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

[Wvv]

Well. Can't deny that I'm quite disappointed by his performance today. He didn't need to win for me today, but a solid result to build on was certainly what we hoped for.

 

[perico]

No, but seriously. Pog and JV can have problems like everyone else while RE gets a clean run at things for once. I mean, look at the five year perspective. Remco is more likely to win the Tour before he retires than not, imo. He has 10x the talent of Bernal, Thomas, Froome, Nibali, Evans, Wiggins, Sastre, Pereiro Sio and so on.

He has more talent as a rider, but I wouldn’t say he’s a more talented climber than Froome or Nibali, and that’s not even mentioning Bertie.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Why would red bull regret signing him? He remains one of the stars of cycling.
I doubt Red Bull will worry about the money...

As for Remco, he is clealry dissapointed and has no answer himself. I mean if you ain't recovered from a 13 minute effort... . That just seems off. Unless he needs to go insanely deep to get his TT results. At which point, he may want to dial it back and finish with the pack, if the next day is a climbing day. I highly doubt that's the reason though. And he is just grasping at straws. It's not unusual for cyclist to have a tough first climbing day after a couple of days on the flat but i don't think that has been a problem in years gone by. More likely seems the change of pace to me. flat, lesser gradients, descent, high gradients, hence getting cramps.

If remco ain't doing it already he should start doing yoga. he is getting older, and it will help keep his muscles properly stretched.

Ofcourse that don't change he has a tough time with the steeper gradients, and it something for red bull to look at during next month methinks whilst on training.

 

[AmRacer]

Perhaps not compared to Froome. I'll concede that. For the rest though? Is Geraint Thomas better than Evenepoel??

Not anymore

 

[cafe_rider]

I could have named plenty of riders as I said.

Of course it is SUPERDUPER hard. But generational talents still do it, and did it in the past, even though some GC riders never seems to care - and this created the false impression that there was some big difference between one day riders and GT GC riders. Which I don't believe. Nor do I believe that doing PR or RVV hinders riders chances at winning the Tour. Which is very difficult of course.

There are maybe 7 riders that i can think of that have won multiple Grand Tours and Multiple Monuments in the history of cycling
Merckx
Hinault
Bartali
Coppi
Binda
Nibali
Pogacar

I think that is it
Only Merckx, Hinault and Pogacar have even started all of the Monuments and Hinault only rode De ronde once. If Pogacar starts Roubaix this year it will only be Pogacar and Merckx starting all the monuments more than once and winning Multiple Grand tours and Monuments

This is incredibly rare

 

[cafe_rider]

Maybe not as a GT GC rider.

Definitely NOT as a GC rider. His GC results are far below most of those riders and his GC Palmares is very bare - one Vuelta and has never won any of the big seven one week races

 

[Netserk]

There are maybe 7 riders that i can think of that have won multiple Grand Tours and Multiple Monuments in the history of cycling
Merckx
Hinault
Bartali
Coppi
Binda
Nibali
Pogacar

I think that is it
Only Merckx, Hinault and Pogacar have even started all of the Monuments and Hinault only rode De ronde once. If Pogacar starts Roubaix this year it will only be Pogacar and Merckx starting all the monuments more than once and winning Multiple Grand tours and Monuments

This is incredibly rare

also rominger

 

[KoopaCycling]

There is a mental aspect to Remco as well, but that is not the reason he was not good enough today, just made it worse once he realised he was not competing for the win. WC RR of last year was perfect example. It makes him human, but also at times a tad frustrating to watch.

 

[cafe_rider]

No, but seriously. Pog and JV can have problems like everyone else while RE gets a clean run at things for once. I mean, look at the five year perspective. Remco is more likely to win the Tour before he retires than not, imo. He has 10x the talent of Bernal, Thomas, Froome, Nibali, Evans, Wiggins, Sastre, Pereiro Sio and so on.

What is your basis for saying this? Saying 10 times the talent is highly disrespectful to all of these riders

 

[KoopaCycling]

What is your basis for saying this? Saying 10 times the talent is highly disrespectful to all of these riders

Even the worst pro cyclist does not have less than 10 times remco his talent methinks.
That list contains some very strong riders as well.

