{"id":192915,"date":"2023-06-05T16:37:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T16:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=192915"},"modified":"2023-06-06T06:40:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T06:40:10","slug":"is-remco-evenepoel-as-good-as-he-thinks-he-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2023\/06\/05\/is-remco-evenepoel-as-good-as-he-thinks-he-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Is Remco Evenepoel as Good as He Thinks He Is?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Remco Evenepoel is in a pickle. The Giro d\u2019Italia was supposed to be, as he said on Instagram, another \u201cbeautiful story\u201d in his young racing career, as the Vuelta and World Championship Road Race had been last year. But Covid put an end to that dream after just nine stages. In the same Instagram post, he called it \u201cdefinitely one of the hardest setbacks in my still short career.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The setback wasn\u2019t only to his racing career; his reputation was also damaged, with statements in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gazzetta.it\/Ciclismo\/16-05-2023\/evenepoel-il-covid-e-il-rispetto-che-si-deve-al-giro_preview.shtml?reason=unauthenticated&amp;origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gazzetta.it%2FCiclismo%2F16-05-2023%2Fevenepoel-il-covid-e-il-rispetto-che-si-deve-al-giro.shtml\">Gazzetta dello Sport<\/a> and by cycling <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/cycling\/contador-on-the-abandonment-of-remco-evenepoel-a-thousand-interpretations-fit-but-i-want-to-think-that-he-has-covid\">legend Alberto Contador<\/a> (\u201cThere are a thousand interpretations, but I want to think that he has Covid.&#8221;) questioning his courage and his honesty.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first \u2013 and loudest \u2013 person <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bicycling.com\/racing\/a43896643\/remco-evenepoel-martin-hvastija-covid\/\">to raise suspicions was Martin Hvastija<\/a>, the director of the Slovenian national team and therefore an ally of Evenepoel\u2019s Giro opponent Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d. \u201cI don\u2019t believe [the Covid story],\u201d he told a Slovenian podcast. \u201cI think it\u2019s more that Remco is afraid to face the truth rather than that is a serious illness. I think that the main reason [he withdrew] is that he does not have the advantage of three minutes, as he predicted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hvastija was just sounding off, of course, but it was surprising that few people came to the Belgian\u2019s defence. One reason may have been because of his performance in the Giro. Before his narrow victory in the second time trial, he lost 14 seconds to Rogli\u010d, Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart (both Ineos Grenadiers) on the stage 8 climb of I Cappuccini. He might have been weakened by the illness already but that was not his excuse. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/evenepoel-rues-pacing-error-despite-victory-in-giro-ditalia-time-trial\/\">Rather it was because<\/a> of his white bike: \u201cThe white paint is quite heavy on a bike. We did some calculations in the team, and we saw that it cost me a few seconds. But it was my mistake because I wanted to ride the white bike.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CsmLbLyN2YE\/<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The aftermath of the Giro hit the 23-year-old Soudal\u2013Quick-Step rider hard and he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CsmLbLyN2YE\/\">took to Instagram <\/a>to air his grievances. \u201cWhat is hard to accept is all the fake and negative comments I got after having to leave the race,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe last days were emotionally very hard because of these comments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, his image is very important to him. How does he now make up for the Giro setback? The obvious answer is to ride in the Tour de France. But the course doesn\u2019t really suit him, not yet. He does not appear to thrive on long, steep climbs. His 2022 Vuelta victory was achieved over kinder ascents. The Giro with its three time trials had been the perfect fit.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evenepoel has decided that the Tour de Suisse is the ideal arena for his comeback. At first glance, he has chosen wisely. (It was his choice, Soudal\u2013Quick-Step boss <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/cycling\/that-is-a-purely-sporting-choice-by-himself-patrick-lefevere-disagrees-with-remco-evenepoels-choice-to-return-at-the-tour-de-suisse\">Patrick Lefevere declared<\/a>, while complaining about the low remuneration the Swiss race pays its participants). There are several Category 1 climbs and only one ascent that is classified as Beyond Category (HC) but the finish line of that stage comes after a long descent during which he could make up any ground lost. And, most importantly, there are two time trials, with the longest one, 25 km, on the final stage. It looks like a race that is custom-made for Evenepoel. And then, on August 6 in and around Glasgow, there is the Road Race of the UCI Cycling World Championships, which he will be favoured to win again. And for good reasons because on his day, he is probably the best one-day rider in the world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But he wants to be the best rider period. For that, he will have to beat Tadej Poga\u010dar\u00a0and Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour de France. Can he beat them with his current team? Soudal\u2013Quick-Step appears to have issues managing a three-week race, as was apparent in its handling of early breakaways in the Giro. Evenepoel\u2019s Vuelta win was the team\u2019s first Grand Tour victory in its 20 years of existence under various names. So, has Remco been flirting with another team, an experienced team looking for a serial Grand Tour winner, like Ineos Grenadiers? Lefevere clearly thinks so. &#8220;For almost a year, there have been rumours that there is or was contact between Remco Evenepoel and Ineos,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/cycling\/i-first-spoke-to-remco-separately-and-i-said-that-those-rumors-about-ineos-must-stop-patrick-lefevere-defiant-that-evenepoel-will-stay-with-soudal-quick-step\">he complained<\/a>. &#8220;I know that the then Team Sky had already spoken to Remco a few years ago. Last year, after the World Championships, there was probably contact again with father Evenepoel, who is Remco&#8217;s manager.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He went on to say that he had told Evenepoel that these rumours had to cease. \u201cBecause that only causes people to be nervous,&#8221; he said, adding: \u201cIneos team boss Rod Ellingworth once sent me a message: \u2018If you want to get rid of Remco one day, let me know.\u2019 I sent him back [a message saying] that he would then have to take over the whole team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evenepoel at Ineos seems like a match made in heaven. If it happens, we will finally learn just how good Remco Evenepoel is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Remco Evenepoel is in a pickle. The Giro d\u2019Italia was supposed to be, as he said on Instagram, another \u201cbeautiful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":192916,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[7146,5450,3544,7148,3415,433],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-192915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-2023-giro","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-remco-evenepoel","tag-soudal-quick-step","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tour-de-france","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Opinion: Is Remco Evenepoel as Good as He Thinks He Is?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Remco Evenepoel is in a pickle. 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