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Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

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Take it easy. His best result on cobbles is 2nd in E3. At this age Boonen had a palmares far better than Wout's and was the best rider in the world over the past 2 years. Not just the past month.

I thought this would lure you in.

Are you arguing against the proposition that Van Aert is more versatile than Boonen was? Or against Van Aert never really having had the opportunity to show himself in the cobbled monuments, considering his misfortune in Roubaix last year? He seemed to be the strongest in that race.

Arguing about age is just silly considering Wout's not having ridden seriously on the road since he was 24...
 
How many times did you see Boonen drop off his GC leader at 1.5k of the summit?
Boonen won 6 TDF stages in 6 years. Van Aert already has 3, (not including the TTT in which he was a big factor) in 20 days of TDF.
Van Aert already won 4 ITT's against top competition. How many did Boonen win?
Van Aert already won MSR in his 2nd try, and won Strade, a race Boonen would never have won.
Van Aert is on par or better as a sprinter, a much better ITT'er and a much better climber.

Yeah, i'm glad i do as well. Baffling you feel this is up for debate. Actually, you don't even seem to think it's up for debate.
I've heard similar stories quite often in last 10 years, and very rarely a rider lived up to expectations. That's why I'm a little skeptical, you know...
First we had Sagan, who fulfilled the prophecy to some extent, although expectations were higher. Then Quintana, the Colombian Messiah, who will save the World from evil Sky Empire. That didn't went quite like that. Then Kwiatkowski, a future winner of all five Monuments. He managed one, plus WC though...Then Alaphilippe who will win God knows how many Monuments and WC's and can even win TDF if he focuses on that. OK, that story is far from end, but big ones are not coming like people around here expected. Then Bernal and Van Der Poel which last year seemed would dominate cycling for a decade, but this year doesn't look like that at all. And so on...
 
I've heard similar stories quite often in last 10 years, and very rarely a rider lived up to expectations. That's why I'm a little skeptical, you know...
First we had Sagan, who fulfilled the prophecy to some extent, although expectations were higher. Then Quintana, the Colombian Messiah, who will save the World from evil Sky Empire. That didn't went quite like that. Then Kwiatkowski, a future winner of all five Monuments. He managed one, plus WC though...Then Alaphilippe who will win God knows how many Monuments and WC's and can even win TDF if he focuses on that. OK, that story is far from end, but big ones are not coming like people around here expected. Then Bernal and Van Der Poel which last year seemed would dominate cycling for a decade, but this year doesn't look like that at all. And so on...
Your comparisons are all over the place. Somebody mentioned van Aert and Boonen, to which i said he had more potential.
I'm not comparing him to Quintana or Sagan or Bernal, but to Boonen. Boonen was a gifted cobbled rider, but without the bad luck, van Aert would already have won Roubaix last year. In the meanwhile he had a horror injury, which took him out for the better part of the year, and still managed to win 3 TDF stages, 3 Dauphiné stages, a monument and a classic. As well as 2 NC's ITT, which at the moment, are actually worth something. Yes, van Aert has a lot more potential than Boonen. He's at least on par as a sprinter (Boonen wasn't a pure sprinter either), he's a far better climber and a far better ITT'er, on top of being 3 times worldchampion CX (which again, against MvdP, means something). For me this is not up for debate, but i know you don't like whatever i have to say, so if you feel the need to roll your eyes some more, feel free.

Take it easy. His best result on cobbles is 2nd in E3. At this age Boonen had a palmares far better than Wout's and was the best rider in the world over the past 2 years. Not just the past month.
The past month. Really? At his age, how many worldtitles CX did Boonen have?
 
Take it easy. His best result on cobbles is 2nd in E3. At this age Boonen had a palmares far better than Wout's and was the best rider in the world over the past 2 years. Not just the past month.

I don't remember Boonen having 3 successive World Championships......;)

You can't really compare them as it's like apples & pairs. Boonen was a pure road racer. Wout is in only his second full road season - after a career in CX.
 
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I thought this would lure you in.

Are you arguing against the proposition that Van Aert is more versatile than Boonen was? Or against Van Aert never really having had the opportunity to show himself in the cobbled monuments, considering his misfortune in Roubaix last year? He seemed to be the strongest in that race.

Arguing about age is just silly considering Wout's not having ridden seriously on the road since he was 24...

