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

[Berniece]

I'm not a Roglic fan. He was just the most obvious person to mention as being better. I wouldn't even call Remco the fourth best. The guy didn't win a single stage that was a mountain finish. Just because he had a lucky once in a lifetime podium finish at the Tour doesn’t mean he was third best climber.

Lucky?

 

[KoopaCycling]

I'm not a Roglic fan. He was just the most obvious person to mention as being better. I wouldn't even call Remco the fourth best. The guy didn't win a single stage that was a mountain finish. Just because he had a lucky once in a lifetime podium finish at the Tour doesn’t mean he was third best climber.

You would not even call Remco 4th best, cause he did not win a mountain finish....
Okay.

 

[AmRacer]

Lucky?

Yeps, that's right. Lucky.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Remco was great in that Tour. Sure, Roglic wasn’t at his best at the start and crashed out, but Remco earned that podium fair and square. A ton of hard work, sacrifices, and great riding went into that. Lipowitz was infinitely luckier last year.

 

[Pozzovivo]

Some thoughts on Remco’s Volta a Catalunya (Sorry for long post).

I came into this race genuinely expecting a strong Remco. He is usually good after altitude camps, and the whole point of changing teams and training setup is to move closer to Pogacar and Vingegaard in Grand Tour GC level.

That expectation was clearly wrong. He was nowhere near that level here. He was not even clearly better than several of the other b-contenders, and he was plainly below Vingegaard. Just as concerning, if not more, he raced the GC in a way that seemed completely detached from the actual objective. Attacking in crosswinds is fine. Pulling hard with your main rival sitting comfortably on your wheel is just stupid. Crashing himself in the run-in was a fitting end to a race that, unfortunately, also felt very on-brand for him.

His behaviour throughout the race was childish, and revealing. The constant yelling, gesturing, and complaining about rivals not pulling when they had every reason not to pull was just embarrassing. It may create drama and entertainment, but for a rider in his seventh professional season it is getting old. At some point he has to grow out of this. Stop wasting energy on theatre. Ask whether Pogacar behaves like this. He does not. Learn from that.

Tactically, Remco is very poor. Frankly, I think he is among the worst tactical riders at the top level of the sport. Give many other riders his engine and they would get more out of it. The one smart thing he did in races was attacking over the top of climbs, where he could use his power and aerodynamics on flatter and downhill terrain. Then on the final stage he went back to attacking on the steep wall, which suits him far less, and I almost lost my mind. Even when riders held his wheel on the climb, he still dragged them full gas on the descent and flat, handing them the maximum possible advantage. It was dreadful racing. And then what happened? Complanin both in race and the post-stage complaints about rivals, after a stage he very likely could have won with better choices made by himself. No introspection of course.

I still believe in his talent. I still think he has the physical ability to win the Tour one day, or at least the kind of ability that should put that within reach. What I doubt more and more is whether he has the brains and temperament for it.

This was one of the least enjoyable Remco races I have watched.

Sincerely, a concerned Remco believer

 

[canina82]

Some thoughts on Remco’s Volta a Catalunya (Sorry for long post).

I came into this race genuinely expecting a strong Remco. He is usually good after altitude camps, and the whole point of changing teams and training setup is to move closer to Pogacar and Vingegaard in Grand Tour GC level.

That expectation was clearly wrong. He was nowhere near that level here. He was not even clearly better than several of the other b-contenders, and he was plainly below Vingegaard. Just as concerning, if not more, he raced the GC in a way that seemed completely detached from the actual objective. Attacking in crosswinds is fine. Pulling hard with your main rival sitting comfortably on your wheel is just stupid. Crashing himself in the run-in was a fitting end to a race that, unfortunately, also felt very on-brand for him.

His behaviour throughout the race was childish, and revealing. The constant yelling, gesturing, and complaining about rivals not pulling when they had every reason not to pull was just embarrassing. It may create drama and entertainment, but for a rider in his seventh professional season it is getting old. At some point he has to grow out of this. Stop wasting energy on theatre. Ask whether Pogacar behaves like this. He does not. Learn from that.

Tactically, Remco is very poor. Frankly, I think he is among the worst tactical riders at the top level of the sport. Give many other riders his engine and they would get more out of it. The one smart thing he did in races was attacking over the top of climbs, where he could use his power and aerodynamics on flatter and downhill terrain. Then on the final stage he went back to attacking on the steep wall, which suits him far less, and I almost lost my mind. Even when riders held his wheel on the climb, he still dragged them full gas on the descent and flat, handing them the maximum possible advantage. It was dreadful racing. And then what happened? Complanin both in race and the post-stage complaints about rivals, after a stage he very likely could have won with better choices made by himself. No introspection of course.

