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

[Berniece]

Based on what Don Patrick said in his column he must be leaving. Due to that last sentence.

I also read in the Gazzetta dello Sport that Remco has reached an agreement with Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. That might be true, but a transfer requires three parties to agree. No transfer without approval from Soudal Quick-Step. The sponsors would naturally prefer a team with him, but an observation they might also make: our team has won four stages in this Tour, and three times the winner wasn't named Remco Evenepoel.

 

[veganrob]

Particularly a rider who is now ranked 45th (or thereabouts) ALL-TIME at age 25 (and despite many, many injury and illness delays). If he has no further major issues, he will likely be top ten ALL-TIME before he turns 30, if not higher. A really terrible pick-up by Bora for sure. Who the F would want that on your team. Just because he isn’t 2024-25 Pog, he is still the second best all round rider of this generation. lol!

Is he really ranked that high all time? Seems rather high

 

[AmRacer]

Is he really ranked that high all time? Seems rather high

Who is the best rider of alltime?

The ProCyclingStats alltime ranking is led by Eddy Merckx with 3859.8 points, before Sean Kelly (2171.1 points) and Francesco Moser (2129.2 points). Considering the enormous gap between Merckx and Kelly (3859.8) we can conclude that Merckx is the best rider of all time.

www.procyclingstats.com

On this list

 

[Berniece]

Is he really ranked that high all time? Seems rather high

On PCS, but all time rankings are difficult anyway. On our forum’s all time ranking he’s 35th, but that doesn’t go as far back as the one on PCS.

Rough Attempt at an All-Time Ranking

As a child in the late eighties I wondered why cycling, unlike tennis, didn't have a decent world ranking. So I started keeping my own list: 50 points for the Tour winner, 25 points for Paris-Roubaix etc. It was very incomplete, based on the results I found in newspapers. Later, in the late...

forum.cyclingnews.com

 

[peterfin]

Patrick Lefevre: "...Meanwhile, I also read in the Gazzetta dello Sport that Remco has an agreement with Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. That may well be, but for a transfer, three parties need to agree. No transfer without the consent of Soudal Quick-Step. Whether that will happen is no longer my decision. The sponsors naturally prefer a team with him, but a realization they might also have is: our team has won four stages in this Tour, and three times the winner was not Remco Evenepoel."

This is the closest he will ever be at admitting there is a deal so to me that's another signal that it is all over and done apart from maybe details that won't impact the result.

 

[KoopaCycling]

i will say he ends up somewhere between top 10 and Top 25 at this rate.

 

[Ulle97]

If I remember correctly, was Lefevre not trying to obstruct a Remco transfer a couple of seasons ago. Remco recognised that there was very little climbing support for him and looked about moving.

Suddenly Don Patrick started talking about sueing him if he didn't honour the contract??

 

[Berniece]

If I remember correctly, was Lefevre not trying to obstruct a Remco transfer a couple of seasons ago. Remco recognised that there was very little climbing support for him and looked about moving.

Suddenly Don Patrick started talking about sueing him if he didn't honour the contract??

Yeah, a contract is a contract. If SOQ doesn’t want him to leave, he stays.

 

[Charlyghoul]

Particularly a rider who is now ranked 45th (or thereabouts) ALL-TIME at age 25 (and despite many, many injury and illness delays). If he has no further major issues, he will likely be top ten ALL-TIME before he turns 30, if not higher. A really terrible pick-up by Bora for sure. Who the F would want that on your team. Just because he isn’t 2024-25 Pog, he is still the second best all round rider of this generation. lol!

Top ten all time? He’s got a serious amount of work to do.

 

[Charlyghoul]

Times still on his side, but let’s not get carried away, he’s a long way behind even Roglic at this point

 

[Berniece]

Times still on his side, but let’s not get carried away, he’s a long way behind even Roglic at this point

He is 11 years younger…

 

[CyclistAbi]

So today it's about 2 million buyout as i assume the last thing standing in the way. So would SOQ let him go for 2 millions?

 

[Berniece]

So today it's about 2 million buyout as i assume the last thing standing in the way. So would SOQ let him go for 2 millions?

Apparently so

 

[CyclistAbi]

Apparently so

I am rather sceptical. Here likely SOQ is still demanding a bit more, if achieved, then they will agree.

 

[Charlyghoul]

He is 11 years younger…

Like I said, time’s on his side, but also there’s been rather a lot of good cyclists over the years.
Apart from a vuelta he hasn’t won a major stage race, only won one of the monuments, plenty of time but he needs to win a lot in the next 2 or 3 years.
I can’t see him staying at the top level as long as some.

 

[peterfin]

Like I said, time’s on his side, but also there’s been rather a lot of good cyclists over the years.
Apart from a vuelta he hasn’t won a major stage race, only won one of the monuments, plenty of time but he needs to win a lot in the next 2 or 3 years.
I can’t see him staying at the top level as long as some.

Why can't you see him at the top level as long as some others?

