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

[Peyresourde]

Del Toro today pushed less w/kg than Evenepoel in 2023. Tailwind vs Headwind makes a gigantic difference on this kind of climb (high speed and mostly in one direction without vegetation).

Evenepoel simply not in good climbing shape.

 

[AmRacer]

Maybe he should switch focus. Rest, altitude camp, then only race one-days the rest of the spring.

 

[Pozzovivo]

I think he would prefer winning the UAE Tour instead of the lesser races.

I think so as well.

 

[Pozzovivo]

One minute ahead of Luke Plapp!

Who showed again today how good he is on these kinds of efforts.

 

[Pozzovivo]

Del Toro today pushed less w/kg than Evenepoel in 2023. Tailwind vs Headwind makes a gigantic difference on this kind of climb (high speed and mostly in one direction without vegetation).

Evenepoel simply not in good climbing shape.

Must be said that the climb was very unevenly paced. Much harder to do good climbing times when you have to surge and recover 3 times

 

[Berniece]

This was such a *** performance and serious letdown. I don’t even know what it might be. I don’t believe in “he’s not a climber”, when he won Vuelta and finished podium TDF. That’s just what some people hope. The team has no explanation why he doesn’t have the legs from Valencia, which is even more worrying. I said before let’s wait for Catalunya but not sure that will matter much. Sure he will lose some weight and have that altitude influence, but still… worrying signs, and just overall disappointing

 

[Pozzovivo]

I´d phrase it the other way around. He's a bad climber, but thanks to his talent and dedication, he has sometimes managed to climb very well.

That's why he hasn't won any of the seven major one-week races; because, being a poor climber, he needs more dedication than the rest. Such a great deal of dedication that he can only make it for one race a season, like the Tour de France.

I don't think this distiction is meaningful. You ride faster uphill than almost every WT rider, you are a great climber. How one arbitrarily attributes that ability to different things based on gut feeling makes no sense.

He has done very well at several big one week races. So, if he had beaten Roglic or Jorgenson in Catalunya or Paris nice that would have changes things entirely? Nonesense.

 

[Pozzovivo]

He's not a bad climber, but has to deal with a wave of huge climbing talent. Long gone are the days when a Thomas can win the Tour.

But Thomas was the strongest climber in that Tour. It would be better to refer to Dumoulin's Giro win for instance. Where he was not the best climber but best overall.

 

[James M]

I don’t believe in “he’s not a climber”, when he won Vuelta and finished podium TDF. That’s just what some people hope.

Tao Geoghegan won the Giro but obviously help him 0 % now too. Zero relevance to today thats the definition of cope.

 

[Red Rick]

This was such a *** performance and serious letdown. I don’t even know what it might be. I don’t believe in “he’s not a climber”, when he won Vuelta and finished podium TDF. That’s just what some people hope. The team has no explanation why he doesn’t have the legs from Valencia, which is even more worrying. I said before let’s wait for Catalunya but not sure that will matter much. Sure he will lose some weight and have that altitude influence, but still… worrying signs, and just overall disappointing

Team saying they have no idea is completely shocking....

For me the part where they skip classics because they want to focus everything on TdF GC, then proceed to apparently not train on long climbs all winter is absolutely astounding.

 

[Berniece]

Tao Geoghegan won the Giro but obviously help him 0 % now too. Zero relevance to today thats the definition of cope.

His performance in 2024 was still better than what others did the year after. So he lost that capability completely or something is wrong

 

[AmRacer]

His performance in 2024 was still better than what others did the year after. So he lost that capability completely or something is wrong

It's gone never to be seen again, or maybe if he crashes in Itzulia again 🤔

 

[staubsauger]

Evgeni Berzin all over again.
And Evgeni actually won a proper Grand Tour with the 1994 Giro d'Italia and kinda confirmed that performance in 1995 before fading away and sinking on every proper ascend!

 

[AmRacer]

Instead of Catalunya
MSR
E3
GW
Dwars
RVV
Amstel
LBL
.
Maybe some more, he should be able to fight for the win.

