Now that the Vuelta a España has ended, it’s time to take a break give the riders some space skip ahead immediately to talking about who will win the next grand tour. And apparently there are a lot of guys hanging around Madrid today who will figure into that.
Remco
He’s a one-name guy now. Maybe just Rem, although I’ll have to train my phone not to autocorrect to REM.
Life is moving quickly for the Belgian star. He is skipping a parade at home and heading straight to Australia for the World Championships, where the Belgian media has already started generating fake drama around pairing him with Wout Van Aert in the road race team. Meanwhile, Patrick Lefevre has said that the plan for Evenepoel is to stay the course and introduce him to the Tour in 2024. No doubt Lef and co are about to endure a level of temptation that would make the Buddha blush. [Yes, the Belgian media is Mara in this scenario.] But after 24 hours of going back and forth on this plan, I think I agree.
The team has already said that their opening presumption is that he will represent them at the Giro d’Italia next spring, rather than the Tour. IMO there are some downsides to this. Given Remco’s riding style and his history in Italy, he will not likely find the race all that good of a match for him. He will have to get through some sketchy descents intact to even have a chance. Every Giro has its quirks. By comparison, the Tour tends to use wider, less tricky roads and won’t challenge Remco’s handling skills or riding style as much.
But the Tour is a pressure-cooker in ways the Giro is not. And it’s not like Lefevre can go to Remco and say “we know you aren’t ready to win the Tour, but your bike-handling sucks and we don’t want you crashing at the Giro, so let’s just go to France.” In his defense, Evenepoel was fine at the Vuelta, with one crash whose cause we never really saw. At most, he got out of position a few times but it wasn’t terribly important. So perhaps my concerns are overblown, and even if they aren’t, well, might as well go and face them now, before trying to conquer the Tour.
I personally don’t see Evenepoel on a level with Pogacar and Vingegaard, not really even close. One grand tour completed is just a start, and while his natural talent will put him in the conversation in France before long, I wouldn’t say he’s a pure enough climber to hang right now. When he’s ready, his crono skills will give him a real chance to win, but…
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