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

[Berniece]

In an interview he also discussed the world hour record.

Has the world hour record crossed his mind? "Not yet, no. I have too many other things to tick first. Someday, maybe. Later in my career, when I'm in my thirties, I might go for it. But not in the near future."

 

[Krzysztof_O]

In an interview he also discussed the world hour record.

So Remco prefers to wait until he's a grandpa unable to bend his backbone to Bullet Man position. Sad!

 

[KoopaCycling]

not surprised. unless he just does it on the side at the end of the year without much real prep. it would not make sense.

 

[Extinction]

If Pogacar was better 1v1 on a road bike on a flat road at equal fatigue levels he would not have won the road race by only 1'30.

Everything points to Pogacar being way better in hills and Evenepoel being way better on straight flats, with everything inbetween being mostly a case of "it depends".

The evidence for this is also fairly overwhelming, considering Pogacar has never crapped out solo's like the 2024 Olympics or 2022 WC where 90% of the solo is on flat terrain interrupted by a few short hills. Also, we saw it very literally in a H2H in Amstel, where Pogacar dropped Evenepoel on the few hard hills and Evenepoel then dragged himself back to him on the easier sections, before being unable to drop a tired Pogacar on the Cauberg.

There are multiple factors here, but, generally Evenepoel expresses his power best in most TTs other than at the end of a GT, with a major climb, for a TT. We still haven't seen a mountain TT in the middle of a GT, when he is in top shape and not hampered by a not ideal prep. I'm curious to see if being on a super budget team will work wonders for him or if his ceiling on the long cols has been reached, in which case his GC GT ambitions, at least at the Tour, are over.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I strongly disagree with this.
Firstly, Pogacar was solo in Kigali while Remco had the help of 4 riders (3/2 later). If Pogacar lost time on flats, it was tiny margins for sure, not more than 3/4".

In AGR, there a lot of circunstances that can explain why Pogacar was caught:
1 - Wind
2 - Skjelmose helping Remco (even if Remco was doing pulls 3x longer)
3 - PR
4 - Van Wilder did a wonderful job for many km to keep the gap under 40"

Maybe I'm wrong but I saw Pogacar putting more than 1' on flat terrain in GdL.

Do you remember 2025 RVV? Pogacar put 40" on MVP/Wout/Mads/Stuyven after Paterberg.
So yeah, after a hard race Pogacar can be a monster even on flat terrain.

So basically, when Pogacar is tired from previous races, it's an issue, but when Evenepoel has had a shoddy prep form that was going downhill, as evident by his result in Fleche and LBL, then we try to ignore that as much as possible. If you think that was Evenepoel at his best in Amstel, then you haven't been paying attention.

 

[Red Rick]

There are multiple factors here, but, generally Evenepoel expresses his power best in most TTs other than at the end of a GT, with a major climb, for a TT. We still haven't seen a mountain TT in the middle of a GT, when he is in top shape and not hampered by a not ideal prep. I'm curious to see if being on a super budget team will work wonders for him or if his ceiling on the long cols has been reached, in which case his GC GT ambitions, at least at the Tour, are over.

Evenepoel has been at WT level for 7 years and he's been racing Grand Tours for 5. It's weird to me so many treat him like an unknown entity.

 

[Oldman]

Here, an isolated example, like Amstel, was used, but he was also failing on the climbs. When you're cooked, you

And I think that in shorter races, Pogacar is also good on the flat. Always talking about a road race on a road bike.
Honestly, I think Pogacar isn't dropeed by Remco like Madouas and most other cyclists. And not all of them drop out because they're not as good on the flat; it's more a matter of physical exhaustion. Pogacar, riding on Remco's wheel wouldn't have so many problems in a road race.

In fact, it's very significant that, despite he was coocked in Amstel, Pogacar wasn't dropped and was fighting for the win. It's very difficult to drop Pogacar on the flat, not even on one of his worst days of the year did they dropped him.

Good points. There's also the history of it being difficult to drop him. It took a crash at PR for MvP to work Tadej over in much the same way as I've suggested he uses climbs to take time out of Remco and anyone else. Anyone with him on their wheel is almost instantly forced to play the longer game for a sprint. This year's Tour proved that might work if you're MvP. Might.....work. That's got to play with the head of an increasingly long list of hopefuls. Those hopefuls get resigned to conserving energy so that their best hope of 2nd to Tadej doesn't slip to getting blown off the podium or worse. But to your point about Tadej getting cooked: it does happen.

 

[Purito91]

Some people really live in a fantasy world. Pogacar gained time on Remco and there are people who still think Remco can cook Pogacar on the flats. They will have another letdown on Sunday.

Yes i dont get this. If pocacar had a mechanical like remco had he would just ride out of the saddle for 300 meters and dont drop like a stone.

But remco and his fans are really entertaining. Maybe after lombardia they accept that pogacar is clearly the better rider.

 

[red_flanders]

Yes i dont get this. If pocacar had a mechanical like remco had he would just ride out of the saddle for 300 meters and dont drop like a stone.

But remco and his fans are really entertaining. Maybe after lombardia they accept that pogacar is clearly the better rider.

Wouldn't it be a lot more interesting if there were a real rivalry? If Remco became a guy who could legitimately compete with Pogi in one-day races, the sport would be a lot more interesting. I'd love to see it.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Yes i dont get this.

Shocker. It would help if you bothered to get the facts straight. Maybe then you would get it.

Evenepoel's saddle didn't drop 300 meters from the top. It dropped before the climb. And by the time they were about to reach the top and Pogacar accelerated, his legs completely cramped up. Not because of the last 300 meter, but because of the 6.5 km of climbing before that, on a dropped saddle. Do you get it now?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Medals so far at pro level: 20 of which 11 gold.

