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

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M

Medvind

Jun 27, 2024
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Maybe we should criticize Remco some, but to be honest we should have known this could happen. It was probably wrong to hype him up as much as some of us did. He "baited" us to do so with his solid performances in BP and AGR.

We know that a fully prepared Remco perfomes better than this, he wasn't even close to the level in 2022 and 2023. And to be fair to Remco he has hinted that a setback was possible given that his build up has been limited due to injury.

Pog won in a dominating fashion without even going really deep. Remco must actually show he can threaten Pog in a monument before we can talk him up as a serious threat to Pog.
 
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Berniece

Berniece

Sep 12, 2022
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James M said:
How people talk up he was gonne beat Pogacar or even follow him on the climbs to the finish is to funny even tho Pogacar isnt at his best it just is sorry, objectively how on earth can you expect him too do that? Based on what from a objective standpoint makes you think he ever could do that?
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Because we thought his level would improve after AGR. You are acting as if people would say he will win the TDF
 
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James M

James M

Jun 17, 2024
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Medvind said:
Maybe we should criticize Remco some, but to be honest we should have known this could happen. It was probably wrong to hype him up as much as some of us did. He "baited" us to do so with his solid performances in BP and AGR.

We know that a fully prepared Remco perfomes better than this, he wasn't even close to the level in 2022 and 2023. And to be fair to Remco he has hinted that a setback was possible given that his build up has been limited due to injury.

Pog won in a dominating fashion without even going really deep. Remco must actually show he can threaten Pog in a monument before we can talk him up as a serious threat to Pog.
Click to expand...
Again, I don’t mean to come across as critical of him—more so, I’m surprised by the expectations from some people beforehand, thats all. AGR was always an anomaly, if not for the obvious PR factor, headwind on the flats in a 2 vs. 1 situation, then the sheer dip in numbers from Pog’s perspective. It was always an anomaly—it’s not like it happened on the climbs anyway, where the true test comes in Liege at the end, and everyone knew that in advance cmon. Then comes Fleche, where he wins with the biggest margin ever, even while sitting up for the last 10 seconds. Even if he’s on a downturn, which he is—the expectations are out of control, which is the only thing I don’t understand. Pog’s numbers since 2024 across every metric have been off the charts, even more now. It’s extreme to expect Remco to follow him on Pog’s terrain. MvdP is lucky he doesn’t have to, but Remco doesn’t share that same luck.

To me, he’s shown balls, he showed up. Also honestly, if you had asked me before he started his season at Brabantse Pijl, I would have said he performed way above my expectations in every race, considering the circumstances. Every race except Liege, where, again I would be surprised if he would be within 30-40 sec of Pog which I said and he performed under my expectations but I won’t fault him—he was clearly fatigued from the previous races, which can happen. Like Remco said prior to the race he was impressed how good numbers he had now and if youd asked him that 3-4 months ago he would be thrilled, no reason to feel bad imo.
 
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Y

yaco

Jun 20, 2015
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Berniece said:
Because we thought his level would improve after AGR. You are acting as if people would say he will win the TDF
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I didn't think his level would improve after AGR because he started his season late and he is trying to fit 4 high quality races in a ten day block. it will be interesting to see how he performs in Romandie.
 
O

Oldman

Jun 19, 2009
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Medvind said:
Maybe we should criticize Remco some, but to be honest we should have known this could happen. It was probably wrong to hype him up as much as some of us did. He "baited" us to do so with his solid performances in BP and AGR.

We know that a fully prepared Remco perfomes better than this, he wasn't even close to the level in 2022 and 2023. And to be fair to Remco he has hinted that a setback was possible given that his build up has been limited due to injury.

Pog won in a dominating fashion without even going really deep. Remco must actually show he can threaten Pog in a monument before we can talk him up as a serious threat to Pog.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure you can gauge Pogacar's level of fatigue but he definitely is on his own plan. No more races until the Dauphine while Remco needs to keep working on his own terms. Today should have confirmed that to him and his training analysts. No need to f*ck up a good comeback with pressure.
 
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H

HashRouge

Apr 21, 2025
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Does anyone know if Remco has given any interviews about today? I'm just interested whether he was out of position on purpose coming into La Redoute (i.e. because he didn't feel great) or if it was simply bad positioning, which then cost him a lot of energy. I feel like it's not the first time he's missed a Pogacar attack because he's been in a poor position.
 
