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

[Ilmaestro99]

My suspicion is that remco is the type of rider who needs a perfect preparation to reach his goals. A little bit off and he struggles.

For grand tours yes, I agree. Because he doesn't have the natural physique of a GT rider.

I think he can show up to certain big one day races a little bit off and still win.

He is one of the most naturally gifted attacking one day racers of all time and I hope he doesn't sacrifice that for stage racing

 

[Fantastico]

Like Ullrich used to do

Ullrich rode the Giro only two times in his 12-year career. And 2006 he wasn't even allowed to start the Tour, so 2001 is the only time he actually did Giro and Tour after each other.

 

[dobrien]

I hope they choose a full reset. Both mentally and physically he seems to need it.

100% agree with this.

 

[dobrien]

He is one of the most naturally gifted attacking one day racers of all time and I hope he doesn't sacrifice that for stage racing

Yes to this.

 

[Berniece]

i don't want to see remco on a bike (in a race setting) till start of october.
Just reset and build that base. Have a go at UEC and Lombardy and forget about the rest.

I don’t understand why you find UEC more important than WC

 

[P4rthen0n]

If he wants to jump teams this Tour isn't good for his market value. Bora-Rb will be "nah, we have Lipo and Pellizzari for the upcoming years and Finn for the future" and Ineos have an incoming Vauquelin, who can probably still improve a decent amount.

You never know what happens regarding crashes and form, so it doesn't hurt to have 2 leaders.
Also good if you're a big team and want to seriously compete for the win in more than 1 GT/year.

 

[AmRacer]

I don’t understand why you find UEC more important than WC

Less travel
No Pogi
Missing at his palmares

 

[AlpRaid]

100% agree with this.

yup.

turns out he was incredibly lucky last year, managing to "get ready" enough to perform in the TDF. however, he now has a history of rushing back after what have been some major setbacks. I am sure he is also partly to blame because he is very ambitious (and probably also because his first few years everything came so easy).

fwiw, greg Lemond used to say it takes twice the time you are in recovery to get back into shape. that's a generalization of course, but particularly in today's racing where everyone is prepping races/season goals in the tiniest minutia.

 

[ashhutch1997]

i don't want to see remco on a bike (in a race setting) till start of october.
Just reset and build that base. Have a go at UEC and Lombardy and forget about the rest.

I disagree, needs to do a wiggins 2011/12 where he essentially didn't have an off season as he missed so much of the season. He can't afford to have more time off.

 

[dobrien]

yup.

turns out he was incredibly lucky last year, managing to "get ready" enough to perform in the TDF. however, he now has a history of rushing back after what have been some major setbacks. I am sure he is also partly to blame because he is very ambitious (and probably also because his first few years everything came so easy).

fwiw, greg Lemond used to say it takes twice the time you are in recovery to get back into shape. that's a generalization of course, but particularly in today's racing where everyone is prepping races/season goals in the tiniest minutia.

Definitely. Missing prep today just sets a rider back SO far... I know he was really unlucky to get 'car-doored' this year but at some point it stops mattering why, it just matters that it happens. If he wants to keep doing this he needs a couple years with no setbacks.

 

[dobrien]

I disagree, needs to do a wiggins 2011/12 where he essentially didn't have an off season as he missed so much of the season. He can't afford to have more time off.

I hear what you're saying here but you can't squeeze blood from a stone either; if he's empty he's empty and ignoring that bit will only set him back further. Is what it is.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

I disagree, needs to do a wiggins 2011/12 where he essentially didn't have an off season as he missed so much of the season. He can't afford to have more time off.

Off season is October/November

Nothing wrong with taking a break now and doing a slow build to some races at the end of the season. Then worry about what to do in off season

 

[Berniece]

Off season is October/November

Nothing wrong with taking a break now and doing a slow build to some races at the end of the season. Then worry about what to do in off season

Indeed take off two weeks now, more than most would. And start building towards WC/UEC/Lombardia

 

[SHAD0W93]

OK, if you say so. Lets see on how that one goes at the Tour.

