Mathieu Van der Poel

[HashRouge]

He gets a pass because he's the only challenger to pocagar and he has a cycling family. If pocagar didn't exist he would have the most active thread in the clinic

I also think he gets a bit of a pass because a lot of us don't watch CX and just ignore his dominance there.

 

[jono]

I also think he gets a bit of a pass because a lot of us don't watch CX and just ignore his dominance there.

Which of the CX peloton, other than van Aert, should even be remotely competitive against van der Poel. He is as technically proficient as the best full-timers, and his motor is obviously much greater than the rest of the field that mostly ride .2 minor Benelux stage races all summer. Even Nys and del Grosso, who are merely "good" roadies and significantly lesser CX technicians dominated everyone else in many races this season. As much as I might wish otherwise, cyclocross is a regional and niche sport.

 

[AmRacer]

Which of the CX peloton, other than van Aert, should even be remotely competitive against van der Poel. He is as technically proficient as the best full-timers, and his motor is obviously much greater than the rest of the field that mostly ride .2 minor Benelux stage races all summer. Even Nys and del Grosso, who are merely "good" roadies and significantly lesser CX technicians dominated everyone else in many races this season.

Exactly

 

[meat puppet]

Apparently vdp pushed 446w for 90min at E3 (Velon CC quoting his insta). Either way huge watts, FTP maybe at 470-480w range. What's his weight again?

Back in 2022 his Strava was public and lanterne rouge poached & analysed the pre San Remo training data.

Mathieu van der Poel's Incredible Improvement | How He Prepared for Milano-Sanremo - Lanterne Rouge

One of the most talented riders of the modern generation, Mathieu van der Poel, will start his season earlier than expected at Milano-Sanremo, the longest race on the UCI calendar. The Alpecin-Fenix star has had rapid improvement in the space of an eight week training block after rehabbing a...

lanternerouge.com

Back then, he held 460w or thereabouts for 13-15min in training in March. Of course, he then came back from a back injury, and has now had several solid years of training.

Yet, having an FTP that exceeds his then 15min power is quite something.

 

[Lequack]

Can he beat Ganna's hour record with those watts?

 

[Red Rick]

Can he beat Ganna's hour record with those watts?

Have you ever seen Van der Poel on a time trial bike? If an oil tanker has that CdA it gets can't dock on any harbor