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Mathieu Van der Poel

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And yet in flat sprints he struggles to win against guys like Trentin and Bol. The special thing is that the watts he puts out in a flat sprint, he can also do in an uphill sprint, which is what makes him totally overpowered in short uphill bursts.

But the fact he doesn't win the TT (by far), and not all flat sprints shows he too has all his limits. He's just an exceptional uphill sprinter with a good recovery inbetween efforts. Which makes a very powerful combination in winning road race stages..

Not that different from Sagan, Gilbert, you name them...
 
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And yet in flat sprints he struggles to win against guys like Trentin and Bol. The special thing is that the watts he puts out in a flat sprint, he can also do in an uphill sprint, which is what makes him totally overpowered in short uphill bursts.

But the fact he doesn't win the TT (by far), and not all flat sprints shows he too has all his limits. He's just an exceptional uphill sprinter with a good recovery inbetween efforts. Which makes a very powerful combination in winning road race stages..

Not that different from Sagan, Gilbert, you name them...
Well, you almost make him sound like a one-trick-pony, but i agree with the jist of it. It's what makes him great at CX, at MTB, and as a classics style rider. I think he's best compared with Sagan 2012-2015 or abouts.
 
The special thing is that the watts he puts out in a flat sprint, he can also do in an uphill sprint, which is what makes him totally overpowered in short uphill bursts.

uhh what? Do other sprinters put out more absolute watts on flat roads than uphill ones?

MVDP arguably missed out on one sprint win due to positioning, and did win the final flat sprint. He's still pretty new to road racing so I think his positioning and timing can only improve, at which point he'll be a threat on flat finishes, if not the out and out favorite against the very top sprinters, just like Sagan.

His TT was pretty good for basically being a first timer. I think like Van Aert, he'll become a TT winner after he practices and perfects the position. It's hard to imagine that not being the case given his CX and Amstel Gold performances.
 
It is far more likely, that young talent has an easier way pushing through, because the rest of the peloton is a lot cleaner, instead of assuming these young guys are doped out of their eyeballs. As if along with them, came a new breed of dope that the old guys don't have access to.

Looking at this graph, it makes you wonder what happened between 2007 and 2008, concerning average race speed:


That is one helluva drop!
 
uhh what? Do other sprinters put out more absolute watts on flat roads than uphill ones?

MVDP arguably missed out on one sprint win due to positioning, and did win the final flat sprint. He's still pretty new to road racing so I think his positioning and timing can only improve, at which point he'll be a threat on flat finishes, if not the out and out favorite against the very top sprinters, just like Sagan.

His TT was pretty good for basically being a first timer. I think like Van Aert, he'll become a TT winner after he practices and perfects the position. It's hard to imagine that not being the case given his CX and Amstel Gold performances.
I don't see much of a connection between CX and Amstel performances whit being an elite TT-er?
 
I don't see much of a connection between CX and Amstel performances whit being an elite TT-er?
The connection with CX has been discussed a lot wrt Wout Van Aert (hard ~1hr solo effort). The connection with Amstel is particular to this year's performance, the last 10km of which were a well-paced effort over flat terrain which his competitors could barely follow, much less match.
 
The connection with CX has been discussed a lot wrt Wout Van Aert (hard ~1hr solo effort). The connection with Amstel is particular to this year's performance, the last 10km of which were a well-paced effort over flat terrain which his competitors could barely follow, much less match.
Tom Boonen went on 50 km solo in Roubaix, Gilbert went even longer in Flanders, yet they were never elite TT-ers.
 
Tom Boonen went on 50 km solo in Roubaix, Gilbert went even longer in Flanders, yet they were never elite TT-ers.
They were both more than excellent at a TT effort when needed, the difference being the resilience to doing so at the end of a RR, and the relative changes in biomechanics and aerodynamics between disciplines.

TTs are not all the same though, are they :) Hilly versus flat or steady, etc.

What I find crazy is the ridiculous anaerobic attacks vdP puts in, putting serious gaps in people of a short amount of time, and then settling back in to a high level sustainable pace. He does not appear to suffer from any tradeoff or negative impact as a result of anything. That, I always find highly suspicious.

Who knows, may be he is the genetic doping in its purest form! As in family ;)
 

I thought I was reading today's comments when logging in to read reactions to MVDP's stunning performance. Turns out they were from 2019. No less stunning to what we witnessed today.
This guy is astonishing. He dominated every single aspect of that race with seeming ease. He knew when to turn on the gas to get rid of a few stragglers every now and then. He knew when to turn up the heat to reduce the front group down to three.
And he knew we was going to win the moment he launched the last attack. The commentator made an interesting point when noting the fact he never once turned his head to see if he had company.
I'm way beyond the point of thinking the guy should take it easy when launching attacks 80 km's from the finish. I now have very little doubt that he will maintain the pace for the next hour-and-a-half while oftentimes doing the majority of the work.
Unbelievable.
 
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I am not so quick to automatically assume doping. MVDP beat JA at his own game today. The possible explanation is MVDP can produce higher watts than anyone else for a period of maybe 10 minutes sustained. The rest of the time he rides below his FTP. Sagan has shown similar on occasions. Cyclocross requires this does it not? We won't see him dominating on big climbs as his aerobic power to weight ratio simply isn't at that level on the top GC riders. If Mathieu is doping it isn't oxygen vector doping.
 
I am not so quick to automatically assume doping. MVDP beat JA at his own game today. The possible explanation is MVDP can produce higher watts than anyone else for a period of maybe 10 minutes sustained. The rest of the time he rides below his FTP. Sagan has shown similar on occasions. Cyclocross requires this does it not? We won't see him dominating on big climbs as his aerobic power to weight ratio simply isn't at that level on the top GC riders. If Mathieu is doping it isn't oxygen vector doping.
Noone comes to close to the watts produced over a period of 10 minutes to Ganna. Van Aert's 10 minutes output is definitely higher as well. I think you picked the wrong duration of interval :)
 
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I am not so quick to automatically assume doping. MVDP beat JA at his own game today. The possible explanation is MVDP can produce higher watts than anyone else for a period of maybe 10 minutes sustained. The rest of the time he rides below his FTP. Sagan has shown similar on occasions. Cyclocross requires this does it not? We won't see him dominating on big climbs as his aerobic power to weight ratio simply isn't at that level on the top GC riders. If Mathieu is doping it isn't oxygen vector doping.

So guys like Cancellara, Bartoli, Bettini didn't use EPO or blood dope? Oxygen vector doping definitely helps anaerobic efforts, in that having a higher ftp spares having to go anaerobic that other 95% of the time. Also, even 2-4 minutes efforts are still overwhelmingly aerobic, so there's that.
 
Noone comes to close to the watts produced over a period of 10 minutes to Ganna. Van Aert's 10 minutes output is definitely higher as well. I think you picked the wrong duration of interval :)
So what duration of interval do you think MvDP might have an advantage? I was guessing at 10 munutes.
So guys like Cancellara, Bartoli, Bettini didn't use EPO or blood dope? Oxygen vector doping definitely helps anaerobic efforts, in that having a higher ftp spares having to go anaerobic that other 95% of the time. Also, even 2-4 minutes efforts are still overwhelmingly aerobic, so there's that.
Sure. So now maybe you can explain how MVDP got away with it?
 

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