:focal(1810x1297.5:1820x1287.5):watermark(cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/ipmgroup/6LJWAO74QZHR7KW5AX2LGSOHQQ.png,0,-0,0,100)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/ipmgroup/KJTC7TZMVFHVTMB4I62ABDK25E.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1)
Vuelta 2023 : Lightening Remco Evenepoel’s program for the 2024 Tour
“But I think he has bounced back well after his bad day,” Bruyneel continued, “he has won two more stages and still tried on the last day. It’s incredible actually because he also won the polka dot jersey and the Combativity Prize. The only thing I would have liked him to do differently is in the Angliru stage. There, he should not have attacked, but stayed with the group of favorites. We knew in advance that the ‘Big Guys’ would want to win the stage. In this climb, he could have really shown what he is capable of because Remco is naturally an exceptional rider.”
Grand tour rider or not?
Because for the former Tour de France stage winner, it is still too early to draw a conclusion about Evenepoel’s real potential in the grand tours: “He won the Vuelta last year and is only 23 years old. So it seems too early to say that he is not a grand tour rider.”
An opinion that his sidekick Lance Armstrong does not entirely share: “The thing that cannot happen if you want to win a grand tour is to have a bad day,” says the one who has been banned for life from any cycling-related activity, “We have often seen riders with enormous potential who have always had a bad day.”
Assessment time for the Belgians at the Vuelta, with an impressive Cian Uijtdebroeks: “I have shown what I am capable of.”
For Armstrong, an additional factor comes into consideration for the world time trial champion: “He has a whole country behind him. Belgium expects him to become the new Merckx and that won’t be easy for Evenepoel.”
A 100% Tour de France-oriented program in 2024
In any case, and despite doubts about his level in the grand tours and especially in high mountains, Remco Evenepoel should (finally) make his debut in the Tour de France in 2024. In order for him to have a chance to succeed against the Jumbo-Visma armada or Tadej Pogacar, Johan Bruyneel believes that he will have to completely rethink his race program and preparation: “This season, he has been racing at a high level for too long and the team realized that they would have to correct that.”
“At the same time, it is always complicated to develop the most suitable program for such ambitious riders,” Bruyneel continued, “Just look at Pogacar. He also wanted to be in good shape early in the season and won the Tour of Flanders. Then, he crashed in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and was not 100% at the Tour. But it must not be easy to create the best program for such talents.”
Our debrief of the Vuelta 2023 with Rodrigo Beenkens: “Vingegaard did for Kuss what he did not do for Van Aert” (VIDEO)
#Cela #pas #être #facile #pour #Remco #Lance #Armstrong #doute #des #capacités #dEvenepoel #briller #sur #les #grands #tours
publish_date]
