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

[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.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Maybe, but a big man pushing big watts seems the most direct way to obtain the hour record
It's not like Ganna ain't somewhat aero. But it's true remco is really aero and has a more than decent engine.
Could be interesting. I still think Ganna holds the advantage there despite remco aero. However remco though not a track cyclist is not entirely unfamiliar with the track. as evidenced in one of his youtube videos.

All in all, Ganna power coupled with his cda has the upper hand for me in the one hour record.
Still i can't say remco can't do it. Betting against Remco in a tt is hard to do, even if my gut feeling tells me otherwise.
Ganna did not look super impressive from what i remember during his attempt. Like he was not at his very best. So i don't think it's an unbeatable record either.

 

[peterfin]

Maybe, but a big man pushing big watts seems the most direct way to obtain the hour record
It's not like Ganna ain't somewhat aero. But it's true remco is really aero and has a more than decent engine.
Could be interesting. I still think Ganna holds the advantage there despite remco aero. However remco though not a track cyclist is not entirely unfamiliar with the track. as evidenced in one of his youtube videos.

All in all, Ganna power coupled with his cda has the upper hand for me in the one hour record.
Still i can't say remco can't do it. Betting against Remco in a tt is hard to do, even if my gut feeling tells me otherwise.
Ganna did not look super impressive from what i remember during his attempt. Like he was not at his very best. So i don't think it's an unbeatable record either.

I also think Ganna can do better and beat the 57 km/h mark. However, Evenepoel's aero advantage will shine at the speeds on the track which are a few km/h faster than the typical flat TT. He has shown to increase the gap with Ganna in a headwind, so when the relative speed of the biker versus the air is also higher. The 2023 giro TT is an example. I think 57.5 km/h is feasible for him.

 

[Red Rick]

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

2.

Which goes to show that even though Evenepoel has won 5 major one day races, it's not a given that he'll keep winning them at the same rate he's done previously, and if anything it's likely to go down rather than up. He has yet to prove he can hang with Pogacar in a Liege/Lombardia style race, and he hasn't even attempted the others.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Which goes to show that even though Evenepoel has won 5 major one day races,

Olympics, Worlds and Liege x2. Which is the 5th?

 

[Peyroteo94]

Olympics, Worlds and Liege x2. Which is the 5th?

Figueira Champions Classic

 

[Tim Cahill]

Will he be riding Classica San Remco next week?

Landismo may also be there.

 

[peterfin]

Will he be riding Classica San Remco next week?

Landismo may also be there.

He won't.

 

[Charlyghoul]

Reckon he has a much better chance of the hour than the tour, at least for the moment. I think he could/probaly would beat Ganna’s records on the track if he went for it

 

[Charlyghoul]

I don’t deny he is very talented and a beast on the tt , only think he’s not quite got the mountain credentials for the tour that’s all, also maybe not the smartest or most tactical of riders but that can be improved with age sometimes. This is why I like riders like Nibali or Gimondi maybe not quite the supreme athlete of their rivals but clever enough to compete by being smart.

 

[Charlyghoul]

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

My point is it’s much too early to be talking about him as top ten of all time, so much can happen either way.
At the moment he’s much below Pogacar, Froome, Roglic and maybe Vingegaard of current riders, still well off guys like Contador, Nibali, Boonen and Cancellera of recent riders.
If* all the right things happen for him I think top 25-30 will be right for him but who knows

 

[Sandisfan]

I think Remco has the Aero, engine but as far as I know he hasn't ridden competitively on the track and with banking, so it would be a hurdle he would have to practice at and he might not be able to adapt to those conditions.

 

[Berniece]

My point is it’s much too early to be talking about him as top ten of all time, so much can happen either way.
At the moment he’s much below Pogacar, Froome, Roglic and maybe Vingegaard of current riders, still well off guys like Contador, Nibali, Boonen and Cancellera of recent riders.
If* all the right things happen for him I think top 25-30 will be right for him but who knows

Anything can always happen to anyone. That goes for every rider

 

[KoopaCycling]

I think Remco has the Aero, engine but as far as I know he hasn't ridden competitively on the track and with banking, so it would be a hurdle he would have to practice at and he might not be able to adapt to those conditions.

We've seen him test his suits on the oval though. I mean it's not like he'd be racing other people.

 

[Red Rick]

Ganna broke it after coming 7th at the WC ITT or whatever, he wasn't even flying when he did it, and it was set in 2022 and they've all gotten stronger since. Ganna is also less naturally aerodynamic, and it wouldn't surprise me if he struggled physically more to stay in position for the full hour than Evenepoel would. So performance wise there is almost 0 reason to doubt Evenepoel would crush it.

The problem with the hour record isn't performance it's almost completely timing, preperation and interest. The only convenient time is after Lombardia, when you're already tired, and then you probably have to invest a lot of time and effort during the season to prepare everything to do it, cause you don't wanna do it half assed and beat it by 500m.

 

[Venge 82]

I found out the real reason why Remco stopped in the TdF. He had tickets for Tomorrowland.

 

[Salvarani]

I found out the real reason why Remco stopped in the TdF. He had tickets for Tomorrowland.

Quite the turn of events from that post the other day.

Good he is feeling better now.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Completely offtopic but whoever rebuild that stage overnight better gotten a nice bonus.

 

[Charlyghoul]

Anything can always happen to anyone. That goes for every rider

[content deleted]
Where do you think he’ll end up ranking then

 

[Berniece]

Where do you think he’ll end up ranking then

All time? Depends, if he barely crashes again and can just race, easily top 10

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I think Remco has the Aero, engine but as far as I know he hasn't ridden competitively on the track and with banking, so it would be a hurdle he would have to practice at and he might not be able to adapt to those conditions.

Is banking much of an issue if you are simply following the black line? (Genuine question, no knowledge of being on a track at all)

 

[KoopaCycling]

Foré talking about the importance of a contract. Sure enough but if cycling is not careful they might end up in a similar situation as football. no way those contracts where you can't quit and join a new company hold up before european law.
Not that I think remco would ever take it as far as WVA & Uitdebroeks did. But their needs to be some perspective.

I understand how fragile the ecosytem is, and how you can't just let a rider annul his contract like that. But if people want to leave, then you can't just play hardball. Them saying they were there for remco during his hard times is true enough, but remco was also there winning them stuff. A more balanced view is in order imo.

If i'm a top rider i'm making sure i have buyout clauses in my contract. You never know if things turn sour.