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

[memyselfandI]

To me he's capable GT winner still. But margins of error are so small in every aspect of racing craft in personal and team level. Too prima donna easily. Visible and known weaknesses in performance.

As seen in Catalunya and some early season performances, he's absolute weapon in his strenght. If he could up the game even just a bit in his weaknesses. But it seems stagnant now for some years already.

Just too cocky and satisfied, not that humble to recognize the things he needs to do.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Never heard ppl question his work ethic. How he works, but never his work ethic.

 

[memyselfandI]

You can work hard, but for wrong things. And you can work for your strengths, what is sensible. Up to a point.

 

[Extinction]

To me he's capable GT winner still. But margins of error are so small in every aspect of racing craft in personal and team level. Too prima donna easily. Visible and known weaknesses in performance.

As seen in Catalunya and some early season performances, he's absolute weapon in his strenght. If he could up the game even just a bit in his weaknesses. But it seems stagnant now for some years already.

Just too cocky and satisfied, not that humble to recognize the things he needs to do.

To the bolded, the move to Bora was supposed to change that, but at the moment it doesn't seem to be working.

 

[Extinction]

You can work hard, but for wrong things. And you can work for your strengths, what is sensible. Up to a point.

And busting your chops to maintain TT hegemony won't do it in the high mountains. Only he knows if he spends time at anltitude camps being squeezed like a lemon, only to rinse, wash and drink it again repeatedly. Only he knows if he pushes the limit between being totally destroyed or becoming a beast uphill in his training efforts. If that's even possible. And that's the thing with real pain and suffering in training. You never know how much it will work or if you will recover from it. This pushes most into not really allowing them to go through the process of pain wholeheartedly..

 

[Red Rick]

He did drop a pretty mean sprint at the end, so he was clearly not on the limit in the group he was in. It's possible he just got on the wrong end of a split because he had to follow Vingegaard for longer than the earlier attackers who got themselves a headstart and then got dropped by Vingegaard within a minute of him joining that group.

 

[Extinction]

He did drop a pretty mean sprint at the end, so he was clearly not on the limit in the group he was in. It's possible he just got on the wrong end of a split because he had to follow Vingegaard for longer than the earlier attackers who got themselves a headstart and then got dropped by Vingegaard within a minute of him joining that group.

Perhaps, but I think had Evenepoel chased and caught Gall, it would have immediately triggered a response from Vingegaard and I don't know if, after the effort, Remco would have been able to stay with Gall, as Lipowitz did in the actual scenario. I also suspect that if Lipowitz was in Remco's position, he would have gotten to the Gall group, because his effort following Vingegaard there wouldn't have been too different to what he spent getting a head start yesterday. If that makes sense.

 

[Berniece]

To the bolded, the move to Bora was supposed to change that, but at the moment it doesn't seem to be working.

I think everything is going as planned. People seem to forget that Vingegaard and Evenepoel train differently in this time of year. Vingegaard always does the same, focus on stage racing, being the best at long climbs. Evenepoel is focusing on 2 different things in spring. Stage racing and explosive one day races.

Different way of training, different way of how your body behaves on long climbs, not to mention different weight.

 

[theyoungest]

He did drop a pretty mean sprint at the end, so he was clearly not on the limit in the group he was in. It's possible he just got on the wrong end of a split because he had to follow Vingegaard for longer than the earlier attackers who got themselves a headstart and then got dropped by Vingegaard within a minute of him joining that group.

Paret-Peintre didn't.

It happens more often (actually, come to think of it, always) that Evenepoel gets dropped, ends up in a group, and then starts pulling and ostentatiously showing that he's the strongest in that group.

 

[Extinction]

I think everything is going as planned. People seem to forget that Vingegaard and Evenepoel train differently in this time of year. Vingegaard always does the same, focus on stage racing, being the best at long climbs. Evenepoel is focusing on 2 different things in spring. Stage racing and explosive one day races.

Different way of training, different way of how your body behaves on long climbs, not to mention different weight.

I just think he's not getting it right for either. If he wants to focus on both in the spring, then why didn't he do Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico in razor fine form, then MSR, Flanders, Liege, then Dauphine or Giro (yes, even Giro), then Tour? Perhaps if he starts to think less about the Tour and more on each performance, he may just win some important races and surprise himself, as opposed to disapointment, at the Tour.

 

[Berniece]

I just think he's not getting it right for either. If he wants to focus on both in the spring, then why didn't he do Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico in razor fine form, then MSR, Flanders, Liege, then Dauphine or Giro (yes, even Giro), then Tour? Perhaps if he starts think less about the Tour and on each performance, he may just win some important races and surprise himself, as opposed to disapointment, at the Tour.

Because they wanted him to do some altitude, specifically for this race. Then he crashed and all was for nothing, again. I do agree that his schedule could be better, even more so for 1 day races. When you look at MSR for example. Can't imagine him not sprinting along for victory there.

I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years he looks back at his career after never winning TDF, thinking: Damn I could've been the best 1-day racer ever if I only focused on that.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2037635170719740399

What a teammate!

