Do you like post-Worlds cycling narratives? Because this is a year for you. Sure, the just-concluded World Championships in Wollongong may not have been as exciting as you hoped, but let’s face it — that’s on you. They were nothing short of weird and wild, at times, and produced enough stories to last into the next week. If you are one of those who has been sucked into those stories, allow me to offer you some help in sorting them out.
On a Scale from 1 to Hilarious, how likely is Remco Evenepoel to be Sold to INEOS?
Poll
How likely is this to happen?
Yesterday Patrick Lefevre, sensing that the Belgian press had exhausted all of the positive angles they could conjure up regarding Remco Evenepoel’s rather incredible burst of greatness, were about to start looking for some negative stories to balance things out, lest they see their reputation suffer accusations of (gasp!) homerism. So he tossed them a bit of red meat, in the form of a nugget about how INEOS headman Dave Brailsford texted him after Evenepoel’s victory in Sunday’s World Championships road race, letting him know that Lefevre should give Brails a shout if he ever wants to sell Remco to ACMEOS Cycling Industries Ltd.
The answer, to me, is hilarious. Let’s face it, these wealthy guys like to say outlandish things and then yell “Hahah! JK!” Whether it’s “I’ll buy your superyacht for what you paid” or “I’ll pardon you if I’m ever elected” or, if you own the Phoenix Suns, “I can demean you in any way I want,” there’s always a “Hahahah! JK!” coming next. It’s a great system that always serves them well in the court of public opinion.
So maybe this was just Brails forgetting to limit his tweet to 280 characters and the “Hahah JK!” part got cut off. On the other hand, in a system where the richest team just buys top cyclists as trophies, why wouldn’t they want Evenepoel? For INEOS, their grand tour future is pretty murky. Egan Bernal may never get all the way back to his top form, and even then, could he beat the likes of Vingegaard, Pogačar or (now) Evenepoel? Can Carlos Rodriguez or Thymen Arensman or Tom Pidcock get there? Are we really having a conversation next summer about how the road captaincy will be shared by Geraint Thomas?
So Brailsford, however “Hahah JK” this particular text might be, may very well have (better-hidden) designs on the Belgian star. The question then becomes, what’s in it for Quick Step?…
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