 

[Red Rick]

His performance in 2024 was still better than what others did the year after. So he lost that capability completely or something is wrong

Vingegaard and Pogacar (in the Alps) also did worse, so it's not unreasonable to assume the conditions were by and large worse for crazy numbers.

 

[Salvarani]

Instead of Catalunya
MSR
E3
GW
Dwars
RVV
Amstel
LBL
.
Maybe some more, he should be able to fight for the win.

I dont think so.

He needs altitude, Catalunya, altitude... before LBL to be at his best level there.

We will see if they will have him do Amstel and Fleche before. When he won in 2023, he didnt.

I think him doing MSR, E3, GW, Dwars and RVV would be great for entertainment purposes... but maybe not good for him.

 

[AmRacer]

I dont think so.

He needs altitude, Catalunya, altitude... before LBL to be at his best level there.

We will see if they will have him do Amstel and Fleche before. When he won in 2023, he didnt.

I think him doing MSR, E3, GW, Dwars and RVV would be great for entertainment purposes... but maybe not good for him.

He should be able to get good results there, maybe winning one as well.

 

[Ulle97]

I'm a Remco fan, but I have to say I'm done with the excuses. The man is a limited climber at best.

His best GT performance left him more than 9mins behind Pogacar in TDF 24.

The amount of times we hit the proper climbs and we see him blowing up is unfair for him to endure. He is an outstanding TTer, one-day racer and brilliant at long range attacks on hilly terrain.

The man is NOT a climber. He is sacrificing results and potential victories in other races by chasing a dream of winning the Tour de France. He has ZERO chance of doing that.

Smoked in the UAE climbs, Meltdown in the Tour last year, Meltdown in the Vuelta in 23, didn't finish the Giro in 21 or 23, falls away in TDS stages once the road goes up.

Yet I hear all this tripe that he needs altitude camps, he needs to lose weight, he's not dialled in, he has no base, the AC was smashed. The man is killing himself trying to be someone he's not.

 

[Salvarani]

He should be able to get good results there, maybe winning one as well.

Maybe, who knows, but I dont think it is best strategy for him to be the best for LBL. A race that really suits and that he has won twice.

And it is probably better to do altitude, Catalunya, altitude... with the other targets he has this season as well. He needs it to improve his climbing-level. I dont think riding classics will help with that. Nor that riding classics is suitable for him. So where does he go?

This was a really disappointing race, but they would have to be clueless to just alter the spring schedule/plans for him and have him do those races imo.

 

[canina82]

I'm a Remco fan, but I have to say I'm done with the excuses. The man is a limited climber at best.

His best GT performance left him more than 9mins behind Pogacar in TDF 24.

The amount of times we hit the proper climbs and we see him blowing up is unfair for him to endure. He is an outstanding TTer, one-day racer and brilliant at long range attacks on hilly terrain.

The man is NOT a climber. He is sacrificing results and potential victories in other races by chasing a dream of winning the Tour de France. He has ZERO chance of doing that.

Smoked in the UAE climbs, Meltdown in the Tour last year, Meltdown in the Vuelta in 23, didn't finish the Giro in 21 or 23, falls away in TDS stages once the road goes up.

Yet I hear all this tripe that he needs altitude camps, he needs to lose weight, he's not dialled in, he has no base, the AC was smashed. The man is killing himself trying to be someone he's not.

Brilliant post. 100% this.

 

[Netserk]

Vingegaard and Pogacar (in the Alps) also did worse, so it's not unreasonable to assume the conditions were by and large worse for crazy numbers.

they went fast on ventoux.

hard on madeleine, but not full once they made it to jorg. but it still had a big impact on loze

and then the headwind and how vingegaard rode the next day also meant that there were no test of how strong they were

 

[staubsauger]

Evenepoel won a 2022 Vuelta a Espana where he was able to come from altitude camp in peak shape and hit the hardest 2 mountains still being super fresh. Afterwards there hardly were any true obstacles. Neither @Libertine Seguros nor @hrotha with full Spanish patriotism considered that specific edition of the Vuelta a Espana a proper Grand Tour! (Correct my if I'm wrong)
It simply was the perfect race for someone like Remco that needs to come in peak shape and fresh as daisy to a race, but has big problems to maintain that shape over 3 weeks.

