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.

 

[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!