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

[topt]

Like when Simmons dropped? And eventually Storer?

hm, I though his competition is Pog and Jonas

 

[Krzysztof_O]

He should try a lot of new things in my opinion. Another season of focusing on Ardennes, TDF, WC/Lombardia is going to be so boring. Just ride a lot of things casually, have a bit of fun in your schedule. Just like Pogacar does basically.

No reason not to try De Ronde. It's in his home country and there shouldn't be many doubts anymore regarding his abilities on cobbled hills. Sure, MVP and Pogacar are monsters there but why not having some fun and trying to challenge them? He wouldn't be favoured but top3 seems within his reach.

 

[houtdffan]

I hope giro has at least 100 kms of ITT.

Then a good, healthy winter. win Basque or Catalonia, finish 2nd to Pog at LBL, race Giro to win.

and then ride TDF to see how his body will respond to two GTs.

If Gouvenou goes full Gouvenou, Giro and Vuelta for Remco

 

[Berniece]

No reason not to try De Ronde. It's in his home country and there shouldn't be many doubts anymore regarding his abilities on cobbled hills. Sure, MVP and Pogacar are monsters there but why not having some fun and trying to challenge them? He wouldn't be favoured but top3 seems within his reach.

As long as they are able to position him correctly it should be fine, otherwise he'll be done before the race explodes

 

[AlpRaid]

If Gouvenou goes full Gouvenou, Giro and Vuelta for Remco

well ASO controls Vuelta and I really don't think Remco needs to even try to accumulate Vuelta wins (as Rog has). I would rather he focus on and win other races.

Giro would be nice tho.

 

[Lurkerman]

Challenges and wins should be what a reasonable person would wants, and in these races, he had no wins and no challenges (Pog doesn't qualify as merely a challenge). So I agree, do a 2023-like stage-racing focused season that targets the Giro. Both because he's then ducking Pog a lot, and also because in stage races he still has things to prove even if you factor out Pog, I think hasn't won a GC since UAE Tour 23

 

[YavorD]

It will be interesting how much or will he progress at all next season at RB?
I won't be surprised if he has his best season next year. If we go by some previous examples (Hindley, Vlasov, Higuita, DFM..), they had their best results in the first season with the team.
It's a bit worrying that this year's signings were mostly poor, except for maybe Pellizzari.

 

[Shortcut]

Challenges and wins should be what a reasonable person would wants, and in these races, he had no wins and no challenges (Pog doesn't qualify as merely a challenge). So I agree, do a 2023-like stage-racing focused season that targets the Giro. Both because he's then ducking Pog a lot, and also because in stage races he still has things to prove even if you factor out Pog, I think hasn't won a GC since UAE Tour 23

Yeah i think he should try win at least one one week stage race, T-A should be good for him. He is terrible at those. About Giro..it is really tricky one.. there will be no Pogacar but there will probably be Jonas and Almeida/Del Toro. Also he likes to prepare for LBL so he doesn't really peaks for Giro after that. And if he doesn't do LBL and they are all doing Giro it would be even easier for Pogacar to collect LBL and TdF.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

It will be interesting how much or will he progress at all next season at RB?
I won't be surprised if he has his best season next year. If we go by some previous examples (Hindley, Vlasov, Higuita, DFM..), they had their best results in the first season with the team.
It's a bit worrying that this year's signings were mostly poor, except for maybe Pellizzari.

Staying on the bike would be good start. Doing better than this season shouldn't be hard at all. This year was his worst season since 2021. Whether he can close the gap to Pogacar and Vingegaard (as a climber) compared to 2024, we'll have to wait and see.
Personally, i don't think the performance managers / coaches at SQS were able to keep up with what was happening at other teams. The entire team has fallen off a cliff since 2020. Van Wilder Vansevenant barely made progress in 4-5 years, in fact it's hard to think of many riders who improved (other than the really young ones that would always improve due to maturing, like Magnier and Lecerf). Alaphilippe this year was much better at a new team after leaving SQS. So if Bora has their stuff in order, we should see an improvement.

 

[houtdffan]

well ASO controls Vuelta and I really don't think Remco needs to even try to accumulate Vuelta wins (as Rog has). I would rather he focus on and win other races.

Giro would be nice tho.

