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

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Excuses and what-ifs galore, as usual in this thread.

It is one guy that is taking it a bit far

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Excuses and what-ifs galore, as usual in this thread.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out ;-)

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I might be the only person in the world who likes both Pogacar and Remco.

Lol no

 

[kingjr]

Phil Liggett and Mart Smeets probably knew Lance Armstrong better than any of us regular posters here knows Remco. Sometimes, a bit of distance actually helps in judging someone's character.

 

[Peyroteo94]

It is one guy

It's always him (however other times, it's not just him). Moving on, I think he showed he can be an outsider in RVV. He can't beat Pogacar or MVP on sheer power but he can do a sneaky attack from far and rely on his big engine.

 

[HashRouge]

Lol no

It was supposed to be a joke, but clearly didn't work!

 

[fenns]

I don't think the mechanical problems made any difference. When he changed bikes he got back up to where he was before quite easily. And as for Mount Kigali when has Remco managed to stay with Pog on any difficult climb this year? His climbing has been dismal in 2025 - a real regression from previous years.

 

[HashRouge]

It's always him (however other times, it's not just him). Moving on, I think he showed he can be an outsider in RVV. He can't beat Pogacar or MVP on sheer power but he can do a sneaky attack from far and rely on his big engine.

Positioning might be the issue for Remco at RVV, although I'd love to see him try!

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

One more thing, what the hell were Belgium doing before the Mont Kigali? Were they under the impression that Pogacar fatigues more quickly than Evenepoel?

Absolute nonsense tactics.

With Van Wilder out, a lot of options went down the drain. He could have given Evenepoel his bike (exact same height), he was probably the only one that would have made it into the final and still be able to help in the chase, he was probably the only viable option to move up the road as a credible thread...

Otherwise the tactics were as expected. As we saw during the U23 as well. As we have seen SQS ride for Evenepoel the past 2-3 years.

 

[Berniece]

I don't think the mechanical problems made any difference. When he changed bikes he got back up to where he was before quite easily. And as for Mount Kigali when has Remco managed to stay with Pog on any difficult climb this year? His climbing has been dismal in 2025 - a real regression from previous years.

He was dropped in the last 400 meters. You don’t think he would’ve been able to hang on with the right position? Ayuso was able to follow…

 

[KoopaCycling]

I would love to have seen how the race would have gone had remco managed to stay with Pogacar on mount kigali.
Not sure how big of a difference the mehancial made there or that remco just did not quite have the legs in that moment or both.

Maybe the race becomes a bit more tactical. Maybe remco plays it smart for a change with the numerical superiority of Uae and a strong pogacar to contend with. Overall though i think pogacar showed that he was the strongest today. I've no doubt that having to comeback after the bike swaps took energy. but so was riding solo against a group of people chasing you. Tadej was the strongest, remco second strongest. He was closest to Pogacar, only one within 2 minutes in a very hard race.

In his mind remco wants to believe he was as strong as tadej without the bike swaps. That he lost so much energy chasing that once he was back in the leading chase group his legs already lost quite a bit of power. But Pogacar took time on the climbs every time. With the group making back small amounts on the flat. That tell me tadej was the strongest.

Also Remco second bike swap, that anger (hitting his steering wheel hard and all that) is also part of his makeup. for better and worse. so all that energy spent on that mental spin, is all on him.

I am always going to cheer for remco and hope he wins. But i have no problem admitting that Pogacar is the strongest atm. I'll hope this weeks Remco show up next week, that all goes right, and he beats goliath in the UEC RR. Not likely. But stranger things have happened. And Remco showed again why Red Bull gave him all that money and that he is one of the best riders of his generation.

 

[Red Rick]

Getting rid of Slovenia team which they basically did.

That's a pointless exercise. None of Slovenia are gonna do anything significant, apart from Roglic, who basically isn't gonna do much more than be an anchor today either.

They simplified the race completely when they shoudl have made it as tricky as possible.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I don't think the mechanical problems made any difference. When he changed bikes he got back up to where he was before quite easily. And as for Mount Kigali when has Remco managed to stay with Pog on any difficult climb this year? His climbing has been dismal in 2025 - a real regression from previous years.

WTF. Riding an entire climb on a dropped saddle doesn't matter? Well, i would like to see you try. Please do and let us know how it went. I'm also wondering how you are here and not know the reason behind Evenepoel's failures earlier this year.

 

[Salmon Spread]

It's a more difficult sport for Remco.
Has Tadej ever suffered a mechanical?
Would Tadej ever ride his bike into a hole in the road and have his saddle drop? He seems to have some sort of natural ability to avoid any of these problems.
But funnily enough, I actually think the hardest problem for Tadej left in the sport is to beat Remco in a TT. I can see him winning everything else that's left for him to win, but I'm not sure he can do that.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

The good news is, Evenepoel convincingly won the GC of this WCC. He easily beat Pogacar by 1m9s.