I still believe in his talent. I still think he has the physical ability to win the Tour one day, or at least the kind of ability that should put that within reach. What I doubt more and more is whether he has the brains and temperament for it.

This was one of the least enjoyable Remco races I have watched.

Sincerely, a concerned Remco believer

No, he doesn't have the ability. We can't say he will win the Tour when his best GT performance is a 3rd place, almost 10' behind (yes, he performed better in the 2024 TdF than in the 2022 Vuelta).

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Some thoughts on Remco’s Volta a Catalunya (Sorry for long post).

I came into this race genuinely expecting a strong Remco. He is usually good after altitude camps, and the whole point of changing teams and training setup is to move closer to Pogacar and Vingegaard in Grand Tour GC level.

That expectation was clearly wrong. He was nowhere near that level here. He was not even clearly better than several of the other b-contenders, and he was plainly below Vingegaard. Just as concerning, if not more, he raced the GC in a way that seemed completely detached from the actual objective. Attacking in crosswinds is fine. Pulling hard with your main rival sitting comfortably on your wheel is just stupid. Crashing himself in the run-in was a fitting end to a race that, unfortunately, also felt very on-brand for him.

His behaviour throughout the race was childish, and revealing. The constant yelling, gesturing, and complaining about rivals not pulling when they had every reason not to pull was just embarrassing. It may create drama and entertainment, but for a rider in his seventh professional season it is getting old. At some point he has to grow out of this. Stop wasting energy on theatre. Ask whether Pogacar behaves like this. He does not. Learn from that.

Tactically, Remco is very poor. Frankly, I think he is among the worst tactical riders at the top level of the sport. Give many other riders his engine and they would get more out of it. The one smart thing he did in races was attacking over the top of climbs, where he could use his power and aerodynamics on flatter and downhill terrain. Then on the final stage he went back to attacking on the steep wall, which suits him far less, and I almost lost my mind. Even when riders held his wheel on the climb, he still dragged them full gas on the descent and flat, handing them the maximum possible advantage. It was dreadful racing. And then what happened? Complanin both in race and the post-stage complaints about rivals, after a stage he very likely could have won with better choices made by himself. No introspection of course.

I still believe in his talent. I still think he has the physical ability to win the Tour one day, or at least the kind of ability that should put that within reach. What I doubt more and more is whether he has the brains and temperament for it.

This was one of the least enjoyable Remco races I have watched.

Sincerely, a concerned Remco believer

Ok, good rant, but it‘s actually his eighth professional season already, not seventh

 

[Tim Cahill]

As someone who doesn't really care whether he wins The Tour and don't really have an opinion either way on him as a person I found his performance in Volta a Catalunya extremely compelling and entertaining, and always look forward to races he participates in, which is the most important thing, sport is to be enjoyed.

He reminds me a little of one of my favourites at the moment actually, 'Harry Brook', he seemingly has no brains (in the context of the sport), listens to no criticism, flat out refuses to change his style or approach which gets massive flack from all corners, but there's an air of greatness about him and you find yourself leaning forward every time you see him. 'Get ready everyone, he's about to do something stupid.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2004443767815000390

 

[houtdffan]

honestly, given his injury, he was not bad at this race

I have my doubts that he would have been up with Vingo, but he probably finishes second had he not crashed, as well as winning stage 3 (Vingo was not beating Remco in a flat sprint)

However, what is alarming is that he found a new way to crash. He's fully gone down the Contador route with his bike handling. Finding new ways to crash each race

 

[ashhutch1997]

Instead of complaining to the media about the way Jonas Vingegaard races 'defensively' to the media (despite him attacking and gaining almost 3 mins on him and winning 2 stages). He should maybe observe how Jonas rides and learn from it, rather than doing pointless attacks and wasting energy.
I've defended Remco in the past but this week he has been very unlikable. I don't think hell ever come close to winning the TDF, especially with the likes of Del Toro and Sexas coming through, I actually don't think he'll win another GT.
Bora are paying massive money for a luxury Domestique at this rate. He doesn't have the build or mentality for GT's. I think he'd be better off targeting classics.