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

[Red Rick]

It's just so weird man, unless he was being overtrained as well as overraced and I don't know how you manage that with an 8th year WT pro.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Does come across as duckery, is he doing Belgian champs?

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Roglic wanted to do it in 2021 but almost immediately crashed out so we never saw how that experiment would have turned out

Roglic probably wanted to do that based on his experience the year prior of crashing out of the Dauphine and arguably losing the Tour due to that impact on his prep.

Remco I don’t understand because in 2024 he rode the Dauphine and got worked but then was sufficiently better at the Tour. Seems like it worked and his ego managed losing to Roglic, his brothers, and his cousins just fine.

 

[Salvarani]

Will he still do Nats?

If so, he will be like a caged tiger there and probably smash those races.

Otherwise, it feels like a way to relieve some pressure and protect himself a bit. Maybe he needs that mentally, more than anything else. Could work out.

 

[Berniece]

Does come across as duckery, is he doing Belgian champs?

NC is mandatory in Belgium unless you have a doctors note. I think he’ll have a doctors note, but he can’t have that now of course

 

[AmRacer]

NC is mandatory in Belgium unless you have a doctors note. I think he’ll have a doctors note, but he can’t have that now of course

🤔 That's a cunning strategy, getting sick before the Tour and cannot train properly.

 

[fenns]

I wonder if Remco will deliberately lose significant GC time in the Tour - and go for some stage wins. Like Ayuso last year. Or would that be too damaging to the brand?

 

[KoopaCycling]

I wonder if Remco will deliberately lose significant GC time in the Tour - and go for some stage wins. Like Ayuso last year. Or would that be too damaging to the brand?

To what end? You only do that if you go in knowing you can't even battle for Top 5.
Stage wins aren't that important, especially since he already has 2 in the Tour.

 

[fenns]

To what end? You only do that if you go in knowing you can't even battle for Top 5.
Stage wins aren't that important, especially since he already has 2 in the Tour.

depends if he thinks top 5 is a realistic possibility

 

[Links2003]

S.yates chose not to race for three months before the 2023 TDF and did OK to come 4th in GC. It can work!

Of course it can work. That’s not really in question. But RBH doesn’t just have Evenepoel as a leader, they also have Lipowitz. And he’s been showing all year that he has every reason to hope he can fight for the podium again. So for the team, it’s quite difficult if they don’t know whether Remco is in the right shape.Example: on the first mountain stage, Pogi attacks and only Remco and one other rider can follow. Lipo can’t, because as we know he isn’t that explosive and sometimes loses a bit on short, steep ramps. If you trust Remco’s form, you let him follow the move because you could distance riders like Vingegaard in that scenario. But if you believe Remco won’t be able to keep up in the high mountains, then of course you don’t let him go with the attack, so that Lipo doesn’t lose too much time. And without any races beforehand, it’s almost impossible to judge that properly.

 

[AlpRaid]

Evenepoel might go to the Tour with more hype. But the question is - is he willing to work for Lipowitz at the end?

lol. he has shown himself over and over again to be the consummate teammate and help others win. that is one thing you cannot criticize him for -- he is somewhat unusual for a top rider in that way.

 

[Rob5091]

Remco is going as a helper as he's not going to win any bunch sprints or hilly stages. After the TTT, he's only got the ITT to look forward to and if he throws a hissy fit he might even go home before that.

 

[RealKwaremonster]

Last minute changes, seems a bit like patchwork to me.

 

[AmRacer]

Maybe we will have a battle royal for the green between Wout and Remco.

 

[Oldman]

Will he still do Nats?

If so, he will be like a caged tiger there and probably smash those races.

Otherwise, it feels like a way to relieve some pressure and protect himself a bit. Maybe he needs that mentally, more than anything else. Could work out.

I'm not sure who in RBH hierarchy is signing off on this program. Win some early season races with, perhaps too much training and then sit 2 1/2 months to be ready for the Tour? 3 Pyrenean mountain stages in the first week and a half starting on day 2 will put that program to the test. Steep hills.

 

[Oldman]

I wonder if Remco will deliberately lose significant GC time in the Tour - and go for some stage wins. Like Ayuso last year. Or would that be too damaging to the brand?

Going in with 69 days of rest straight into a week with 3 climbing stages likely answers that question.

 

[Berniece]

depends if he thinks top 5 is a realistic possibility

I don’t think Evenepoel believes in anything else. He won’t shift focus until it goes bad, like in Vuelta 2023

 

[Berniece]

Remco is going as a helper as he's not going to win any bunch sprints or hilly stages. After the TTT, he's only got the ITT to look forward to and if he throws a hissy fit he might even go home before that.

Want to avatar bet that?

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Maybe we will have a battle royal for the green between Wout and Remco.

Don't forget Pogi, he's also on the heavy side now.

 

[the asian]

Hope he fails specacularly at the Tour. Otherwise this will be a trend and it might be the death knell for one week stage races. We already have the stars racing less and less and spending more time training and at altitude camps.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Hope he fails specacularly at the Tour. Otherwise this will be a trend and it might be the death knell for one week stage races. We already have the stars racing less and less and spending more time training and at altitude camps.

If that is your argument then you should hope for Pogacar and Vingegaard to fail even harder.

Also Remco (unless his numbers are bad) is not starting as a helper. He will be at worst the second leader. So if Remco can follow where Lipo can not early in the Tour i would be baffled if remco is told to wait.

 

[the asian]

If that is your argument then you should hope for Pogacar and Vingegaard to fail even harder.

Also Remco (unless his numbers are bad) is not starting as a helper. He will be at worst the second leader. So if Remco can follow where Lipo can not early in the Tour i would be baffled if remco is told to wait.

Vingo is riding the Giro, and adding the Dauphine/Suisse would be overkill. Pogi is riding Suisse. If Remco's skipping the Tour altogether and riding the Vuelta , this approach is okay, but riding no stage race after Catalunya is difficult to justify.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Vingo is riding the Giro, and adding the Dauphine/Suisse would be overkill. Pogi is riding Suisse. If Remco's skipping the Tour altogether and riding the Vuelta , this approach is okay, but riding no stage race after Catalunya is difficult to justify.

Hinault's 82 season is laughing at this. He won the Giro and the Tour and put 3(!!!!!) stage races in between them , winning 2 of them.

 

[the asian]

Hinault's 82 season is laughing at this. He won the Giro and the Tour and put 3(!!!!!) stage races in between them , winning 2 of them.

This is not 1982.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Vingo is riding the Giro, and adding the Dauphine/Suisse would be overkill. Pogi is riding Suisse. If Remco's skipping the Tour altogether and riding the Vuelta , this approach is okay, but riding no stage race after Catalunya is difficult to justify.

Sure but they also both had barely any race days. Less than Remco