 

[cafe_rider]

also rominger

True
Also never started Roubaix
De Ronde a coupe of times though

Just I wonder how many riders have won multiple Grand Tours and even started all of the monuments twice - probably very few

 

[Pozzovivo]

What is your basis for saying this? Saying 10 times the talent is highly disrespectful to all of these riders

I use hyperbole - it should not be taken literally. But my point being at 19 he was literally world class across TT and Hilly one day races. He was arguably better than all of them already then at some disciplines. Maybe Bernal can claim almost the same promise for climbing.

 

[cafe_rider]

I use hyperbole - it should not be taken literally. But my point being at 19 he was literally world class across TT and Hilly one day races. He was arguably better than all of them already then at some disciplines. Maybe Bernal can claim almost the same promise for climbing.

Remco has had a lot of set-backs though
Lombardy crash
Covid at Giro in 2023 (Then the unexplained collapse on Tourmalet stage at 2023 Vuelta)
Doored Winter 2024, then another collapse at Liege
Collapse on Hautacam stage then deteriorating as 2025 tour went on
Honestly he may have a physiological issue post the 2023 Covid at Giro or he is not robust/ durable enough for grand tour racing. He has raced 6, DNF on 3 and fell away completed on one. the Tour 2024 result feels like an outlier at this point.
He might well be the greatest time trial rider of all time, is a super strong one day rider but he just seems to deteriorate over longer races. Riders are made up differently and I think that his obvious talent at 19 does not translate to 3 week (or honestly even one week) stage races. You have to try but the data would not support continuing on a path that looks doomed.

 

[danielovichdk2]

Waffles and Pommes Frites is a Belgium act of genius. Remco looked like a waffle with pommes frites legs today.

Cooked crispy in the sun. No red bull is making him fly. Roglic would have stayed on toros wheel, no problem.

 

[Cycling111]

Waffles and Pommes Frites is a Belgium act of genius. Remco looked like a waffle with pommes frites legs today.

Cooked crispy in the sun. No red bull is making him fly. Roglic would have stayed on toros wheel, no problem.

The old Roglic, yes, but the current one? Emilia is the race that suits Roglic best., and he didn't even see Del Toro's wheel.

We'll see if he can do it this year at Tirreno-Adriatico. It's a route that suits Roglic.

 

[peterfin]

Red Bull might be regretting the money they spent on Remco, when they already had a better GC rider in Lopwiz.... Other than the 2024 Tour, Remco's climbing performances and GC results against the big boys is pretty poor.

Regretting after riding just 3 weeks for them with 6 wins? Any program they have in mind to improve his climbing cannot have a material impact at the momenr.

 

[peterfin]

he tried to follow the best because he has that mentality always. He never attacked.

His mind is always willing to go but he his legs unfortunately not.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Overall this just repeats a few patterns for Evenepoel

1. Disappointing performance on a long and steep climb. Early season he's usually considerably worse on long climbs and on long and steep climbs it's basically always so. He's done one great performance on a 12% average or higher climb and it was 15 minutes.
2. Having a really *** performance the moment something goes wrong. He just doesn't have a B level, he falls through the floor immediately.
3. A more general observation that riders don't perform well outside their more natural skillset really early in the season. This is why you see Evenepoel struggle on long, big climbs in February, or why a guy like Vingegaard may drop a horrendous flat TT in the Tirreno.

Aside from that, I don't think he handles disappointment well within a race and he clearly struggles to push through bad legs to push for like a 5th or whatever place. Whether that extends to him blocking completely in races like the TdF 2025 I'm not sure.

Not that it was immense pressure here, but there were sure a lot of people looking for how his performance was gonna be here today. It was the first real big test this season.

When the stakes are high, he has gone missing a few times now over the past few years. One has to analyse it.

He is at his best when a lot of things is to his advantage and he is control. Can decide when to go. Or in ITTs, where he can just focus on himself.

This.
100% this. The moment things aren´t going well enough, he breaks down mentally. Hence the inexplicable implosions from time to time.

I 100% agree with the bolded. He can be mentally very strong even when on the back foot (Tour 2024, although I disagree that dropping minutes on the toughest mountain stages was some historical feat, Amstel Gold Race last year, etc.), but he more often than not completely collapses when someone attacks him unexpectedly or his legs don't respond the way he thinks they will. Giro 2021, Vuelta 2023, LBL 2025, Tour 2025, this...he has to figure out how to avoid the collapse. He went to the 2023 Vuelta for example fully believing he would defend his 2022 title. Then Roglic attacked unexpectedly, he didn't feel great, and Vuelta over.