WCC ITT GOLD x3
WCC ITT SILVER x1
WCC ITT BRONZE x2
WCC RR GOLD x1
WCC RR SILVER x1
OG ITT GOLD x1
OG RR GOLD x1
ECC ITT GOLD x2
ECC ITT BRONZE x1
ECC RR SILVER x1
NC ITT GOLD x2
NC ITT SILVER x1
NC ITT BRONZE x1
NC RR GOLD x1
NC RR SILVER x1

 

[Extinction]

Evenepoel has been at WT level for 7 years and he's been racing Grand Tours for 5. It's weird to me so many treat him like an unknown entity.

Read again man, I said on a super budget team. He's been seven years on a mediocre funded outfit that was trying to metamorfosis without sufficient cash or know-how, which has repeatedly missmanaged and/or misprepared him. All I said was will going to a top budget team improve him, because if not it was a poor investment? Surely Bora believes they can transform him or else why would they have paid all that money for Remco? Evidently knowing he has been racing at WT level for 7 years has not conditioned what they believe he has the potential to become. If you think what I wrote was weird, then Bora must be absolutely foolish. My guess is that they might have a better idea than you. Perhaps what Contador said about trying to win the Tour against Sky without a 35 million euro budget was practically impossible was just nonsence. Well now the ceiling with UAE is a 50-60 million euro budget. So either having that much money makes no difference or Pogi could have raced for 7 years with Soudal and gotten the same results. It's weird to me so many treat the obvious budget gap factor in cycling with such obliviousness.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Wouldn't it be a lot more interesting if there were a real rivalry? If Remco became a guy who could legitimately compete with Pogi in one-day races, the sport would be a lot more interesting. I'd love to see it.

Just because it would be better to have an actual rivalry, it doesn't mean there is an actual rivalry.
That's the point. So any talk about Remco being close to Pogacar is wishful thinking right now. Maybe next year, the gap can close in classics. In GTs, the gap is too big, nothing can be done though.

 

[Berniece]

Just because it would be better to have an actual rivalry, it doesn't mean there is an actual rivalry.
That's the point. So any talk about Remco being close to Pogacar is wishful thinking right now. Maybe next year, the gap can close in classics. In GTs, the gap is too big, nothing can be done though.

What is a rivalry in your mind? What performance do you expect from Evenepoel in UEC RR to call it a rivalry? Sprint with two? Time gap difference of x seconds?

 

[AmRacer]

What is a rivalry in your mind? What performance do you expect from Evenepoel in UEC RR to call it a rivalry? Sprint with two? Time gap difference of x seconds?

Not getting dropped

 

[KoopaCycling]

Apparantly Remco has a secret that makes him even faster in TT but won't say it, if is team director won' t say it.
Why even mention it all. Remco should have just kept quiet entirely if that's the case.

 

[Berniece]

Apparantly Remco has a secret that makes him even faster in TT but won't say it, if is team director won' t say it.
Why even mention it all. Remco should have just kept quiet entirely if that's the case.

They said it's actually something other teams are also already doing. It had something to do with the start.

 

[peterfin]

Just because it would be better to have an actual rivalry, it doesn't mean there is an actual rivalry.
That's the point. So any talk about Remco being close to Pogacar is wishful thinking right now. Maybe next year, the gap can close in classics. In GTs, the gap is too big, nothing can be done though.

The gap between pogi 2023 and pogi 2024 was also too big.

 

[topt]

Remco has improved his sprinting last 2 seasons, Pogacar sprinting remained the same.
I've seen Pogacar sprint on the flat, and remco sprint on the flat. On the flat they are about equal these days.
Uphill advantage is pogacar. If you find this hard to understand, i wonder if you actually been watching races.

A pity they showed so little of Remco (& Ganna). Guess 5G was acting up. He went a lot faster up that midpoint hill than Ganna did. remco flew up there. Was not expecting the difference to be this big. Thought it was gonna be a nailbiter. Guess i'm underestimating TT Remco (even with wind and slight climbs in his favour).

oh man, there really is some sort of coping infestation going on in Remco team

 

[Didinho]

Someone made this after his win. Hope he just have the WC jersey with maybe some little EC stars somewhere and his bike and helmet like it is now.

Don’t want to see something like this:

 

[topt]

Yes i dont get this. If pocacar had a mechanical like remco had he would just ride out of the saddle for 300 meters and dont drop like a stone.

But remco and his fans are really entertaining. Maybe after lombardia they accept that pogacar is clearly the better rider.

until Remco wins the next TT against Pog and than we will go again in the circle. I remember Logic said about 5 yars ago there will come a time when Remco will drop Pog on a climb, still waiting for it....

 

[Berniece]

Someone made this after his win. Hope he just have the WC jersey with maybe some little EC stars somewhere and his bike and helmet like it is now.

Don’t want to see something like this:

Besides it being ugly, UCI would also not allow it.

 

[Berniece]

oh man, there really is some sort of coping infestation going on in Remco team

You always give these generic responses and don’t actually say what’s wrong with posts. You are basically saying “I don’t agree with that”. Without saying why you don’t agree with it.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

until Remco wins the next TT against Pog and than we will go again in the circle. I remember Logic said about 5 yars ago there will come a time when Remco will drop Pog on a climb, still waiting for it....

Then you need to pay better attention. Already happened in 2021, ECC RR.

But I can't remember saying that and if I did, nobody could predict what happened in 2023-2024 at UAE.

 

[Berniece]

Then you need to pay better attention. Already happened in 2021, ECC RR.

But I can't remember saying that and if I did, nobody could predict what happened in 2023-2024 at UAE.

He also dropped him in 2019 and 2022 during San Sebastian.