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

[Berniece]

That just happened 2 weeks ago in UAE Tour. Unless you don't think Remco is a top rider (but he is in my book).

Del Toro didn't humiliate him though, more like Evenepoel humiliated himself

 

[kingjr]

Those are people who finished ahead of him on the first climb in the UAE Tour, and based on that performance many have posted that he isn't a climber, needs to give up on GTs, etc. I don't have any interest in digging up posts to prove it or in debating the point, so take it for what it is.

I think this issue can perhaps be resolved by asking the readers of this thread two questions:

a) Was Evenepoel worse at the UAE Tour than he should be when he is in good shape?

b) If the answer is yes, are there any explanations that are not automatically also excuses?

 

[Low is rhe new high]

This is an interesting take on the UAE tour performance: https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...-doubt-on-remco-evenepoels-uae-tour-struggles I don’t know if it is believable but it matches Remcos behaviour, before when he has underachieved it has been a lot of anger and excuses. This time it doesn’t seem so emotional, like he is not so invested. Another thing that plays into this scenario is that Red Bull sent him to UAE with a sprint team. It makes no sense to do this if they were facing UAEs best riders and wanted Remco to win.

 

[Oldman]

Del Toro didn't humiliate him though, more like Evenepoel humiliated himself

That's harsh. Remco was riding his race and Del Toro his own. Del Toro was strongly aggressive at the end and couldn't be brought back. Every other racer suffered the fate of "losing" to him although that isn't how GC riders perform. They race for time and the opportunity to win stages; hopefully with bonus seconds.

 

[AmRacer]

I think this issue can perhaps be resolved by asking the readers of this thread two questions:

a) Was Evenepoel worse at the UAE Tour than he should be when he is in good shape?

b) If the answer is yes, are there any explanations that are not automatically also excuses?

A) Was Remco in good shape compared with the week before and other riders?

 

[Berniece]

That's harsh. Remco was riding his race and Del Toro his own. Del Toro was strongly aggressive at the end and couldn't be brought back. Every other racer suffered the fate of "losing" to him although that isn't how GC riders perform. They race for time and the opportunity to win stages; hopefully with bonus seconds.

It’s just that Del Toro’s performance wasn’t that crazy, he lost a stage to Tiberi… so I stand by saying Del Toro’s didn’t humiliate Evenepoel because he wasn’t extremely good, Evenepoel was extremely bad

 

[HashRouge]

This is an interesting take on the UAE tour performance: https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...-doubt-on-remco-evenepoels-uae-tour-struggles I don’t know if it is believable but it matches Remcos behaviour, before when he has underachieved it has been a lot of anger and excuses. This time it doesn’t seem so emotional, like he is not so invested. Another thing that plays into this scenario is that Red Bull sent him to UAE with a sprint team. It makes no sense to do this if they were facing UAEs best riders and wanted Remco to win.

Why would Remco go to the UAE Tour just to test himself in a 13km TT though?

 

[Berniece]

This is an interesting take on the UAE tour performance: https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...-doubt-on-remco-evenepoels-uae-tour-struggles I don’t know if it is believable but it matches Remcos behaviour, before when he has underachieved it has been a lot of anger and excuses. This time it doesn’t seem so emotional, like he is not so invested. Another thing that plays into this scenario is that Red Bull sent him to UAE with a sprint team. It makes no sense to do this if they were facing UAEs best riders and wanted Remco to win.

I don’t think that take is really grounded in reality. I find it more plausible that they might have knew it was going to be difficult but that they went for the money. It was never part of the initial plan for the season, and added late.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Then why was Remco and the DS holding pikachu faces?