Evenepoel follows Van der Poel and stops posting on Strava: “People already know enough”
World champion Remco Evenepoel posted his last training session on Strava on April 2nd and for the time being don't expect to see any more activity from the Belgian anytime soon, at least until the Giro d'Italia. Mathieu van der Poel took the same decision at the beginning of the year.
Evenepoel and Van der Poel step away from Strava for a while
In a recent statement by Klaas Lodewyck, Soudal Quick-Step sports director, to Het Nieuwsblad, he explained Evenepoel's decision: “People already know enough,” “I don’t think you should put everything online either. Your rivals can read along. If I were a rider now, I wouldn’t do it.”
Lodewyck supported his rider and then provided information about his upcoming races: “Remco is doing well,” “We are focusing on the Giro and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he will start as world champion with the goal to win again. After Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he will return to Calpe to continue working in preparation of the Giro starting on May 6th.”
With three weeks to go before Evenepoel tries to win his second Grand Tour, it seems that he and his team don't want to give more clues than necessary to the rivals and that's the reason behind his Strava blackout.
RECOMENDADO
Cycling sunglasses on the outside or inside the helmet?
Profile wheels: advantages, disadvantages and which ones are better
Top 5 gravel pedals
Garmin Edge GPS range, which one to choose?
Why is the stiffness of a frame so important?
What is heart rate variability and how does it affect the cyclist?
Mathieu van der Poel did something similar last January when he decided to stop posting his training sessions on the platform and responded to a recent question about his Strava account after winning the Milan-San Remo.
“I had decided for myself to share it for one year because I received comments left and right that nothing was known about my training,” “Now I don’t feel the need to share that. Other riders do it, but most colleagues don’t put in a heart rate or power and then it’s not much use to you, because you don’t see anything.”
There are many cyclists who choose carefully what they post on their Strava account and indeed most decide to avoid giving information about power or frequency, but we'll see if after Evenpoel's shared decision there are some more who decide to get off the platform for a while.