 

[fenns]

He was dropped in the last 400 meters. You don’t think he would’ve been able to hang on with the right position? Ayuso was able to follow…

The last 400m was when it got very difficult. Where is the evidence that 2025 Remco can hang with Pog on a climb?

 

[Peyroteo94]

Honestly, I think you are too harsh on Remco. It's understandable for him to be annoyed with how things went today, when things kept going wrong. And hopefully you know I'm fair, I don't criticise Pogacar either. In fact, the other day I was complaining about people saying he was humiliated in the time trial. I might be the only person in the world who likes both Pogacar and Remco.

I genuinely do not think so. It's the way I see it. I was harsh on Pogacar last week. This doesn't have anything to do with me being a fan or not.
For me and I already said multiple times, Remco has a big ego and was used to destroy (and win) every race he entered since he was a junior. He grew up winning easily, "without" effort and even if he is winning big here and there, it's far from what we expected when he was a junior. This kid was the biggest young rider ever and by far.
This is why I think it's very hard for him, he is getting the same feeling (now against Pogacar, specially since 2024) his rivals had in his junior years.

 

[kingjr]

It's a more difficult sport for Remco.
Has Tadej ever suffered a mechanical?
Would Tadej ever ride his bike into a hole in the road and have his saddle drop? He seems to have some sort of natural ability to avoid any of these problems.
But funnily enough, I actually think the hardest problem for Tadej left in the sport is to beat Remco in a TT. I can see him winning everything else that's left for him to win, but I'm not sure he can do that.

He's already done that, more than once.

 

[Salmon Spread]

He's already done that, more than once.

Has he? Aside from TTs in Grand Tours?

 

[kingjr]

Has he? Aside from TTs in Grand Tours?

Oh, these don't count? You should have said so.

 

[KoopaCycling]

It's a more difficult sport for Remco.
Has Tadej ever suffered a mechanical?
Would Tadej ever ride his bike into a hole in the road and have his saddle drop? He seems to have some sort of natural ability to avoid any of these problems.
But funnily enough, I actually think the hardest problem for Tadej left in the sport is to beat Remco in a TT. I can see him winning everything else that's left for him to win, but I'm not sure he can do that.

LBL comes to mind. But as much as i'll agree Pogacar is the more natural and less accident prone bike handler. I don't think today's mishap is anything more than bad luck. I also feel remco bike handling is better than most people believe despite his many crashes. I do feel he has taken major steps in that area.

Remco winning olympics TT for instance shows he can ride a bike.

In any case EUC is next. Then Lombardy. Couple of nice races to end the season with.
I'm happy i finally got some races to look forward to where i can be almost certain of that remco is likely to turn up for in good form. If he could do what he did today, then surely his form is back. Not like the false dawns we saw earlier in the season. Not with questionmarks around his form, and me/us hoping he'll turn up in good form.

 

[Berniece]

It is one guy that is taking it a bit far

I’m not the only one. Pogi’s own teammate thinks the same.

Vermeersch: “Als Remco die pech niet heeft, is hij de evenknie van Tadej.”

Translated: If Remco wasn’t so unlucky he would’ve been as good as Pogacar.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I'll hope this weeks Remco show up next week, that all goes right, and he beats goliath in the UEC RR. Not likely. But stranger things have happened.

The EC course has some elements that should tip the scale towards Remco as there is like 10 km more or less completely flat between the hills on the circuit, but then those hills are 1,6 km at almost 10% and that should heavily favour Pogi. And Pogi aint doing the TT, so I dont think there are much reasons to get the hope up.

 

[Berniece]

The EC course has some elements that should tip the scale towards Remco as there is like 10 km more or less completely flat between the hills on the circuit, but then those hills are 1,6 km at almost 10% and that should heavily favour Pogi. And Pogi aint doing the TT, so I dont think there are much reasons to get the hope up.

I don’t even understand how he does this mentally. Switching to ITT for this Wednesday. I would skip it if I was him. He already got the best jersey for next year anyway.

 

[Oldman]

It's a more difficult sport for Remco.
Has Tadej ever suffered a mechanical?
Would Tadej ever ride his bike into a hole in the road and have his saddle drop? He seems to have some sort of natural ability to avoid any of these problems.
But funnily enough, I actually think the hardest problem for Tadej left in the sport is to beat Remco in a TT. I can see him winning everything else that's left for him to win, but I'm not sure he can do that.

Yes, Tadej has had challenges. He rode into a hole next to Remco and crashed, breaking his wrist. Pretty much ruined a season for him.
As for anyone riding into a hole and settling the saddle as a result; yes it can happen. Some bikes are more vulnerable and even with carbon-grip on the seatpost it's up to the rider to avoid such things. Bummer for Remco but the race would've turned out the same.