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

[Cookster15]

Well, this is obvious: body fat mass. But when it comes to sportsmen in top form BMI vs VO2max relation is more complicated as they all have low body fat %. Then it's about other aspects (like bone mass, muscles efficiency, cardiac output etc), some of them are associated with BMI some are not.

Thanks for the follow up. But this raises more questions. I always thought Remco's relative VO2 max (milliliters per Kilogram per minute) was extremely high - close to 90?

Since the 2022 Vuelta Remco seemed to have very low body fat % and that would help his relative VO2 max as well.

So I am still not convinced of BMI as being a better indicator of climbing than simply watts per kilo. I think BMI is just an assumed truth in cycling circles. A rider who is shorter but stockier can have similarly low bodyfat % as riders like Vingegaard. As I said at the beginning, the physics of climbing doesn't care about appearance. It only cares about sustained watts per kilo.

But ultimately we are all guessing. We don't know Remco's true watts and we don't know his true weight. But I do know he was climbing very well in the 2024 Tour de France.

 

[Berniece]

He won't have an excuse this season unless the blind faithful conjure up a defense.

Yeah, such a weak excuse that he crashed in december, and didn't build up a proper base.

 

[AmRacer]

Yeah, such a weak excuse that he crashed in december, and didn't build up a proper base.

Better crashing hard in April

 

[SHAD0W93]

Cause Pogacar does not need tactics. He's that strong. Has great bike handling/positioning and has that strong of a team to back him up as well.

Also even Pogacar has had a few (tactical) mistakes, and they tend to happen when he was not sure he was stronger than the rest. Tdf 22, Paris Roubaix, WC 22 come to mind.

I’d argue Pogacar’s mistake was believing he was stronger than Jumbo especially with his showboating during the stage he got one two TKO punched.


On Evenepoel I think he should do the Giro or Tour as support and go for stages depending on what they decide. Hopefully he has a good winter and we can see him improve at Bora.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

So I am still not convinced of BMI as being a better indicator of climbing than simply watts per kilo. I think BMI is just an assumed truth in cycling circles. A rider who is shorter but stockier can have similarly low bodyfat % as riders like Vingegaard. As I said at the beginning, the physics of climbing doesn't care about appearance. It only cares about sustained watts per kilo.

I never implied it. You misunderstood me. Obviously w/kg is a direct measure of power per mass and climbing ability. My point was to explain why there's an inverse relation between BMI and relative VO2max and therefore, why the best climbers are usually cyclists with very low BMI. Obviously it case of top sportsmen it's more blurred (as all of them have very low fat mass and low BMI). So, besides BMI related factors (bone and fat mass, height-related stuff) there are others non-related to BMI (like muscles composition, metabolism) which strongly affect VO2max (and therefore w/kg).

As for Remco's VO2max, it could be around 90 (when he's closer to 60 kg, not to 65 kg).