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

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Pogi knows now he cannot let Remco go, so it won't work.

One would think MVDP knew he couldnt let Remco go on the flat in the Olympics last year, but it’s hard to always stay on the wheel of a specific rider in a bigger group. If Remco drops to last part of peloton, would Pogi go back with him? If yes, then that is a great opportunity to attack with a rider like Benoot or something. If no, then that is a great opportunity to try a surprise attack with building speed from behind.

Would it work? No idea. But I think we’ve all seen over and over again that “making it hard” is not the way to beat Pogi, so why not try something else?

 

[Berniece]

Yesterday it was Pogi vs 5 Belgians and nothing changed, he's too good. But I agree that in Lombardy, with UAE being so strong, any surprise is basically excluded (unless Pogi crashes out).

That's because they made 1 mistake. They thought Evenepoel was as good as Pogacar. If you assume that's not the case, you ride differently.

When UAE is strong, they can just keep the race closed and make it as hard as they want. And in case of championships we are "lucky", Slovenia is ***. So it's nice that Pogacar has to do it himself, like yesterday. If you bring other contenders in the mix, on a course that isn't just a w/kg fest like WC/UEC, then you get a more exciting race.

It's not Pogacar's fault. I'm just saying that the race itself could be more exciting if it isn't suited to him perfectly.

 

[AmRacer]

One would think MVDP knew he couldnt let Remco go on the flat in the Olympics last year, but it’s hard to always stay on the wheel of a specific rider in a bigger group. If Remco drops to last part of peloton, would Pogi go back with him? If yes, then that is a great opportunity to attack with a rider like Benoot or something. If no, then that is a great opportunity to try a surprise attack with building speed from behind.

Would it work? No idea. But I think we’ve all seen over and over again that “making it hard” is not the way to beat Pogi, so why not try something else?

Mathieu was done when Wout got him back.

TdF Paris stage, they assaulted Pogi with multiple attacks and he was done.

 

[Cycling111]

Yesterday it was Pogi vs 5 Belgians and nothing changed, he's too good. But I agree that in Lombardy, with UAE being so strong, any surprise is basically excluded (unless Pogi crashes out).

This is worth highlighting because some people think that winning the Tour is just a matter of have domestiques.
Obviously, being alone precipitates his attacks.

 

[Peyroteo94]

It’s easier to surprise a rider (Pog) with an attack from a 30 man group than from a 2-5 man group.
Then if you attack on the flat and there are atleast a significant amount of kilometers (like atleast 5?) of flat road before the next climb it should be a good chance of Pogacar not going to the front and tow a big group, he would then probably wait until the hill before he attacks and starts the chase. Remco by a surprise attack can get 20-30s before the next climb he might have a shot.

Pogacar is so good that it might not work anyway, but atleast it would give a realistic possibility to win. If you make the race hard and the riders are man against man there are almost no chance to win.

He can surprise Pogacar and even gain 5", Pogacar would close that gap. Just like he did in the 2024 Tour.

 

[Berniece]

This is worth highlighting because some people think that winning the Tour is just a matter of have domestiques.
Obviously, being alone precipitates his attacks.

Who were those people?

 

[Krzysztof_O]

That's because they made 1 mistake. They thought Evenepoel was as good as Pogacar. If you assume that's not the case, you ride differently.

Not yesterday. 7 km climb is too much and Pogacar easily deletes all Remco's doms with one push. Then it's on Remco to close the gap on flattish sections but he couldn't.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

I just realized that Remco's current Olympics/WC/EC medals in RR/TT are 4 golds and 2 silvers. Only one man prevented him from the clean sweep.

 

[Berniece]

I just realized that Remco's current Olympics/WC/EC medals in RR/TT are 4 golds and 2 silvers. Only one man prevented him from the clean sweep.

2 more year to improve that tally, but I don't he'll keep going for those UEC TT's though. Now that he has all 4 in 1 season.

He also has 1 gold and 1 silver in NC. Basically you can say the silvers are due to UAE.

 

[chickenlips]

I just realized that Remco's current Olympics/WC/EC medals in RR/TT are 4 golds and 2 silvers. Only one man prevented him from the clean sweep.

...and that one man won a shed full of other races this season. Let's see next year if he can get some stage race wins under his belt instead of just ITT's. Recently there's been too many injuries.