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

[kingjr]

I think having a winner's mentality is showing a willingness to do whatever it takes to win (excluding illegal means), how exactly that plays out depends on each individual rider and circumstances.

 

[Netserk]

I think having a winner's mentality is showing a willingness to do whatever it takes to win (excluding illegal means), how exactly that plays out depends on each individual rider and circumstances.

Vino and Contador are the first that comes to my mind.

 

[peterfin]

Naturally Gemini craps out the standard motivational speech stuff out for 'winning mentality' and we're really only talking in circles because people always equate mentality with outcome when the athlete they like wins and talk about poor menality when the athlete they dislike loses.

Why? because it's inherently *** lazy.

So within that, if you're going to use specific definitions of winning mentality, I'm going to be able to give counterexamples to show why it's wrong. And complaining about cherry picking itself is just an often used crutch for poor argumentation anyway.

In this case, Evenepoel blaming things outside of his own control for losses is not a one time event. It's something he does all the time.

You are mixing up his extroverted character with his mentality. Sometimes he is right, sometimes he overreacts and sometimes he is wrong and you need to give him a moment to see things clearly.

 

[Extinction]

@Netserk Vingegaard does not have the same winner's mentality. No idea how a dedicated Vingegaard supporter can state that with a straight face. That's like Evenepoel supporters claiming Evenepoel always remains levelheaded. Both statements are equally absurd.

Examples? Remember the Bambi nickname you gave Evenepoel and why? Well, last year all three of them were ahead of the peloton in the gravel stage in the Tour. Remember who didn't want to ride? It wasn't the guy who crashed in every corner on the gravel during his first pro season at Adriatica Ionica. It wasn't the guy who made a spectacle of himself during the 2021 Giro gravel stage. It wasn't the guy who got nicknamed Bambi by you. No, it was the reigning TDF champion who peed his pants. Remember Itzulia 2022, when Alaphilippe went on the attack and Vingegaard was in his group, with both Roglic and Evenepoel behind in the peloton? Remember who didn't want to ride? Same dude. That's why people say he doesn't ride like a winner. He rides very calculated and will leave it to others to do the heavy lifting. It may be smart, but it's not what riding like a winner is. He doesn't go to races where he knows his chances are slim, not exactly a winners mentality. He will try to attack only as a last resort.

You are mistaking his perseverance, which he undoubtedly has as evident from overcoming adversity and maximising his chances against the odds, with winner mentality.

Yea, and you forgot to mention Almeida at this last Vuelta, after Vingeggard sat on his wheel for the enth time, saying that "eh, sure, Vingeggard never wants to pull." When Vingeggard does some classics or a Worlds with more than 5000 meters of elevation (or any Worlds for that matter), I'll start to consider him having a similar "winner's mentality" as Evenepoel. I think there is confusion about equating winning the Tour twice against Pogacar with having a hors categorie winner's mentality. Let's face it, any one at his level has one, but Evenepoel's is simply off the charts. He just can't stand losing, which destroys him particularly when he cannot beat two better climbers. To a fault, because I think particularly Pogacar has gotten into his head. Remco has, beyond all his misfortune (serious crashes and illnesses), suffered immensely, because he has not achieved what his winner's mentality (reinforced by having been the best junior in the history of the sport, who then immediatly started winning as a pro) thought he should have by now. That's because he unexpectedly (at the time many, without baseless reason, thought the "new Merckx" had arrived) came up against two better climbers and one better all-rounder. Let's see if Bora can close the gap, which ties into the investment gamble I referred to up-thread, but which evidently nobody thought worthy of commenting upon.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I think having a winner's mentality is showing a willingness to do whatever it takes to win (excluding illegal means), how exactly that plays out depends on each individual rider and circumstances.

So wheelsuckers are the biggest winners of them all then.

A winner will take risks in order to get the win against all odds. Not the opposite, which Vingegaard has been known to do, cowering and calculating, only attacking as a last resort.