He also really isn't a climber. Aubisque already has been too much. Like I said Evenepoel has sunken more often on the big mountains than Evgeni Berzin who was actually famous for totally falling apart on serious ascends. Berzin overlived the Giro d'Italia mountaine in 1994 & 1995 though, while Remco cracked on Aubisque & Tourmalet early on.


Di Luca who definitely wasn't a true climber either at least drilled Finestre & Blockhaus.


Remco needs to sort this out, but it becomes less and less possible he actually can. He's a super strong classics rider that is able to limit his losses in the high mountains to archive a podium spot in an ideal race for himself it seems. Just like in 2023 at the Tour de France.


Already looks like Pellizzari needs to pull Red Bull's chestnuts out of the fire at the 2026 Giro d'Italia first, before they seek Grand Tour success at the Tour de France.


There will be Ayuso, Seixas, Evenepoel and Lippowitz. Plus Del Torro if he doesn't need to fully sacrifice himself for Pogacar which seems entirely possible.

Ayuso is just as fragile as Evenepoel. Seixas is super young going for his Grand Tour debut. But including Del Torro those are 3 guys that look stronger for a 3 week challenge AT THIS POINT that need to crack ALL before Red Bull can think about another Tour de France podium.


Huge enhancement is necessary!

 

[peterfin]

I'm a Remco fan, but I have to say I'm done with the excuses. The man is a limited climber at best.

His best GT performance left him more than 9mins behind Pogacar in TDF 24.

The amount of times we hit the proper climbs and we see him blowing up is unfair for him to endure. He is an outstanding TTer, one-day racer and brilliant at long range attacks on hilly terrain.

The man is NOT a climber. He is sacrificing results and potential victories in other races by chasing a dream of winning the Tour de France. He has ZERO chance of doing that.

Smoked in the UAE climbs, Meltdown in the Tour last year, Meltdown in the Vuelta in 23, didn't finish the Giro in 21 or 23, falls away in TDS stages once the road goes up.

Yet I hear all this tripe that he needs altitude camps, he needs to lose weight, he's not dialled in, he has no base, the AC was smashed. The man is killing himself trying to be someone he's not.

I generally have the same feeling since 2025. I do think that having one big GC target a year is still ok if he doesn't sacrifice the rest of his season for it. He has (or definitely had) it in him to win the Giro. His chances to win the TdF are close to zero as long as Pogacar races but it's the most important race of the season so a podium has a lot of value too.

 

[Peyresourde]

they went fast on ventoux.

hard on madeleine, but not full once they made it to jorg. but it still had a big impact on loze

and then the headwind and how vingegaard rode the next day also meant that there were no test of how strong they were

A lot was talked about Pogacar's knee injury in the alps which explain his slight struggles, but I have no idea what was up with Vingegaard. He had his best day on Ventoux and then was weaker than expected in the Alps. Other riders like Lipowitz and Onley were quite consistent over the whole race so I don't think just external conditions were the reason. (I think he may have already somewhat given up and was already thinking about the Vuelta)

As for Evenepoel: One thing I noticed that he is often flying straight from (altitude) training but then does not get better / even worse after several races. It is not that he necessarily gets worse within a race (even in a 3 week GT). He instead seems to get worse in the 2nd and 3rd race back from training, especially if it is a stage race.

Other riders often get better in their 2nd race (e.g. Tiberi improving in UAE compared to Valencia). Of course this is just anectodal and not necessarily a fact.

 

[Netserk]

He had his best day on Ventoux and then was weaker than expected in the Alps.

how do you measure this when he didnt do a single climb full ?

youd have to segment madeleine and then try to infer from that which performance he likely was capable of