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

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Aug 13, 2024
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Armstrong is pretty unique since his career is literally split in 2 parts.
Overall career palmares include big one day races and 7 Tours (okay no t really, but..) whereas if you look in detail you'll see the specialisation.

Yes, thanks for bringing Valverde, why didn't you include Roglic as well? Or perhaps Cunego or Bugno?
They just prove it's very hard to win MULTIPLE monuments and GTs.
Heck, even Armstrong didn't win multiple.
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.
 
Oct 15, 2017
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I also think Remco has a mentality issue when things don't go his way, which will prevent him from ever winning the Tour, or example, the Vuelta 23, ect.
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.
 
Jul 24, 2025
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Remco has been completely destroyed in I don’t know how many latest Monuments he’s participated in, races that perfectly suit his characteristics, yet somehow we’re almost guaranteeing he can win all five Monuments?

Hell, even Pogacar might fall short in two out of five. This discussion feels like a parallel reality.
 
Sep 12, 2022
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Remco has been completely destroyed in I don’t know how many latest Monuments he’s participated in, races that perfectly suit his characteristics, yet somehow we’re almost guaranteeing he can win all five Monuments?

Hell, even Pogacar might fall short in two out of five. This discussion feels like a parallel reality.
Destroyed? Please...
 
Jul 8, 2017
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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.

Maybe doing it in the generation of Pogacar, Vingegaard and MVDP makes it twice harder.
And maybe that's why Evenepoel has to choose his battles. He could probably get away with it 10 or 20 years ago, but nowadays..
 
Mar 11, 2009
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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.
 
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Jul 31, 2024
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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.
 
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Feb 18, 2026
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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
 
Apr 30, 2011
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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
 
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Jul 31, 2024
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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.
 
Feb 18, 2026
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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
 
Aug 13, 2024
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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.
 
Feb 18, 2026
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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.
 
Mar 18, 2015
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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.
 
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Apr 13, 2025
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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.
 
Feb 24, 2020
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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.