INEOS and Decathlon on hunt for services of Remco Evenepoel's top domestique
Cycling
Future of Remco Evenepoel will be a big topic next year when his current contract is running out. But the teams interested in the Belgian's services are already in search of every possible tool that could put them on the double Olympic champion's better side. One way is by building a support team that would fit Evenepoel's taste.
One such rider is currently on the market. Ilan Van Wilder is a man who can ride for his own result at WorldTour level, as much is evident from his 4th overall at UAE Tour and Tour de Romandie last year. But for a vast part of the season, he is bound to Remco Evenepoel as his most loyal lieutenant in the hardest mountain stages.
With such reputation, it's no wonder that top WT formations are competing for Van Wilder's services in upcoming years. Cycling journalist and transfers expert Daniel Benson informs that INEOS Grenadiers and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale are in the pursuit of Van Wilder's attention while his current team Soudal - Quick-Step also expressed an interest to renew with the 24-year-old Belgian who has been with the team since late 2021.
Apparently, Van Wilder and the management of Wolfpack are on good terms and so the negotiations of renewal may proceed smoothly, if the offer sits right with the versatile climber. However the interest from these big teams clearly indicates both the caliber and potential of Van Wilder.
Whatever his decision, it will be a clear indicator of the direction his career, and that of Evenepoel, are about to take. Van Wilder could seek more opportunities to ride as a leader in a different team, while him leaving would suggest Soudal - Quick-Step without Patrick Lefevere may not have the pulls to convince its stars to continue with the project.
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🚨 Ineos Grenadiers and Decathlon are in the hunt to sign Ilan Van Wilder for 2026 - from what I understand.
— Dnlbenson (@dnlbenson) April 3, 2025
Staying at Soudal Quick-Step is also an option for the Belgian, with talks ongoing. 🇧🇪
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- Yes but what was the dumb effort by Van Aert to drop Pogacar, Vanderpoel and Pederson about.? Just showing face? If he had stayed on the wheels and not wasted energy, he might have got on the podium in the runners up sprint.Cyclingsbestfan06-04-2025
- What a loser.
santiagobenites06-04-2025 - I agree about the sprint or drilling it on the flat. Lighter rider versus heavier rider. Inertia is the natural tendency of objects in motion to stay in motion (e.g the heavier riders momentum) and objects at rest to stay at rest, unless a force causes the velocity to change.Cyclingsbestfan06-04-2025
- Definitely, he is a great rider, and this season might even be as good as last (in a perfect world, a few more Monuments, a Tour-Vuelta double, and the Worlds again), but he has to do this for years on end to compare to Merckx’s results from roughly 69 to 74. Yes, times have changed, yes competition is different, yes speeds are higher, and so on, but let’s let Pogacar be Pogacar and give him time. We can evaluate his career when he retires. Until then, let’s enjoy it while we have it.RidesHills06-04-2025
- Excellent work and show from all of them, glad to see van Aert got back to shape in time. Bring on P-RMistermaumau06-04-2025
- All this seems right but the problem is that two riders of differing weight going at the same speed will have different power and they will also have different power per weight yet are both (in theory, i.e. when trying their hardest) at their max,which means the lighter one is proportionally losing more to the wind (working harder to overcome), the heavier one proportionally losing more to rolling resistance and bounce. The extremely difficult calculations to know which of the 2-3 causes the bigger effect under what exact conditions is what makes it impossible to say who will benefit most in many situations when they aren’t different enough to make it obvious, i.e. a puny climber of 50kg vs a sprinter of 80kg on either the flat or a mountain.Mistermaumau06-04-2025
- Far more tension than expected, the other teams really worked Pogacar over as much as can be expected, they kept getting away and getting caught, and he launched later than I thought he would. And still, here is Monument 8, he’s now won at least twice in every one he has won. Excellent job for Pederson and Ganna amongst all the other results. What a race!RidesHills06-04-2025
- If you throw 2 identical golf balls at the same speed, but one is twice the weight, it will go a bit farther (wind resistance is the same, so the amount of energy of the heavier ball is higher). If you throw 2 identical golf balls at the same power, but one is twice the weight, it will go less far (the amount of energy is the same, so the lighter one is going faster). Remember that in a flat TT, once up to speed, the amount of weight is basically negligible (except a tiny amount of increase in rolling resistance). It's all power vs CdA. Probably the best way to think about this is with a truck (with a covered bed) over a flat but very bumpy road, and ideal tire pressure for the weight. Now, load the truck up to 3X the mass, change the tire pressure to the new ideal pressure, and do the run again. What will take the most amount of power? It's quite obvious that it's the run with the more mass. (Many of us have done this test in real world conditions without realizing it.) Why? Because there's deformation loss to the tire, which is somewhat worse when there's more mass, but there's also the loss from having to lift that much more weight over and over again.acem8206-04-2025
- ...Cause cycling at this level is always about the compromise of weight vs power. Pogacar could be stronger at a higher power, but his power to weight ratio would suffer. All else held equal is very important to understand they physics here, but that's *never* how cycling actually works.acem8206-04-2025
- The truth is already out pendejo and you were caught.
MrCampy06-04-2025