Well, i had him in my Sporza Wielerploeg from before this weekend. He was already good early in the season and showed himself last year on a few occasions as well. He's already 26 though, so a late bloomer i guess.
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Yes, but his 5th place in Marseille qualifies as his best ever result according to PCS statistics so you could forgive me for not expecting him to be a top three hellingen rider this weekend.
Well, no, i didn't expect him to be this good, but on the other hand, i'm not that surprised either. Let me put it differently, "he was on my radar".
Great post, agree with that. But still interesting to see he’s got that punch in a finish. And all the things you mention will always be factors for him to some varying degree.
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I don't know if MvP could have won a straight up bunch sprint from the pack, but who knows? There was a point about 15 km from the finish where I thought he'd pull it off but then Asgreen launched that suicide move. I still don't quite get that one...
I know he said he wanted to get some racing kms in, but from what I've seen of him so far he will go for the win if at all possible.
Rubbish.
Asgreen was not pulling the group, he was trying to get away from it, to make a result for himself, and nearly got clear.
As for not "wanting" MVDP to win - why would anyone not on his team want him to win?
I agree. It was actually Haussler, who helped Pedersen the most.
Agreed. Similar way of racing yesterday. Bridged to the favorites group with the help of Geniets. Then didn't do much work. So still had the legs to try something behind Alaphillipe. He was considered the second strongest yesterday, but one always has to see the whole picture before coming to such conclusions. Doubt he'll be that kind of rider though (that just sits on wheels). I certainly hope he won't. He's still young.
He's fast though. He's proven that in the U23 and Junior category.
I don't get why these things have to be compared all the time. A race is never the same. The conditions are never the same.
Alaphilippe was on his own and had to fight a strong head wind on his own with the chasers and the peloton chasing hard immediately.
Can't we just leave the homerism aside and admit that both rides were strong and entertaining?
Bahrain made a mistake in the final - They needed to save Haussler for the sprint after his performance in Het Nieuwsblaad.
Unless MVDP crashes or coronas out it would be a miracle if he doesn't win at least one of SB/RVV/PR imo.
I’m 100% convinced Mathieu would have been in with a big chance of winning from that bunch. Mathieu’s sprint gets better and better as the race gets harder and harder.
As far as winning, I think it goes without saying that everyone would go for the win if the situation presented itself. That is especially the case for a born winner like Mathieu.
The point was that he could have chosen to let up with about 15-20km to go and recovered as much as possible to contest that sprint. That would have given him a better chance of winning.
But the fact that he didn’t is either because it’s characterizing of his racing style or that he really didn’t mind “not winning” as much as he valued the training kms and going as hard as he can for as far as he can.
Pedersen is faster on the line, especially after a long, hard race.
If it was WvA I would say he is on par with Pedersen, but MvdP doesn’t quite have the same top speed.
Either way, these 3 (possibly with Pitcock edging towards making it a foursome) are going to duke it out for years to come, in the biggest classics races, and it will be highly entertaining to follow.
That is by no means a fact, yet. It’s your opinion. Time will tell who’s fastest on the line. They haven’t gone head to head enough times to make that assessment. Much depends on form of the day and effort-measuring/energy saving during the race, positioning. Especially after a hard race.
Didn't state it as a fact, it is opinion, just like yours is.
Pedersen has beat top tier sprinters in a heads up sprint, as has WvA - MvdP has not - and if he was supremely confident in his sprint, he wouldn't constantly launch long range attacks.
You stated it like it was a fact.
As far as your assessment of MVDP, you’re obviously not a fan of Mathieu if you don’t know why he tends to launch long range attacks. It has NOTHING to do with the confidence in his sprinting ability.
Mind you I’m not saying he’s a pure sprinter or that he’d win bunch sprints. However, after a hard race there are few to none who can sprint better than him.
You stated it like it was a fact.
Mind you I’m not saying he’s a pure sprinter or that he’d win bunch sprints. However, after a hard race there are few to none who can sprint better than him.
I don't think we disagree with that (at least I don't). Pedersen is just one of those guys at the moment. Especially when he has Stuyven to lead him out.
I would say that a two man sprint requires more acceleration and less top speed compared to sprinting in a group.
Yep. He’s just been in the right spot at the right time. Not taking away anything from him, he’s a top class rider, but he didn’t need to do much to find himself in the perfect position at KBK.
That depends. Knowing Mathieu’s better acceleration Wout could (or should) have chosen to start the sprint earlier.
You stated it like it was a fact.
As far as your assessment of MVDP, you’re obviously not a fan of Mathieu if you don’t know why he tends to launch long range attacks. It has NOTHING to do with the confidence in his sprinting ability.
Mind you I’m not saying he’s a pure sprinter or that he’d win bunch sprints. However, after a hard race there are few to none who can sprint better than him.
No I didn't, you just interpreted it wrong..... but hey, I'll try to remember to qualify every statement with "I think" in future, just for you
As for not being a fan.... I'm not really a fan of anyone, I tend to try and view things from a factual perspective.
Fandom skews perspective.
That being said, I think MvdP is an amazing rider, though still tactically inept.
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