"I've always thought of Remco that he's either super good or he's complete sh*t" - Bruyneel on Evenepoel after his Vuelta collapse

Johan Bruyneel analyzed the Tourmalet stage of the Vuelta a España on Lance Armstrong's Youtube channel, The Move. The former US Postal sport director tried to give the reasons for Remco Evenepoel's collapse during the very hard day:

"I tried to talk to his entourage and they didn't give me any explanation, simply that he had a bad day, he had no strength, his reserves were empty, I was surprised that he had problems with 60-70 km to go when the gregarios were setting the pace. Obviously something went wrong."

Read also

PREVIEW | Vuelta a Espana 2023 stage 14 - With Kuss, Roglic and Vingegaard completing the podium, how will Jumbo-Visma race?

Bruyneel explains that Evenepoel has never ridden a stage as hard as yesterday's in the Vuelta. "If you look at his performance in the mountain stages, the truth is that Remco had never ridden a stage as hard as yesterday's, with two hard passes of the Tour de France as Aubisque and Tourmalet, if we add to that having a bad day when you lose morale, what happened to him happens. The 27 minutes lost are insignificant, we can't read anything from there, once he stayed he knew that the Vuelta had stayed and he didn't want to insist. A bad day like this is a problem. We had seen moments of weakness from Remco in the past, but not something like yesterday."

The former Armstrong manager continued his presentation trying to find a reason for Remco's battery outage. "I said before the Vuelta that he was facing a 3-week race coming to top form 3 weeks before the race, he won the Belgian Championships, he won San Sebastian, then he prepared for the World Championshipw, he was up in the time trial.... So, comparing him to Jonas, Primoz, Kuss, Mas and Ayuso, none of those riders did the same. Maintaining peak form for so long is a challenge and after 10 days in a grand tour you start to see differences."

Read also

"Evenepoel just said 'sorry'" - Pieter Serry gives update after his team leader cracks out of Vuelta contention

Johan Bruyneel does not want to slate Remco Evenepoel for what happened on the Tourmalet stage, although he recognizes that it was surprising and will take its toll. "It's a surprise and a disappointment. It's not a good sign for his future as a grand tour rider. I don't know why' I have this feeling that Jonas and those kind of riders are grand tour riders, that they have a level and even if they lower it they're still going to be there, but with Remco I've always thought he's either going to be really good or he's complete shit."