That may very well be true, but the Lipowitz group certainly didn't ride much differently and could have finished way closer to Vingegaard as well.

 

[Extinction]

That may very well be true, but the Lipowitz group certainly didn't ride much differently and could have finished way closer to Vingegaard as well.

If they had the energy.

 

[Extinction]

Because they wanted him to do some altitude, specifically for this race. Then he crashed and all was for nothing, again. I do agree that his schedule could be better, even more so for 1 day races. When you look at MSR for example. Can't imagine him not sprinting along for victory there.

I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years he looks back at his career after never winning TDF, thinking: Damn I could've been the best 1-day racer ever if I only focused on that.

I think the emphasis on altitude has becomes a negative factor. He shouldn't need altitude for the classics, besides, if they wanted, he could have been sent to Tiede before or after Paris-Nice. I think he needs to get out of his own fixations and just bust his balls training, while focusing on each performance.

I think a problem for him was not doing a proper mountain stage race before turning pro. Maybe it would have changed something, his outlook and priorities. Instead he was told he was going to be the new Merckx on his numbers, without knowing a lot from what he didn't do or who he was going to have to beat.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

If they had the energy.

More like the ambition to do it, which they obviously didn't have since they were going to lose to Vingegaard regardless. As long as they could battle it out for the podium without allowing G3 to come back it was a fine situation for them. Why they couldn't cooperate well in G3 is harder to understand, although Remco's presence probably didn't help when he obviously wasn't allowed to pull.

 

[Berniece]

In his column for het Nieuwsblad, Don Patrick goes further on his previous comments of Evenepoel being a 1-day rider.

Out of the corner of my eye, I also followed the Tour of Catalonia in Harelbeke, where Remco Evenepoel had to drop back after Jonas Vingegaard’s acceleration. In Het Laatste Nieuws – in an interview with Wim Opbrouck – I said this week that Remco might be more of a one-day racer, but if I may nuance that: I don’t mean that he needs to reorient himself immediately. Remco won the Vuelta a España with three-quarters of the team. It is perfectly logical if he wants to give himself another two years or so to discover how far he can get in the Tour. He will still only be twenty-eight. I have had riders on my team who won the Tour of Flanders at the age of thirty-five.”

I see more good signs than bad in Catalonia. Remco looks sharp, a kilo or two lighter than in the UAE Tour. His fall was unfortunate, but crashing while changing your grip on the handlebars happens to the best of us. Even I have experienced it. Losing a minute and a half to Vingegaard with a body full of scrapes is nothing to lose sleep over.

 

[Red Rick]

The stupidity of the argument is mainly that they are not at all mutually exclusive, and he couldh ave started racing Sanremo and RvV in like 2022 already.

 

[Berniece]

I think the emphasis on altitude has becomes a negative factor. He shouldn't need altitude for the classics

Why not?

 

[Extinction]

I

More like the ambition to do it, which they obviously didn't have since they were going to lose to Vingegaard regardless. As long as they could battle it out for the podium without allowing G3 to come back it was a fine situation for them. Why they couldn't cooperate well in G3 is harder to understand, although Remco's presence probably didn't help when he obviously wasn't allowed to pull.

Think enegy and will kinda go hand in hand, because if they could have gained more time on their chacers, instead of losing it, they would have. Everbody looked on the limit, except maybe Gall, who alone couldn't make up much ground it seemed.

 

[canina82]

If he wants to win the Tour so badly, he shouldn't give a fig about the WCIT. Just my opinion. What will be worth more, beating Ganna again at Worlds or Pog at the Tour? I don't mean to sound ridiculous, but that's the nature of it.

His ego is so fragile that he needs to be the best at something even if that thing is not great.
He puts so much focus on TTs and there isn't a single rider who became great for winning WCTTs.
Michael Rodgers is not a legend of this sport for sure. Remco will finish as a legend due to his ORR, monuments, Vuelta and WCRR. Not TTs.

 

[Extinction]

Why not?

Because it's somewhat of a myth, or perhaps mystique is the better word. Look Pogi isn't doing altitude now through Liege and isn't affected by it. I think a reliance on altitude is more mental than physical for the classics. Just train your arse off stay focusesd.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I

Think enegy and will kinda go hand in hand, because if they could have gained more time on their chacers, instead of losing it, they would have. Everbody looked on the limit, except maybe Gall, who alone couldn't make up much ground it seemed.

It obviously plays a part, too, but we do see it time and time again, also in a different race yesterday, that even if you do have the energy, you don't always want to spent it you fear it may help someone else more than you.

 

[canina82]

Because it's somewhat of a myth, or perhaps mystique is the better word. Look Pogi isn't doing altitude now through Liege and isn't affected by it. I think a reliance on altitude is more mental than physical for the classics. Just train your arse off stay focusesd.

Pogacar cannot be the benchmark to anyone. What he does is unique.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Crash for sure didn't help and Remco was relatively fresh at the finish sprinting. Still the gap is substantial.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Remco wants to win at least one more WC TT title in a row. Cementing his place amongst the TT greats. Even if he has not done so already. After that I would hope he gives it less focus.