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

[jmdirt]

Remco is a structural challenge. He's got a broad upper body that will only shed so much muscle without being injury compromised. Looking at most GT guys they look like their skeletal system was somehow replaced with child-width bones. They also break like glass when they hit the pavement. You clearly have the gift of metabolism that will modulate like that.

There might be something genetic about it, but with the exception of my father who ran, hiked, and lifted weights until a few months before he died, everyone on both sides of my family are considerably heavier (more body fat) people than me (and even dad was 175-180 pounds most of his adult life). Like you said, maybe my metabolism is able to respond, but my activity level and nutrition certainly plays a part in that as well.

I'm really unimportant to my point that I think that RE CAN be at a 'good' GT weight if he really wants to.

 

[KoopaCycling]

good GT weight is the weight in which Remco performs best.
Up to him and the team around him to discover his optimal weight.
They need to work it out sooner rather than later though.

 

[Oldman]

good GT weight is the weight in which Remco performs best.
Up to him and the team around him to discover his optimal weight.
They need to work it out sooner rather than later though.

That's a point in favor of changing the team around him. He's been handled like the hero Belgians hope him to be rather than the athlete he has the potential to be, IMO. An honest analysis from both a cycling and commercial/promotion point of view may come to a conclusion that doesn't prioritize the GC in a GT. He can be a very successful hybrid of MVP and maybe win one, too.
He has to be brutally honest on what his expectations can actually be. That said; he might need to keep those conclusions and ambitions under wraps until he is deep into whatever training adjustments that will get him to where he wants to be. I mean, most of the time he seems fairly happy and adjusted in spite of injuries.