Looks like Quickstep is happy they brought Merlier.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

If he wants to jump teams this Tour isn't good for his market value. Bora-Rb will be "nah, we have Lipo and Pellizzari for the upcoming years and Finn for the future" and Ineos have an incoming Vauquelin, who can probably still improve a decent amount.

Joke post?

 

[kingjr]

Inb4 someone from Quick Step says they made Remco lose too much weight.

 

[Red Rick]

Off season is October/November

Nothing wrong with taking a break now and doing a slow build to some races at the end of the season. Then worry about what to do in off season

From what I understand from a podcast with Mathieu Heijboer (Visma head of performance, send him to the ICC for this Tour), is that truly doing nothing off season is only a few weeks now and winter training is also just more high intensity work and intervals than it was back in the old days when winter was zone 2 bs all day long.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Just saw Remco interview. And things sound and look bad.

Shoulder don't work. I would think it be in the midst of recuperating. So nerve damage may be permanent.
Says it does not affect cycling much. Which may be true.. but still not good.

Has no clue why form is as bad as it is, but it is clearly rly bad, cause he could not in truth 'train' after dauphiné.
Any intensity training and legs felt empty.

Still aiming for september. But after listening to that interview he really should not aim for september.
Time to heal as much as possible first and rebuild properly. Else he could jeopardise the future imo.

Mind you it was a quick read, so maybe i read to quickly and some errors seeped in.

 

[Cycling111]

He’s already won a GT.

What a shame about this DNF. What the heck. This isn’t a prep or training thing.

The same GT Kelly and Valverde won, two riders who struggled in the Giro and Tour except for one exceptional year. Valverde finished on the podium in the Tour, but it was an exceptional year.

I think that's the case with Remco. He could have a good Tour, like last year, and he could even win the Giro some year, but I think he'll have more bad years than good in those GT. The level in the Tour is higher.

The Vuelta is different; the mountain stages are generally less hard, and that's evident in the winners' list. There are several riders who weren't the best in GT but still managed to win the Vuelta.

 

[zlev11]

he should reinvent himself as a cobbled classics rider. i always thought that was what he should be. will need to work on positioning though.

 

[Links2003]

I also think the best thing for him would be to rest, to give his body time. But also to do something for his psyche. And then slowly build him up again at some point. Maybe even for the coming year. But that's the problem. If he really wants to transfer, he might feel under pressure to perform even better this year. In order to have a good farewell. But maybe the team will also put pressure on him that they want to see some more success from him. Not easy for him.

 

[KoopaCycling]

If half of remco interview is true today, then i can only conclude that Remco rode the Tour on hope. Only to be smacked in the face by reality & despair. If his training went as bad as claimed, he should have never ridden the tour. A dumb decison on his part. I also feel someone in his entourage needed the courage to pull Remco.

Even now i think Remco needs a reality check. he's talking goals in september when he apparantly could not withstand any intensity training. Get your body in shape, and once you hit those training goals only then check what's left of the calender. Or do what Vingegaard did and shut it down early and start prepping for next year.

If you really want to get some races in, decide on them carefully.

 

[Berniece]

They weren’t able to finish a single training between Dauphine and TDF… Not sure what they expected that would happen during these 3 weeks. His body is completely drained of all energy. They went too hard too quickly and it shoots them in the face once again.

Time to rest. And I wonder if he even needs to peak another time this year. If that’s even feasible.

 

[ppanther92]

His base isn't going to magically manifest itself by then. Season over.

Probably - but there are still one day races to target

 

[Red Rick]

They weren’t able to finish a single training between Dauphine and TDF… Not sure what they expected that would happen during these 3 weeks. His body is completely drained of all energy. They went too hard too quickly and it shoots them in the face once again.

Time to rest. And I wonder if he even needs to peak another time this year. If that’s even feasible.

Well if that's true that's actually a very impressive amount of idiocy and I'm not easily surprised by that in 2025.