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Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

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I would say Ineos' chances of poaching van Aert are approximately 3720 to 1. But i'm sure Dave's all like:

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PS: during the Tour de France, Pogacar already (jokingly, i assume) asked Roglic how much he would need to pay to get van Aert. This was in the documentary "Wout, waar een wil is".
 
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Don't go to Ineos Wout! They are not a classics team and will kill your soul. Their training methods don't work for classics riders. You are a big star and you need a team that will support your ambitions. You need the freedom to call your own shots. They won't let you go for the Green Jersey at the Tour de France and you'll be stuck babysitting Bernal or some other little weak climber.
To be fair they have a way better squad for the classics than JV does. Every other point you make is pretty much applicable on JV as well.
 
Don't go to Ineos Wout! They are not a classics team and will kill your soul. Their training methods don't work for classics riders. You are a big star and you need a team that will support your ambitions. You need the freedom to call your own shots. They won't let you go for the Green Jersey at the Tour de France and you'll be stuck babysitting Bernal or some other little weak climber.
I think you mentioned the wrong team and the wrong captain. It should be : "Don't stay at Jumbo-Visma Wout! They are not a classics team and will kill your soul. Their training methods don't work for classics riders. You are a big star and you need a team that will support your ambitions. You need the freedom to call your own shots. They won't let you go for the Green Jersey at the Tour de France and you'll be stuck babysitting Roglic or some other little weak climber.
 
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What I want to indicate in a ironic way is that Van Aert is actually in a team that doesn't suit him. No support (or just one or two weaker helpers) in the classics. Totally abandoned in Paris-Roubaix 2019. And he has to empty himself in the Tour, doesn't get the support for winning stages and the green yersey. With a leader who doesn't finish it for the yellow. Every team is better dan Jumbo-Visma.
 
What a disaster. Van Aert has signed with Jumbo-Visma until the end of 2024. When and if competing for a new team in the first months of 2025, he'll be more than 30 years. The best years of his sports career and as a explosive rider will be behind him. The next few years, Van Aert will serve as a domestique in the mayor cycling tours. Getting some help from one or two exhausted teammates when he'll be allowed to sprint. Teammates like Tony Martin, riding the whole stage at the front and bringing back teammates to the front. And getting almost no help in the classics, as we have seen the last two seasons.
What a pity !
 
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Not sure how it's a disaster. I can't really see another team where he'd be allowed to have the freedom that he does have, but still be able to put in effort for others and support them to the max. If we look at the place he was rumoured, we'll have to wait and see how Ineos juggle Pidcock's three disciplines. Especially as he's not just a strong classics rider, sprinter, domestique, Tater and CXer. He's shown that he's capable of performing in CX, XC and then can TT, Climb, be a classics rider and sprint. If they struggle with including that as a rider who's developing, then I don't think they'd be able to support an established rider.
 
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He's starting his season in Strade, this means he's skipping the opening weekend Omloop & KBK.
His main goals are the cobble classics (RVV/PR), olympic games and WC.

BTW, no Omloop for MVP nor WVA. Easy win for Quickstep with alafpolak?
 
What's wrong with making less than Dumoulin and Roglic? Both of those riders are still proven GT-winners and young enough to win some more. I'm more surprised by the wages of Roglic. I could name a number of teams that would double his earnings
I guess there are also teams that would double the wages of van Aert, but that's not really the point. I also didn't say there was anything wrong with earning less, not sure where your response is coming from. I was simply stating what the news item said: how much he 'll earn, and how much that is compared to PR and TD. As for Dumoulin, yes i'm a bit surprised. He was never a rider that would win lots of races. After his injury he still has to prove he once more can reach the level he had that was needed to win the Giro. He will ride and win a lot less than van Aert, and he will probably be less of a domestique on top of that. He's also 4 years older than van Aert.
 
