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

[KoopaCycling]

I think it was decided this week. As in, they were preparing to ride De Ronde if the weather was okay. But they didn't want to say this out loud, because people would say he's weak. Thus they kept saying he wasn't riding it until the weather was good, and then spin up the marketing machine.

Forecast says it will be cloudy and that there will be light rain. Not exactly looking to be a sunny sunday.
I agree though. The option was there, but remco i think was only locked in recently. They probably agreed to letting remco ride Flanders if the weather is good enough. If it's storming and the cobbles are even more slippery than they will be on this sunday, they would have pulled him.

 

[Berniece]

Forecast says it will be cloudy and that there will be light rain. Not exactly looking to be a sunny sunday.
I agree though. The option was there, but remco i think was only locked in recently.

Yeah but that wasn't the forecast on Tuesday/Wednesday

 

[AmRacer]

Why should the weather forecast decide whether Remco rides.

 

[Breh]

How did you feel about Pogacar riding Roubaix ?

It was stupid but less theatrical/dramatical and less cringe. UAE and Pog changing their mind last-minute atleast had a minor hint of credibility.
This has taken it up a notch.

I'm afraid WvA has replaced Evenepoel as my favorite Belge star.

 

[KoopaCycling]

It was stupid but less theatrical/dramatical and less cringe. UAE and Pog changing their mind last-minute atleast had a minor hint of credibility.
This has taken it up a notch.

Really? I was quite certain pogacar was riding Roubaix long before the announcement. Whereas i was far less certain with remco. hopeful but not certain. With Pogacar i was certain despite them spewing mist.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Why should the weather forecast decide whether Remco rides.

Red Bull made it clear they want to bring Remco as safe as possible, with the least amount of glitch to his prep to the Tour.
Cobbles aren't concrete. Even Van Aert and MVDP can have a bad slip on them.

 

[Breh]

Really? I was quite certain pogacar was riding Roubaix long before the announcement. Whereas i was far less certain with remco. hopeful but not certain. With Pogacar i was certain despite them spewing mist.

Which makes it more annoying to me.
Planned everything out, lieing every single time and then come out with these cringe announcement videos.

Really dislike it.

 

[HashRouge]

Really? I was quite certain pogacar was riding Roubaix long before the announcement. Whereas i was far less certain with remco. hopeful but not certain. With Pogacar i was certain despite them spewing mist.

It was a lot less dramatic to be fair. While I've quite enjoyed the drama of Remco's announcement, the only issue for me is that I think it creates unnecessary pressure on him. You produce a Youtube special, you'd better not DNF! Pog's Roubaix announcement wasn't like this, if I remember correctly.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Which makes it more annoying to me.
Planned everything out, lieing every single time and then come out with these cringe announcement videos.

Really dislike it.

Doesn't make sense to me. Pogacar also did not confirm. And Remco was probably not allowed to say anything but no given that Red Bull imo might still pull the plug and they did not want any extra drama.

 

[HashRouge]

I think it was decided this week. As in, they were preparing to ride De Ronde if the weather was okay. But they didn't want to say this out loud, because people would say he's weak. Thus they kept saying he wasn't riding it until the weather was good, and then spin up the marketing machine.

I think you are 100% right with this assessment. I'm sure Remco said he wanted to do RvV ages ago, I just don't believe that the decision was finalised until recently.

 

[CyclistAbi]

I think it was decided this week. As in, they were preparing to ride De Ronde if the weather was okay. But they didn't want to say this out loud, because people would say he's weak. Thus they kept saying he wasn't riding it until the weather was good, and then spin up the marketing machine.

I would worry a bit if it would be an impulsive decision, but to me it looks like there was a lot of reconnaissance involved and staff like Sven and Piper where deeply involved too. So all in all it should be OK, a well thought debut.

 

[Breh]

Doesn't make sense to me. Pogacar also did not confirm. And Remco was probably not allowed to say anything but no given that Red Bull imo might still pull the plug and they did not want any extra drama.