In the two major exceptions I can think of - 2024 Tour and AGR 2025 - I think there were big psychological factors at play. In the 2024 Tour, he wasn't expected to win. Pogi and Vingegaard were world beaters, he'd had a crash, it was his first Tour, he hadn't won the 2023 Vuelta, etc. In AGR 2025, he was newly back from an offseason crash, so the stakes were low.

When the stakes are high and he believes he should win, he seems to need 100% control and cannot handle the unexpected.

I don't think that is unfixable. He has the mental strength, he has physical strength, he has displayed it all at the same time, he can get there. But he needs to understand and accept the issue and embrace the work to address it. Step 1 is acknowledging that he has severely underperformed in stage races relative to his talent, expectations, and pay, and that responsibility for that sits with himself. Then dig into the why - OK, a lot of it is sudden collapses and highly variable performance. OK, what's driving that? And so on.

 

[Unchained]

Remco is a great rider, he has good finishes here with chaotic first stage and yesterday, he was excellent.
Remco did crack but it's all relative. He only finished 2:04 off pace.
Someone posted that Bora might be disappointed in signing him, crazy talk.
The guy is a big draw as evidence here, people enjoy watching him.
He did squander his big talent, TT skill and with remaining stages he can try something crazy to get in the top ten. If you look at some of the quality in front of him, top 10 looks difficult at UAE finish.
Visma, UnoX, both with some decent results, Plapp certainly shows he is for real this year.
Modern Adventure with only upside raced OK.. Gee with a respectable finish, Movistar a complete no show.
Always going to be hard to understand what Trek didn't like about Tiberi..

 

[Berniece]

Remco is a great rider, he has good finishes here with chaotic first stage and yesterday, he was excellent.
Remco did crack but it's all relative. He only finished 2:04 off pace.
Someone posted that Bora might be disappointed in signing him, crazy talk.
The guy is a big draw as evidence here, people enjoy watching him.
He did squander his big talent, TT skill and with remaining stages he can try something crazy to get in the top ten. If you look at some of the quality in front of him, top 10 looks difficult at UAE finish.
Visma, UnoX, both with some decent results, Plapp certainly shows he is for real this year.
Modern Adventure with only upside raced OK.. Gee with a respectable finish, Movistar a complete no show.
Always going to be hard to understand what Trek didn't like about Tiberi..

He doesn’t need to do something crazy to finish in the top 10 though. He’s 1sec behind top 10, just doing decent on Saturday is enough.

Maybe we get some echelons too, but doubt it

 

[Unchained]

He doesn’t need to do something crazy to finish in the top 10 though. He’s 1sec behind top 10, just doing decent on Saturday is enough.

Maybe we get some echelons too, but doubt it

He has skills to get on the podium but it will take something bold, if he wants top ten he is a sprint away, but he can do way more than that there is no difference between 4th and 100th..I personally hope he gets mad and attacks.

 

[Tim Cahill]

The big man should attack from the gun tomorrow, good stage for Evenepoel, uphill climb to start, not really steep, get rid of a a few UAE doms, few guys in the break maybe. It's not like there's much to lose with his next race in a month, may as well stir the pot.

 

[MariaB]

Remco really talks too much. All of excuses again.

 

[Berniece]

He has skills to get on the podium but it will take something bold, if he wants top ten he is a sprint away, but he can do way more than that there is no difference between 4th and 100th..I personally hope he gets mad and attacks.

I hope so too, but the route doesn't really help him with this. He's targeted quite hard too anyway, and his team isn't good enough for this here. That hill before intermediate sprint 2 is basically 500m at 10-12%, the rest is shallow. The one after goes up and down a lot, I don't really see anywhere to attack.

Unless you do like Tim Cahill says and attack from the start, but that's extremely far out, who is going to work with him?

 

[Extinction]

It's not whether it's fixible or not, but the fact that others today, who "should" be beneath him, let alone Pogacar, showed up and performed. This seems to me, by now, to be a physiological problem or limit. Otherwise those who are managing him at Bora are as incompetent as those at Soudal.