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Double that wage? Let's not get carried away here. First and foremost GT riders are the pinnacle of the sport for every sponsor, not classics riders. He has become quite a star in Belgium and he'll probably be recognised abroad by more than just a few sports fans, but he doesn't have the X-factor of Boonen back in the day, or Evenepoel for that matter. Neither does he compare to Sagan, who outstands/outstood the sport, hence the massive paycheck.

I'd say it's a fair price for him.
 
I guess there are also teams that would double the wages of van Aert, but that's not really the point. I also didn't say there was anything wrong with earning less, not sure where your response is coming from. I was simply stating what the news item said: how much he 'll earn, and how much that is compared to PR and TD. As for Dumoulin, yes i'm a bit surprised. He was never a rider that would win lots of races. After his injury he still has to prove he once more can reach the level he had that was needed to win the Giro. He will ride and win a lot less than van Aert, and he will probably be less of a domestique on top of that. He's also 4 years older than van Aert.
I'm a little shocked at 1.6M cause it's pretty much peanuts compared to riders of similar ability IMO. Roglic at 2M is also underpaid. Dumoulin was a gamble.

I wonder if there's heavy bonuses in these contracts?
 
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I'm a little shocked at 1.6M cause it's pretty much peanuts compared to riders of similar ability IMO. Roglic at 2M is also underpaid. Dumoulin was a gamble.

I wonder if there's heavy bonuses in these contracts?

I would also think there are nice winning bonuses. But he knowingly took less than he could get elsewere. If he was happy here, strong team, all the freedom why change it just for more money. Plus he could get more freedom with personal sponsors than at other teams maybe?
 
I would also think there are nice winning bonuses. But he knowingly took less than he could get elsewere. If he was happy here, strong team, all the freedom why change it just for more money. Plus he could get more freedom with personal sponsors than at other teams maybe?
There's also simply that the #1 classics team / the #1 Belgian team doesn't really have room for him and doesn't really overpay riders that much either?
 
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What's wrong with making less than Dumoulin and Roglic? Both of those riders are still proven GT-winners and young enough to win some more. I'm more surprised by the wages of Roglic. I could name a number of teams that would double his earnings

I think the structure & people behind the scenes matter a lot more than some people imagine, i.e. I believe Jumbo have a very tightknit group of race directors/mechanics plus a training & race program which works very well for riders like Wout & Primoz. Why go for the money elsewhere & lose all the behind the scenes expertise? A bit like going to Ferrari in F1, i.e. even though they (occasionally) have a fast car, some people just don't adapt to the mentality & "lifestyle".

Ineos would = a whole new load of people, ideas, vision, advice & potential risks, aka for Wout I assume the motivating factor was "don't change a winning formula". Roglic also seems like a rider who is very, very happy (& extremely respected/admired) within the Jumbo team.
 
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"What can't he do"

Make Dumoulin great again

yeah that's too soon i guess sorry

"What can't he do? " (yet)

Maybe step up as a real GC contender? I don't know if that is too soon but now that Dumoulin has committed seppuku, if Wout could take his climbing legs an extra step (remember his epic climb of the Grand Colombier last year?) & remain consistently with the best, he'll become something quite special.
 
"What can't he do? " (yet)

Maybe step up as a real GC contender? I don't know if that is too soon but now that Dumoulin has committed seppuku, if Wout could take his climbing legs an extra step (remember his epic climb of the Grand Colombier last year?) & remain consistently with the best, he'll become something quite special.
I doubt it?

The remarkable thing about WvA is that he shouldn't be top 20 in a GT in the first place. But top 20 vs winning a Grand Tour is still a different universe of climbing.
 
I doubt it?

The remarkable thing about WvA is that he shouldn't be top 20 in a GT in the first place. But top 20 vs winning a Grand Tour is still a different universe of climbing.

True, but if he hadn't spent so much time as a domestique last year he could prpbably have been number 10 in the race, in before Caruso, G Martin and Valverde, which is batshit crazy to think about.
 

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