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

[Berniece]

I do think Rick meant not just absolute numbers (which vary due to other things we cant mention) but his relative performance vs the rest of the competition which was dominant and quite consistent. I think he can get better but there was never a stage when I thought: "he lost minutes here due to shallow base"

The last ITT was a bit of a red flag though. He lost time between every timestop except the last one. While in the first ITT he only lost time during the downhill section.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

The last ITT was a bit of a red flag though. He lost time between every timestop except the last one. While in the first ITT he only lost time during the downhill section.

He lost the most time in the downhill also in the 2nd TT. So him not doing extensive recons this year either seems like a genius decision.

I do think Rick meant not just absolute numbers (which vary due to other things we cant mention) but his relative performance vs the rest of the competition which was dominant and quite consistent. I think he can get better but there was never a stage when I thought: "he lost minutes here due to shallow base"

Then what is even the point of his argument? IIRC he has made similar claims before regarding this topic. It sure looks like he is saying that Evenepoel would not have been performing better had he had a better preperation (without crashing, without rehab, without sudden weight increase (due to not training) and crash course weight drop between Dauphiné and TDF, while simply continuing the planned training/preparation). If he means Evenepoel might not have been able to get a better result (2nd or 1st) then i don't think anybody has made that claim, other than "we don't know how much better he might have been".

 

[Red Rick]

The last ITT was a bit of a red flag though. He lost time between every timestop except the last one. While in the first ITT he only lost time during the downhill section.

Well there's 0 surprise there considering the final split was the only flat section and the others where all either uphill, downhill or both.

 

[Oldman]

We were talking about last year (2024). That his preparation for TDF was ***, which showed in 2 ways:
1. His performance in Dauphine where he was beaten by riders he should easily beat
2. His performance in 3rd week of the TDF, which showed his base was lower and he wasn't able to perform as well as in the first two weeks of the TDF. You saw the same with Vingegaard. The amount of effort accumulated over all those days was too much for them, which resulted in weaker performances later in the Tour. Because their prep wasn't as it should be, too rushed.

And this year appears to be a repeat of rushing to race before form is deep enough.

 

[Berniece]

Well there's 0 surprise there considering the final split was the only flat section and the others where all either uphill, downhill or both.

Then why didn’t he lose time uphill in the first ITT?

 

[KoopaCycling]

Strange to say but i can't say that Remco performing less good in the third of last year TdF is truly cause of lack of prep.
There is just not enought data imo to say that .We do know Remco tends to be strong early on after training. The fact that we still don't have enough data is strange considering his age. But Every GT has it's tale. Same for the 1 week stage races which some people seem to knock him for (despite valid reasons for most failures), for not having won one yet (as mentioned in a previous post).

-First Giro, came back to soon after crash, and crashed several times in the giro as well.
-First vuelta first proper GT but crashed midway and performed less in the 2nd week. Bounced back in the third week, but no longer had to face Roglic which probably removed some stress.
- 2nd Giro left early due to covid.
- 2nd Vuelta, had a complete offday in week 2 (i think it was), then went for the polka dots.
- First Tour, had to rush back after crash. Performed better than expected early on. He and Vingegaard could not keep up with Pogacar the more the tour progressed. But not sure it's cause of proper base or cause Pogacar is just that dude.

So really I still have no clue after all these years how good evenepoel can truly be in a GT. proper foundation and no crashing/illness during the GT. Closest we got was the Tour, and he performed well there. Probably his best GT performance to date. We say he should be more prepared for this year Tour. But even though the time was more limited last year, i would say this year crash and consequence are far more severe. What we saw so far is reason for hope (for a strong performance).

 

[Red Rick]

Then why didn’t he lose time uphill in the first ITT?

Because it was less uphill than in the Nice ITT. 6km section, only 1.5 km of which reasonably steep, and 40 kph average for that section. In Nice the uphill section was 33 kph average, the 2nd section was 40 kph average but included a downhill and a much steeper bit of climbing.

It's also an ITT after 2 mountain stages.

 

[peterfin]

Remco Evenepoel versus Tadej Pogačar

Head to head career results between Remco Evenepoel and Tadej PogaÄar. The overal score is 37.2% for Remco Evenepoel versus 62.8% for Tadej PogaÄar. A comparison on same race results, time trial points and the points per age.

www.procyclingstats.com

Interesting how both have a similar PCS points per age graph. The three dips correspond with Evenepoel's injuries and his bridge dive had a serious impact. The last (minor) dip in Pogacar's result corresponds to his wrist injury. However, I cannot see Remco following Pogacar's steep rise the coming months. It can't happen anyway without Pogacar coming down.

 

[Berniece]

It's also an ITT after 2 mountain stages.

Indeed, in the third week. Which would explain a worse performance since his preparation was rushed.