IMO, he openly discusses things that may be messing with his performance, but honesty is rewarded with "he's just making excuses". The crash effected him. If his allergies are affecting his breathing, then that is effecting him. Not excuses, just facts.
That is why i said wait and see. solid performance and hope remains.
I’m happy he’s just transparent and says what he thinks. What others think of it doesn’t matter. I just take it at face value
No he isn't. There are other better climbers in the peloton, who just happen to be doms in other teams. He's lucky he has an ITT to keep him at the pointy end of races.
Who? Because purely based on results and whatever internet people calculate w/kg he’s doing better.
Well Lipowitz was a better climber in this race than Remco. If Remco is supposedly the 3rd best, he should be dispatching of Lipo easily. The Yates bro's, Kuss, Bernal, Roglic, Skyelmose, Dani Martinez, Caruso, even on his day WVA is a better climber. On his day, Remco can be the best unfortunately he's too inconsistent.
What kind of logic is that? In that case Jan Christen is a better climber than Vingegaard after Volta oa Algarve
He complained about it last year as well.
If he had a full on immune response like you described (sorry you deal with that every year) he would have been in the grupetto. Based on what we saw and heard, he was dealing with upper reparatory congestion, which in an oxygen sport is tough.
That, or select race locations that don't have pollen that his body reacts to. For example would TdS be better prep than CdD?
I think Evenepoel's ceiling is higher than Roglic's. And in most situations his floor is a lot higher than Roglic's as well. Except for climbing. Here for Evenepoel everything needs to be exactly right. Your statement is true regarding climbing. Roglic can be hit by a bulldozer and still be close to his top. Evenepoel needs to have his weight down, not get cold, not get hot, not fall off his bike at 5 kmh and then imho he drops Roglic. The problem is that it seems near impossible for him to get things just right.
Everything I wrote was in the context of climbing and, by extension, GC performance. What is your evidence that Remco has a higher climbing and GC ceiling and floor than Roglic?
That’s his biggest impediment for grand tours that he needs the Goldilocks and the three bears thing of being just right. Anything other than perfect condition, no crashes or illness/allergy issues and his level drops far more than any other top rider.
That his floor is higher was in regards to him being an all-rounder who can win races against a good field when he is not close to peak shape let alone weight. Like coming back from injury and beating Van Aert in a sprint. Or going to Figuera looking like a ball of lard and soloing to the finish after placing one attack. I wasn't talking about him as a climber. There it is very much the opposite.
I think I agree with that. He would most likely be worse. But severity and onset vary from year to year and season to season. The pattern is erratic as weather and geographical location play a huge role. In a spring with loads of rain the onset is more gradual. Conversely plenty of sun, heat and wind will lead to a quick peak. I was in south of France 2 weeks ago and my symptoms were 10x worse. Back in Netherlands they are less. Only constant is time of year. I.e. now, in Europe. For Remco he might do okay 1 year and be worse the next year. There is treatment but most of it is management of symptoms and some treatments have undesirable side effects such as feeling lethargic. Then there is immunotherapy which addresses the cause. It's aimed at desensitising the immune system. It's a 3-5 year therapy of daily treatment. Quite a chore but with good results. I myself am doing that now for my 1st year and have noticed the sharp edges removed. Still need to wait it out and see if in a few years I will be symptom-free. I feel my competitive racing is really hampered by allergies. I just cannot sustain the watts. I hope Remco finds a way to beat it. For grand tour racing to be interesting we need several contenders.
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