Of course is he more versatile. So is Kwiatkowski, but does that make him the better rider? Moscon too? Did they ha

He has raced both Ronde and Roubaix twice, and he looked mighty strong last year in Roubaix until he bonked. I'm not sure why that means he never had a chance to show himself.

It's obvious that he is fully matured now and that his future looks bright, but more potential than Boonen? All I say is that it's a bit early to say that and also a bit over the top.

...

And some of you sound like Wiggins fanboys declaring the importance of how good he was at only turning left indoors.
 
Your comparisons are all over the place. Somebody mentioned van Aert and Boonen, to which i said he had more potential.
I'm not comparing him to Quintana or Sagan or Bernal, but to Boonen. Boonen was a gifted cobbled rider, but without the bad luck, van Aert would already have won Roubaix last year. In the meanwhile he had a horror injury, which took him out for the better part of the year, and still managed to win 3 TDF stages, 3 Dauphiné stages, a monument and a classic. As well as 2 NC's ITT, which at the moment, are actually worth something. Yes, van Aert has a lot more potential than Boonen. He's at least on par as a sprinter (Boonen wasn't a pure sprinter either), he's a far better climber and a far better ITT'er, on top of being 3 times worldchampion CX (which again, against MvdP, means something). For me this is not up for debate, but i know you don't like whatever i have to say, so if you feel the need to roll your eyes some more, feel free.


The past month. Really? At his age, how many worldtitles CX did Boonen have?
I mentioned those riders because there was a similar hype around here like we have right now with Wout. I thought that was obvious, but nevertheless...

I said he's more versatile, but for the potential I'm not so sure. I don't like when someone says that a guy who won one monument, a classic and couple of Tour stages is declared as a lot more talented than a guy who won 8 biggest one-day races in the World, plus about 100 other races! Let him at least to be on half of the Boonen's palmares when you start this talk. It's way too early now.
 
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Of course is he more versatile. So is Kwiatkowski, but does that make him the better rider? Moscon too? Did they ha

He has raced both Ronde and Roubaix twice, and he looked mighty strong last year in Roubaix until he bonked. I'm not sure why that means he never had a chance to show himself.

It's obvious that he is fully matured now and that his future looks bright, but more potential than Boonen? All I say is that it's a bit early to say that and also a bit over the top.
We were comparing both. Why do you only want to compare them on Boonen's strongpoints? Why don't you compare them on van Aert's strong points? Because Boonen had a bigger palmares on the cobbles at that age (obviously, since van Aert was a crosser first and foremost), that doesn't mean that's the only thing that matters. I would say that winning MSR is a pretty big deal, which Boonen never managed. Same with being a top ITT'er, which Boonen wasn't etc. etc.
 
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I don't mind engaging seriously with you, as I don't see you pull any dumb crap.
Hilarious. It's you who started pulling dumb crap with comparing Boonen to van Aert "at that age", since you know very well van Aert had a different career. Which is the only reason why i pulled that card to begin with. Joker.

And you still don't want to acknowledge the strengths van Aert has, that Boonen has always lacked. Doesn't fit the narrative.
 
Of course is he more versatile. So is Kwiatkowski, but does that make him the better rider? Moscon too? Did they ha

He has raced both Ronde and Roubaix twice, and he looked mighty strong last year in Roubaix until he bonked. I'm not sure why that means he never had a chance to show himself.

It's obvious that he is fully matured now and that his future looks bright, but more potential than Boonen? All I say is that it's a bit early to say that and also a bit over the top.

...

And some of you sound like Wiggins fanboys declaring the importance of how good he was at only turning left indoors.
This.

Nobody will deny Van Aert is a better climber than Boonen. What is it gonna buy him? I think apart from the option being on the offensive on the Poggio and competing in Strade, I don't think it buys him that many races.
 
This.

Nobody will deny Van Aert is a better climber than Boonen. What is it gonna buy him? I think apart from the option being on the offensive on the Poggio and competing in Strade, I don't think it buys him that many races.
A better chance competing LBL and Lombardia? A better chance competing in Imola?

To be clear: I said competing, not winning. I still don't think WvA is made for those races and should focus on PR and Flanders, but just like some other classics riders in their very best days, he could compete in more hilly classics, and because of his better climbing potential, he has a better chance to win them.
 

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