Makes perfect sense to me, Pogacar's participation was always a possibility, this wasn't. As you said yourself, you were pretty sure he was going to.

Anyway, I didn't like it back then and I like this even less because they turned it up a notch.

 

[HashRouge]

Doesn't make sense to me. Pogacar also did not confirm. And Remco was probably not allowed to say anything but no given that Red Bull imo might still pull the plug and they did not want any extra drama.

I think they're referring to how much Remco/ the team are hyping it up. I.e. Youtube special, the Instagram announcements. I quite like it, but I can see why other people might not, especially if they're already not huge fans of Remco.

 

[Berniece]

I would worry a bit if it would be an impulsive decision, but to me it looks like there was a lot of reckoning involved and staff like Sven and Piper where deeply involved too. So all in all it should be OK, a well thought debut.

I'm not saying it was an impulsive decision. I'm saying they prepared for it, but they didn't want to do it if the weather was bad. So there we 2 scenarios:
1. Weather is bad, we don't release anything and Evenepoel goes to train in Spain
2. Weather is okay, we release everything we did the previous months in preparation for this as a marketing stunt

Why not say beforehand that you were preparing for this? Because you look weak if option 1 is happening.

It's not that this comes from nowhere. We've heard multiple journalists say beforehand that Evenepoel would ride De Ronde if the weather was okay, but officially the team said no.

 

[HashRouge]

I'm not saying it was an impulsive decision. I'm saying they prepared for it, but they didn't want to do it if the weather was bad. So there we 2 scenarios:
1. Weather is bad, we don't release anything and Evenepoel goes to train in Spain
2. Weather is okay, we release everything we did the previous months in preparation for this as a marketing stunt

Why not say beforehand that you were preparing for this? Because you look weak if option 1 is happening.

It's not that this comes from nowhere. We've heard multiple journalists say beforehand that Evenepoel would ride De Ronde if the weather was okay, but officially the team said no.

I think you've hit the nail on the head here. I'm very excited to see how he goes, either way!

 

[Berniece]

Very strong team. Maybe even the strongest team

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[CyclistAbi]

@Berniece

IMHO too much effort invested for a little rain to stop it. And besides there are worse things on this race, then rain.

 

[AmRacer]

Red Bull made it clear they want to bring Remco as safe as possible, with the least amount of glitch to his prep to the Tour.
Cobbles aren't concrete. Even Van Aert and MVDP can have a bad slip on them.

It's never easy

 

[Berniece]

@Berniece

IMHO too much effort invested for a little rain to stop it. And besides there are worse things on this race, then rain.

What effort? Doing a recon at the end of december during holiday season when he lives around the corner?

 

[CyclistAbi]

@Berniece

Rest assured that months of effort were invested into this. They likely kept it secret for so long as the reaction could be overwhelming.

 

[SHAD0W93]

The question was asked regarding his comment about remco revealing he would ride Flanders (pointless theatre, easy to dislike), not so much the abilty to do so.

If we’re talking about how Evenepoel riding I’m all for it. Should have done the other monuments sooner. I just don’t want anything negative to happen and it to have season repercussions.

 

[HashRouge]

@Berniece

Rest assured that months of effort were invested into this. They likely kept it secret for so long as the reaction could be overwhelming.

I don't know. If he'd reconned it more times there would 100% be video of it. We all knew he'd been there in December because fans posted video on Instagram. It was the same with Pog last year when he did the Roubaix recon with Vermeersch - it was all over social media in about half an hour. I'm not saying that he hasn't trained specifically for it, but I don't think he's been doing as much actual practice on the route as you might think.

 

[AmRacer]

I don't know. If he'd reconned it more times there would 100% be video of it. We all knew he'd been there in December because fans posted video on Instagram. It was the same with Pog last year when he did the Roubaix recon with Vermeersch - it was all over social media in about half an hour. I'm not saying that he hasn't trained specifically for it, but I don't think he's been doing as much actual practice on the route as you might think.

He lives nearby? He has probably ridden these roads the past 10 years