 

[Charlyghoul]

Why can't you see him at the top level as long as some others?

A few things, one is, hasn’t he already mentioned early retirement ? Or maybe it was his girlfriend.
Second he needs to really stick to certain objectives, I think he risks burning himself, spreading himself too thin if he tries do well at everything and compete with Pogacar. Maybe we’ve already seen that a little bit.
He does crash a fair bit, maybe not always his fault, but not great for longevity.

I think he’s stuck in an awkward position to be fair to him, in that Pogacar and Vingegaard are not a lot older than him.

As for regards for his all time ranking, well who knows at this point, it could vary massively by the time he retires, but realistically I can see more monuments/classics, another vuelta or two and a giro and worlds time trials, maybe another road race.
Actually he could do a Roglic and become a vuelta specialist, but that’s the problem, he might struggle if he tries to go for the tour each year and then the vuelta.

 

[KoopaCycling]

for soudal it's 2 million buyout + let's say 3,5 million they save on salary. (remco salary - replacement salary)
With the caveat of less exposure.

Soudal roster

- Van wilder/Landa/Vervaeke/paret-peintre for GC
-van lernberghe/merlier for sprints
- magnier/lamperti/eekhoorn for classics

( i'm hesitant to say this, cause it's people their jobs) the rest of the squad are less important imo.

For a Top 8 team that's slim pickings. Maybe that's cause remco is that expensive.

 

[AlpRaid]

for soudal it's 2 million buyout + let's say 3,5 million they save on salary. (remco salary - replacement salary)
With the caveat of less exposure.

Soudal roster

- Van wilder/Landa/Vervaeke/paret-peintre for GC
-van lernberghe/merlier for sprints
- magnier/lamperti/eekhoorn for classics

( i'm hesitant to say this, cause it's people their jobs) the rest of the squad are less important imo.

For a Top 8 team that's slim pickings. Maybe that's cause remco is that expensive.

merlier and magnier could be a lot of wins. might hold them over while they revamp.

 

[Karl Merckx]

A few things, one is, hasn’t he already mentioned early retirement ?

Quite the opposite, he mentioned having at least 10 years ahead of him in his career.

 

[peterfin]

A few things, one is, hasn’t he already mentioned early retirement ? Or maybe it was his girlfriend.
Second he needs to really stick to certain objectives, I think he risks burning himself, spreading himself too thin if he tries do well at everything and compete with Pogacar. Maybe we’ve already seen that a little bit.
He does crash a fair bit, maybe not always his fault, but not great for longevity.

I think he’s stuck in an awkward position to be fair to him, in that Pogacar and Vingegaard are not a lot older than him.

As for regards for his all time ranking, well who knows at this point, it could vary massively by the time he retires, but realistically I can see more monuments/classics, another vuelta or two and a giro and worlds time trials, maybe another road race.
Actually he could do a Roglic and become a vuelta specialist, but that’s the problem, he might struggle if he tries to go for the tour each year and then the vuelta.

I would sign-up for him doing a Roglic, have career that last another 10 years and one TdF victory when all stars allign. I also think his TT speciality is something he should keep focussing on and one day go for that hour record. He has a great career sofar and a great career in front of him. Trying to come closer to Pogacar and Vingegaard is a good thing as long as he sees it as a challenge and not as a 'must' to have a satisfying career. He needs some calmness in his head, some Roglic-level "zen". If he can do this, let things go and just focus on maximizing what he has under control, he can be better than ever before.

 

[KoopaCycling]

I would sign-up for him doing a Roglic, have career that last another 10 years and one TdF victory when all stars allign. I also think his TT speciality is something he should keep focussing on and one day go for that hour record. He has a great career sofar and a great career in front of him. Trying to come closer to Pogacar and Vingegaard is a good thing as long as he sees it as a challenge and not as a 'must' to have a satisfying career. He needs some calmness in his head, some Roglic-level "zen". If he can do this, let things go and just focus on maximizing what he has under control, he can be better than ever before.

Not sure if Remco can beat the 1 hour record. And if he does, it's only cause Ganna was not in his best shape when he set it. I think a big guy around 1.85+ cm is better suited for the 1 hour record.

 

[Berniece]

Like I said, time’s on his side, but also there’s been rather a lot of good cyclists over the years.
Apart from a vuelta he hasn’t won a major stage race, only won one of the monuments, plenty of time but he needs to win a lot in the next 2 or 3 years.
I can’t see him staying at the top level as long as some.

Only one of the monuments… how many different riders have won the last 8?

 

[AmRacer]

Only one of the monuments… how many different riders have won the last 8?

How many different riders have won a monument?

 

[peterfin]

Not sure if Remco can beat the 1 hour record. And if he does, it's only cause Ganna was not in his best shape when he set it. I think a big guy around 1.85+ cm is better suited for the 1 hour record.

With aerodynamic drag his main enemy he is well suited to attack the record, even with a smaller engine.