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

[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.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Dear Remco; if you want to beat Pogacar, you've gotta use your team mates to make the race hard. Launch them up the road before he attacks & then sit on his wheel. Make him react to you, rather than reacting to him.

You're welcome.

 

[topt]

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.

you dont think Pog would cover Remco attack...

 

[topt]

Dear Remco; if you want to beat Pogacar, you've gotta use your team mates to make the race hard. Launch them up the road before he attacks & then sit on his wheel. Make him react to you, rather than reacting to him.

You're welcome.

he tried that; there is NO tactics that would bring us different result

 

[Berniece]

he tried that; there is NO tactics that would bring us different result

Of course there is. For example, Pogacar attacked because he was isolated from his team. Maybe don't isolate him before the only climb arrives on which he can drop Evenepoel.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

In hindsight, he should not have made the race hard himself before Pog's attack. If he saves a bit of energy, lets his team try to thin out the group or get up the road, then the situation changes a bit. If he then doesn't blow himself up trying to cling to Pogacar (i expected him to be smart enough to know his own limits), he would still have dropped Ayuso, Seixas etc, and he would have been solo behind Pogacar over the last climb. I think this would favour his chances. He would have lost less time on that climb (due to not blowing up) and have been fresher on the flat. He might have been able to bridge what then would have been ~20 seconds back to Pogacar. The most likely scenario would then have been that Pog drops him on the last mur and solos to the win, possibly with an even bigger gap than what now occurred, but at least we would have had a race for longer.

 

[topt]

Of course there is. For example, Pogacar attacked because he was isolated from his team. Maybe don't isolate him before the only climb arrives on which he can drop Evenepoel.

you really think that was the only climb he could drop Remco....he could drop him on any climb yesterday

 

[HashRouge]

In hindsight, he should not have made the race hard himself before Pog's attack. If he saves a bit of energy, lets his team try to thin out the group or get up the road, then the situation changes a bit. If he then doesn't blow himself up trying to cling to Pogacar (i expected him to be smart enough to know his own limits), he would still have dropped Ayuso, Seixas etc, and he would have been solo behind Pogacar over the last climb. I think this would favour his chances. He would have lost less time on that climb (due to not blowing up) and have been fresher on the flat. He might have been able to bridge what then would have been ~20 seconds back to Pogacar. The most likely scenario would then have been that Pog drops him on the last mur and solos to the win, possibly with an even bigger gap than what now occurred, but at least we would have had a race for longer.

Yeah, the problem with trying to isolate Pogacar is that it just spurs him to attack earlier. He's always had good race instincts and he's happy to attack early if he feels like things might get away from him.

I'm optimistic that Remco can improve his level a bit next year. We have MdvP making life difficult for Pogacar at MSR, Flanders and Roubaix, so it would be great if Remco could do the same the Ardennes and other hilly classics. I like Pogacar, but he's so much more fun to watch when he has proper competition. I've never liked him more than in 2023 when he got beat up at the Tour, and never liked him less than this year. It's not his fault, but it's not fun to watch.

 

[Berniece]

you really think that was the only climb he could drop Remco....he could drop him on any climb yesterday

Didn’t show that

 

[AmRacer]

Didn’t show that

Didn't had to

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

you dont think Pog would cover Remco attack...

If you read the post after the post you quoted you would see that someone else said the same. Then my post after that explains it.

But to say the same twice. In a big group there is a chance Pogacar is not always on Remcos wheel to easy quickly cover an attack on the flat. I’m not saying it would happen, but there would at least be a chance of that happening. Riding like Belgium did yesterday there are no chance.

 

[topt]

Didn’t show that

what you mean... did he have to ? you dont think Pog can drop Remco on 2km 10% climb ? If Pogacar wanted to make his life easy he would just drop everybody on last climb and I am 100% he could.

 

[SHAD0W93]

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?

Pogacar almost always stays at the front and monitors who attacks though. That’s why he’s not caught in the back with Evenepoel or MVDP when stuff starts to kick off. Nor has he not had any qualms of following an attack on the flat.

 

[KoopaCycling]

So as to repeat myself. Is there a way for Remco to ride Chrono?

 

[Andre]

"I don't think it's about a one-minute effort, because we're already going hard in the phase before that. You're talking about three or five minutes, and I'll have to work on that in the winter," he admits. "I need to get accustomed to it and improve at it. We did work on it in the summer, but there simply wasn't enough time to improve significantly." ...from Remco

he is still improving...

 

[AlpRaid]

So as to repeat myself. Is there a way for Remco to ride Chrono?

it would be nice for us fans that he gets one more win, but the Chrono really has not meaning at this point. It is not the GP des Nations of yore.

Hopefully he gets another podium at Lombardia and then break and build and no postal vans!

 

[AlpRaid]

"I don't think it's about a one-minute effort, because we're already going hard in the phase before that. You're talking about three or five minutes, and I'll have to work on that in the winter," he admits. "I need to get accustomed to it and improve at it. We did work on it in the summer, but there simply wasn't enough time to improve significantly." ...from Remco

he is still improving...

yup, but in the same article he says increasing watts/kg at this point is complicated. in fact, he has previously said that his ceiling has hardly changed since 2022 Vuelta.

maybe he is suggesting potentially increasing the length of time at a certain watts/kg, IDK.

thing is pog just looks immensely easy riding 70+ kms on his own while never going into his red zone, it seems.

 

[BubbaChuck]

remco needs to abandon everything else,but long climbing.forget every 1 day race and stage racing for ayear.only way.

 

[Sciatic]

remco needs to abandon everything else,but long climbing.forget every 1 day race and stage racing for ayear.only way.

Please no, dont abandon all the things you’re great at just to have a chance to maybe be good (but not great) at another.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

remco needs to abandon everything else,but long climbing.forget every 1 day race and stage racing for ayear.only way.

Remco needs to level up like Pog did from 2023 to 2024. I would seriously have liked to see how Evenepoel would have compared to pre-2024 Pog last year in the Tour and this year during WCC/ECC.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Yeah, I actually don't know if I agree. I think it's totally fine for him to continue prioritizing along his current relative strengths, which IMO are: 1) ITT, 2) Hilly classics + championships, 3) Stage races. This is still the most interesting path and potentially most rewarding for him and his fans, and he can still win across disciplines, though it will be tougher (outside of ITT, where he reigns supreme).

However, if he is not satisfied with where he fits in the hierarchy in stage races and/or classics, I'd recommend he pick one or the other of Hilly classics OR stage races to 100% focus on. I think he could still win or at least contend for wins in the other, but if he wants to be the best in classics or stage races in a world with Pogacar, Vingegaard, and MVDP, I think he should pick a primary focus area and let the other should be a byproduct.

IMO, his easiest path is to go all in on classics, in which case he has a realistic chance of competing with Pogacar in LBL, IL, and WCRR and a decent chance at developing into a contender at MSR and RVV. P-R wouldn't be impossible but nothing he has done so far indicates he could win that race. He could still probably do OK in some stage races, though not realistically target a GT win in this scenario. I'd love to see what he can do in a classics focused calendar. I think this fits better with his natural talents.

Alternate scenario is a little less interesting IMO. That scenario involves relentless focus on weight, watts/kg, long climbs while maintaining but not focusing on his ITT skills. Classics should take a backseat to a calendar full of stage races. IMO, I'd target a win or two in a one week stage race, plus would do the Giro + Vuelta next year. After a year of laser focus on stage racing, I'd take stock and go all in on a Froome style calendar focused on the Tour in 2027.

Just my two cents.