U

Unchained

Sep 5, 2016
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Oldman said:
More racing miles. After today it's clear he needs some work if he intends to finish the Tour.
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Certainly deep sadness that Remco's circle allowed him to drink the Kool-Aid!!
He needed to have realistic and measured expectations based on racing realities not some storybook comeback BS about meditation and media hype. He needs volume and race days, just like he always did, like everyone does with and without injuries.
Allowing Remco to buy into he could just will himself in top form was, is, a stupid strategy.
Guy is a generational talent, could stop racing tomorrow and his accomplishments are astounding! Now someone lets him get hit in the face of a big bucket of publicly realized humility as he got dropped from elite where he raced for a couple of days. He will return, he will be great and win again, his handlers, including his father need to discourage him from riding an emotional crushing rollercoaster on purpose. The person that can learn the most from this disaster is Vingegaard..be realistic about where you fit in as you comeback from injuries. Mental and physical.. Anyone telling these 2 great racers that they can trade blows with heavyweight champion Pogacar on their first days back after injury layoff are idiots.
 
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Extinction

Extinction

Jan 8, 2020
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Unchained said:
Certainly deep sadness that Remco's circle allowed him to drink the Kool-Aid!!
He needed to have realistic and measured expectations based on racing realities not some storybook comeback BS about meditation and media hype. He needs volume and race days, just like he always did, like everyone does with and without injuries.
Allowing Remco to buy into he could just will himself in top form was, is, a stupid strategy.
Guy is a generational talent, could stop racing tomorrow and his accomplishments are astounding! Now someone lets him get hit in the face of a big bucket of publicly realized humility as he got dropped from elite where he raced for a couple of days. He will return, he will be great and win again, his handlers, including his father need to discourage him from riding an emotional crushing rollercoaster on purpose. The person that can learn the most from this disaster is Vingegaard..be realistic about where you fit in as you comeback from injuries. Mental and physical.. Anyone telling these 2 great racers that they can trade blows with heavyweight champion Pogacar on their first days back after injury layoff are idiots.
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He had to do these races, but what it does to his head is anyone's guess.
 
C

CyclistAbi

May 29, 2019
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AmRacer said:
If Remco doesn't have his climbing legs and weight, what's the point going to Romandie?
Besides testing his TT.
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Stager 4 likely to decide if Remco to be overall winner or not, testing his ability to at least hang on. So the main idea likely is to do a benchmark, build some form and preferably to win overall. From some prestige point of view Remco vs João will be an interesting rivalry considering their past.
 
J

jmdirt

Dec 6, 2013
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Salvarani said:
I dont know what to make of it today, since he barely contested it.
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There was a 90+% chance that today would go exactly like it did.
Injury
Recovery from injury
Base
Training
Racing (better than expected)
His body rebelling against the physiological shock of the first races

Anyone betting on his form getting better for today was gambling on terrible odds.
 
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S

Salvarani

Oct 15, 2017
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jmdirt said:
There was a 90+% chance that today would go exactly like it did.
Injury
Recovery from injury
Base
Training
Racing (better than expected)
His body rebelling against the physiological shock of the first races

Anyone betting on his form getting better for today was gambling on terrible odds.
Click to expand...
I am not sure any of those are the cause yet though. Has he said anything after the race?

I want to see how he goes in Romandie.

For the most part of the race he was at the front. He went missing on the way to Redoute. There was a big fight for position. Did that make him uneasy in any way?

He still climbed Redoute alright. Had he been better positioned he would have surely been with Ciccone, Healy, Pidcock and Ala at minimum going over the top.

He was active shortly after and bridged a gap to a group in between him and the others. That became a small peloton.

I just dont know what really happened.
 
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Netserk

Netserk

Apr 30, 2011
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Salvarani said:
I am not sure any of those are the cause yet though. Has he said anything after the race?

I want to see how he goes in Romandie.

For the most part of the race he was at the front. He went missing on the way to Redoute. There was a big fight for position. Did that make him uneasy in any way?

He still climbed Redoute alright. Had he been better positioned he would have surely been with Ciccone, Healy, Pidcock and Ala at minimum going over the top.

He was active shortly after and bridged a gap to a group in between him and the others. That became a small peloton.

I just dont know what really happened.
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It makes sense for the Gulperberg crash to have been in a fight for position and that to affect him today.
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

Feb 20, 2012
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I'd be very surprised if he's in the mix for the win in Romandie. Thyon should be a much bigger problem for him than the Liege parcours, and the TTs in Romandie are super technical as well, so I doubt he takes that much time to begin with.
 
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Lequack

Lequack

Jul 10, 2014
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Medvind said:
This is the thing with Remco and which in some sense makes it interesting to follow him. He is a bit up and down, humanlike in an era with aliens. He has some success, gets cocky and fans and media get hybris, and then there is a setback and we get our doubts about him.

He will fight back, as usual. :)
Click to expand...

The Belgian Fabio Aru.
 
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