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

[mikks]

Remco isn't a climber. It shows in his physique and in how he struggles every time a climb reaches double digits.

Although I think he can have another Tour like the one in 2024, to do so he has to sacrifice and train more than others who are natural climbers.
That's why it's going to be very difficult for him to win the Tour or the Giro. Whenever there's a great climber, it's going to be very difficult for him.

On the other hand, Lipowitz is a very good climber; he's proven it even when it seemed like it wasn't his time yet.

The question at this point is whether it's worth dedicating entire seasons to the preparation he needs for the Tour, or if he should train for races like Flanders and Roubaix, overcoming his struggles in those types of races. Obviously, winning the Tour is paramount, but once Pogacar and Vingegard will retire (Remco debuted the same year), he has riders like Seixas, who is a naturally climber.

Evenepoel has proven that he can climb really well on his day. But he has also shown over the years that he is somewhat fragile or vulnerable to even small bumps (heat, gradient, wrong pace, bad legs, or whatever), and it costs him.


I still remember the 2021 Lombardy, where he had something like a two-minute bonk. He climbed really well before those two minutes and climbed really well after those two minutes — but at the end those two minutes...

Remco’s palmarès is still superb, so it would be risky to take a totally different path. It’s easy to say that he should change everything and go to Roubaix, but what if he has those same two-minute bumps there as well? We don’t know what kind of weaknesses might appear if he changes everything.

 

[Berniece]

Maybe drank not enough in the easy part of the stage, seemed like cramping. Looked good when he bridged to the front, but you knew he was done when he got dropped again.

Curious what he’ll say about it himself.

I think so too, but it's his 8th professional season already. These things shouldn't be happening anymore.

 

[KoopaCycling]

I'm definitely intrigued about Del Toro performances in Strade Bianchi vs Pogacar.

 

[Rackham]

I have to agree that remco seems to need to be in GT shape in order to be able be decent at a climb like today.
I would not say he can't win the Giro/Tour as a result. Tour especially does not have the steepest gradients.
Del Toro looked like a million bucks again. He knew this climb, and paced it perfect.

I am curious if he'll do an interview. Whereas Del Toro paced himself near perfect, Remco just blew himself up early.
I think he underestimated the climb. But even if he did not, he would have only been able to do damage control today. Maybe lose 1 minute instead of 2.

If he needs to be in 'Tour' shape then they're doing his prep wrong. He was great on Lo Port in the Tour of Catalunya back in 2023 versus Rog so I don't buy the whole (Tour prep or bust) idea. There's something else.

Bad prep, as in, no heat training? When you look at Del Toro, he was soaking wet, looked like he threw 100L of fluids on himself during the last 10km's. Evenepoel didn't. We saw something similar in the Tour during Hautacam stage. Was dropped, went to the car, started putting ice cubes in his jersey and clawed his way back in the descent.

I mean Evenepoel is just the athlete. At some point the people around him actually have to start earning their salary because today it looks exactly like "we hire one of the best riders in the world for millions and put a dossard on him. Job done".

 

[Cycling111]

Bad prep, as in, no heat training? When you look at Del Toro, he was soaking wet, looked like he threw 100L of fluids on himself during the last 10km's. Evenepoel didn't. We saw something similar in the Tour during Hautacam stage. Was dropped, went to the car, started putting ice cubes in his jersey and clawed his way back in the descent.

I think that if it had been Liège today, Remco would have destroyed these riders with the same heat.

 

[Pozzovivo]

Can someone bring up the Remco meme where hype cycles through phases of sharp increase after .pro races and falls flat after world tour races? I can't believe I'm watching this again... No excuses anymore.

Still believe he's winning the Tour one day, of course.

 

[Berniece]

I think that if it had been Liège today, Remco would have destroyed these riders with the same heat.

I don't believe in the "he isn't build for double digit steep mountains". He showed before he has no issues with this. There needs to be an explanation why he finished 18th, behind Graat Tijmen.

I already know that the excuse that will be used is going to frustrate me, and most people will see it as a weak excuse.

 

[Didinho]

I think so too, but it's his 8th professional season already. These things shouldn't be happening anymore.

New team, new clothes and supplies. Roglic was also struggling in the first rain and hot weather. But yeah this should’ve been sorted out already. Sometimes this happens. I ride 15k/year and also often forget to drink/eat early on, everyone knows you have to but happens sometimes.

 

[Rou]

I don't believe in the "he isn't build for double digit steep mountains". He showed before he has no issues with this. There needs to be an explanation why he finished 18th, behind Graat Tijmen.

I already know that the excuse that will be used is going to frustrate me, and most people will see it as a weak excuse.

He is over focusing on being the best time trialist in history. I know it sounds weird but I firmly believe it is limiting his climbing potential.

 

[KoopaCycling]

If he needs to be in 'Tour' shape then they're doing his prep wrong. He was great on Lo Port in the Tour of Catalunya back in 2023 versus Rog so I don't buy the whole (Tour prep or bust) idea. There's something else.