Prudhomme then needs to grow a spine and tell Gouvenou and Guillen to put at least 1 long ITT in each race

 

[rghysens]

Staying on the bike would be good start. Doing better than this season shouldn't be hard at all. This year was his worst season since 2021. Whether he can close the gap to Pogacar and Vingegaard (as a climber) compared to 2024, we'll have to wait and see.
Personally, i don't think the performance managers / coaches at SQS were able to keep up with what was happening at other teams. The entire team has fallen off a cliff since 2020. Van Wilder Vansevenant barely made progress in 4-5 years, in fact it's hard to think of many riders who improved (other than the really young ones that would always improve due to maturing, like Magnier and Lecerf). Alaphilippe this year was much better at a new team after leaving SQS. So if Bora has their stuff in order, we should see an improvement.

I would argue it was since 2022. In 2021 the team, as a collectif, slaughtered Van der Poel and Van Aert in the flemish classics, Alaphilippe won Fleche Wallonne for the last time and dominated the wcrr, Cavendish had a miraculous resurrection in the tour, they had 65 victories in a year still impacted a bit by covid.
2022 was the year they started to put all their eggs in Evenepoels basket, and diminished the support for other riders, letting go some staff to (an)other team(s).
But I also assume that Evenepoel will be better next year, if he has a good winter.

 

[Extinction]

View: https://youtu.be/a4g8lB5nn7A?si=5bIRmMAbEUggUJAk

 

[Lurkerman]

Remco designing a GT:

Stage 1: 100 km flat TT
Stages 2-6: Baloise Belgium Tour
Stage 7: Clasica San Sebastian
Week 2: repeat week 1
Week 3: repeat week 1

Or if more variation is required:

Week 1: UAE Tour
Stage 8: 100 km flat TT
Stages 9-13: Baloise Belgium Tour
Stage 14: Clasica San Sebastian
Stage 15: 100 km flat TT
Stages 16-20: Volta ao Algarve
Stage 21: LBL

 

[houtdffan]

the perfect GT for remco would be a traditional one

a 7-8km flat prologue
a 75km flat TTT
a 65 km dead flat ITT
a 55km somewhat rolling ITT
4 MTFs, 3 of which are sub 7% gradient
1 brutal 250km+ mountain stage with > 6,000m of climbing

 

[Netserk]

the perfect GT for remco would be a traditional one

a 7-8km flat prologue
a 75km flat TTT
a 65 km dead flat ITT
a 55km somewhat rolling ITT
4 MTFs, 3 of which are sub 7% gradient
1 brutal 250km+ mountain stage with > 6,000m of climbing

Can you tell me which GT was the most recent traditional one?

 

[houtdffan]

Can you tell me which GT was the most recent traditional one?

maybe the 2012 TDF. Pre Gouvenou

 

[Peyroteo94]

maybe the 2012 TDF. Pre Gouvenou

And in what world would Remco beat Pogacar in the 2012 Tour?

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

the perfect GT for remco would be a traditional one

a 7-8km flat prologue
a 75km flat TTT
a 65 km dead flat ITT
a 55km somewhat rolling ITT
4 MTFs, 3 of which are sub 7% gradient
1 brutal 250km+ mountain stage with > 6,000m of climbing

A 75km TTT??? Terrible idea. I’d prefer they banish TTTs from GTs altogether, or at least don’t count them toward GC.

maybe the 2012 TDF. Pre Gouvenou

Everyone hated that Tour in part because of the route, as I recall

 

[KoopaCycling]

And in what world would Remco beat Pogacar in the 2012 Tour?

This ain't about Pogacar.

 

[Cycling111]

maybe the 2012 TDF. Pre Gouvenou

I just want to remind you that Remco lost 3 minutes at Hautacam. in the Tour. And Pogacar, like many other TDF riders, only trains for the time trial before the Tour. He always does better.
He wouldn't lose that much, but even if he did, he'd make up that time in two stages.
And it's important to keep in mind that in 2024, neither Pogacar nor Vingegaard consider him a rival to win; otherwise, they would have attacked him. At the Tour, Pogacar and Vingegaard only attack each other.
We'd have to see how much time Remco would have lost if they considered him a contender to winning the Tour and attacked him directly. That changes everything.

By the way, Wiggins had Froome as a teammate; he would have lost that Tour if he had attacked him. That comparison doesn't make sense for that reason. Pogacar and Vingegaard would have won the Tour against Wiggins in two mountain stages, and Froome too, if Sky had let him.