighted at the start of the Dauphiné. Not because he wasn't well prepared, but because of his nasty crash with different broken bones, surgery, recovery and not training (with gaining a little bit weight due to his morphology and metabolism). Already not being GT-sharp at the start of Iztulia (while preparing Liège, so having 2 kg extra). So your reactions and arguments continue to make no sense.

Evenepoel is doing better than a lot of "specialists" and yourself expected, also based on his initial overweight and his rapid and pronounced weight loss. He may still fade during the next mountain stages (something that can also happen to Vingegaard and even Pogacar), but there is no doubt that Evenepoel was well prepared. Which also offers good prospects for his participation in the next TDF, when he will be even stronger and more experienced.

 

[shadowrider]

Just to say I'm delighted to see how Remco is riding this Tour. He's in great form. Some posters @Extinction, @Berniece, @Logic-is-your-friend, @shadowrider hold me as a hater. For all I care I was and still am skeptic about him faring in multi mountain stages, but I would love to be proved wrong.

Well, I have the same feelings about Almeida. I always respected/respects him as a very strong rider. But who falls just a little short against the very best and not winning (enough). During this Tour, he is probably the strongest UAE-rider behind Pogacar. My point was always Almeida should have stayed one or two years longer in the team of Lefevere, and then become leader in a solid, but not top team. I'm afraid he's wasting his best years as a domestique for Pogacar (Adam Yates, Ayuso).... He should't. Especially after we have seen the ambiguous attitude from Ayuso. So, I hope he will make the right choice after his contract expires (or even before).

 

[danielovichdk2]

Can't wait to see Remco go down with his balls of racing. Complete idiot.

 

[Berflamand]

Very good first week but there's still room for improvement in terms of his cornering/descending/technique.

I think he and the team haven't really addressed this so far because it's also not terrible and his power and talent alone were/are enough to compete for the win in all other races. But when you're up against the best of the best in the biggest race in the world, being only 'average' at a certain aspect of cycling will show and will cost you time and energy that you can't afford to lose.

So far it has cost him time in the TT and the Galibier stage and it definitely cost him (more) energy yesterday in the gravel stage.

I hope the team finally realises this and works on it to make him a completer GT-contender. I feel like if he was on a team like Visma-LAB this would already have been addressed a long time ago.

 

[James M]

Because he wants to distance Vingegaard too…

He is racing to win and people should never be negative to Remco for racing with panache and hearth. Remco is the second strongest in the race so far for a reason and even more so from the eye test if you ask me. He having and racing with guts and panache is not a bad thing. Please never change,

 

[Venge 82]

I truly believe he was talking about his own attack, not about Vingegaard.
"Mijn aanval was op instinct. Soms moet je eens koersen met 'big balls', zoals Tom Boonen ooit gezegd heeft."

Later in the interview he says he was a bit frustrated that Vingegaard didn't want to race, but that he accepts and understands race tactics.

Some press and Remco haters: Remco says Vingegaard has no balls...

 

[Netserk]

I truly believe he was talking about his own attack, not about Vingegaard.
"Mijn aanval was op instinct. Soms moet je eens koersen met 'big balls', zoals Tom Boonen ooit gezegd heeft."

Later in the interview he says he was a bit frustrated that Vingegaard didn't want to race, but that he accepts and understands race tactics.

Some press and Remco haters: Remco says Vingegaard has no balls...

It's a direct quote from an interview with Danish TV in English.

 

[shadowrider]

Do you think insults are valid when they strike a nerve?

Insults ? Which insults ? Please prove your point or apologize.
Evenepoel and even more Pogacar simply noted that Vingegaard did not want to cooperate in an attack. And they regretted that, just like many observers and neutral cycling enthusiasts. Which you are not. Insults...... ? Unbelievable.
So, one can only hope Vingegaard will end up in the same situation. Evenepoel (or who knows Pogacar) not willing to help Vingegaard when they realize they can't win the Tour anymore. But maybe able to let Vingegaard lose the Tour.

 

[shadowrider]

I truly believe he was talking about his own attack, not about Vingegaard.
"Mijn aanval was op instinct. Soms moet je eens koersen met 'big balls', zoals Tom Boonen ooit gezegd heeft."

Later in the interview he says he was a bit frustrated that Vingegaard didn't want to race, but that he accepts and understands race tactics.

Some press and Remco haters: Remco says Vingegaard has no balls...

Indeed. I have already read a lot of untruths and even lies on internet about the reaction of Evenepoel. Also on this forum. The bad thing is that those persons never apologize when proven wrong or when unmasked. They just start again later or in another topic.

 

[Miha81]

I truly believe he was talking about his own attack, not about Vingegaard.
"Mijn aanval was op instinct. Soms moet je eens koersen met 'big balls', zoals Tom Boonen ooit gezegd heeft."

Later in the interview he says he was a bit frustrated that Vingegaard didn't want to race, but that he accepts and understands race tactics.

Some press and Remco haters: Remco says Vingegaard has no balls...

This is an interview everybody is talking about...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhD7SfiJxxM