Something else? I dunno. If the climb stayed like it was during the first part of it, i think remco more than finishes well. The higher gradients blew him up imo. Not the length of the climb. I'm not sure how you can change that without a metamorphosis. Less Muscle/weight. They seemed to have gotten it more or less right in 2024. I'm hoping Red Bull can finetweak that, or bring him back to that level when he is doing a GT. Outside of GT, i don't think it's feasible to keep him in GT shape for long. And they should focus on what suits him most in current shape. Anything without those long steep climbs basically.

 

[Andre]

you can't win every day...Remco will be ok. Still not bad for February

 

[jotafap]

I mean, there’s no excuse. You can’t keep creating all sorts of scenarios in which he wins, and when he fails miserably, blame it on this or that. What happened today is nothing we haven’t seen time and time again, regardless of the outlier occasions when it didn’t happen, TdF 24 and Vuelta 22.

Nevertheless, it’s obviously not a stage in February that allows us to conclude whether his season will be a success or a failure.

 

[James M]

Im not going to bash him, and its certaintly not hate even if some hardcore fans will think so, but at one point people have to acknowledge that it is what it is especially since this has been same recurring problem for how many years?

Then its followed up by mental gymnastics and delulu talks about beating Vingegaard for some months then back to this rince and repeat for years now, it is what it is clearly.

 

[Rackham]

Something else? I dunno. If the climbs stayed like it was during the first part of it, i think remco more than finishes well. The higher gradients blew him up imo. Not the length of the climb. I'm not sure how you can change that without a metamorphosis. Less Muscle/weight. They seemed to have gotten it more or less right in 2024. I'm hoping Red Bull can finetweak that, or bring him back to that level when he is doing a GT. Outside of GT, i don't think it's feasible to keep him in GT shape for long. And they should focus on what suits him most in current shape. Anything without those long steep climbs basically.

Two minutes lost though. He won UAE back in 2023 as well so... irrespective of the climb profile it's not outlandish to suggest he can do way better.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

you can't win every day...Remco will be ok. Still not bad for February

Yeah, might be nothing, but the consistency with which he underwhelms at these occasions is worrying no matter when it happens, especially since he had a proper winter for once, did he not?

 

[saunaking]

Maybe drank not enough in the easy part of the stage, seemed like cramping. Looked good when he bridged to the front, but you knew he was done when he got dropped again.

Curious what he’ll say about it himself.

Looked good? A 10 second effort before any real effort had been put out?
Looked dumb in hindsight

 

[Berniece]

Looked good? A 10 second effort before any real effort had been put out?
Looked dumb in hindsight

You don't make that effort if you were thinking everything will be fine. He blew up out of nowhere and lost to Graat Tijmen... Obviously there must be a reason for that.

 

[kingjr]

You don't make that effort if you were thinking everything will be fine. He blew up out of nowhere and lost to Graat Tijmen... Obviously there must be a reason for that.

I think he saw van Wilder attack and he didn't like the optics of his former helper riding away from him after he switched teams to get better support.

 

[KoopaCycling]

You don't make that effort if you were thinking everything will be fine. He blew up out of nowhere and lost to Graat Tijmen... Obviously there must be a reason for that.

I don't think he knew the climb at all. My thought, his plan was to follow the danger men and blew himself up doing so.
Like the broadcasters he though Del Toro did not have it, and needed to look at Gall, ... . A miscalculation to say the least.
Most of those that went early paid the price. In hindsight he should have paced himself and tried to minimise the damage.
Unfortunately, i still think he loses a minute today, regardless, as he did not seem to have it today.

 

[Berniece]

DS - extraordinair - Lodewyck responded with: "We have no clue what went wrong".

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe tast (voorlopig) in het duister over Remco Evenepoel: "Krampen? Geen sprake van" | sporza

De etappe naar Jebel Mobrah is voor Remco Evenepoel een lijdensweg geworden. De leider verloor 2'04" op de zware slotklim en moet een kruis maken over zijn ambities in de UAE Tour. Kort na de finish kon ploegleider Klaas Lodewyck de vinger nog niet meteen op de wonde leggen. "Misschien ging hij...

sporza.be

 

[Cycling111]

I don't believe in the "he isn't build for double digit steep mountains". He showed before he has no issues with this. There needs to be an explanation why he finished 18th, behind Graat Tijmen.

I already know that the excuse that will be used is going to frustrate me, and most people will see it as a weak excuse.

Saying they have problems in the mountains doesn't mean they can't have good days.

The problem is that Remco has more bad days than good ones. What matters is the trend, and Remco's in the mountains is quite negative.

Although I've already said he can do another Tour like the one in 2024, that kind of preparation is harder for him than for a climber.

 

[jmdirt]

This isn't what I was expecting, but I'm not making any 2026 predictions based on this race day. Two minutes isn't a big deal because once it went bad he shipped it. If it was TdF he would have battled harder to limit time loss.

 

[Berniece]

Although I've already said he can do another Tour like the one in 2024, that kind of preparation is harder for him than for a climber.

I agree with that, but that's the TDF. This is UAE Tour. He shouldn't have issues without an explanation in these kind of races against this opposition if he's able to drop all of them by 10min in the TDF.

 

[Rackham]

Oh man. The gift that keeps on giving. Denk fires Aldag and Gasparotto just to get the latest version of "we don't know what went wrong".

 

[Tim Cahill]

Rolf Aldag-core, they owe him an apology.