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Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

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That was the setting I saw Rasmussen's raid in the Vosges in 2005 in. Fond memories.

When Rasmussen won on Aubisque I was sitting in a stupid bus on my way to a stupid football tournament in Lemvig, so I had to rely on my mom's updates. It was not a particularly fun evening when rumours suddenly began circulating about him being tossed from the race and no way to know for sure.

Alright back to Van Aert: I was thinking during his ascent today that he could win the Tour. Then again, against Pogacar? It'll be tough but he and Roglic would be an extraordinary duo if they both set out to try.
 
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This year van der Poel will be there, and he will not have to babysit a GC rider.

Van der Poel won't go for the green jersey and will likely even abandon to better prepare the Olympics. Still, Bennett could gain a lot of ground in the flat stages (mostly due to the intermidiate sprints) but if Van Aert gets a higher position in the train he can gain a lot of points in the hilly/mid-mountain stages and time trials.
 
Alright back to Van Aert: I was thinking during his ascent today that he could win the Tour. Then again, against Pogacar? It'll be tough but he and Roglic would be an extraordinary duo if they both set out to try.
I said literally years ago, he could become a GT/GC rider like Dumoulin/Wiggins. Winning the Tour... doubtful because guys like Roglic and Pogacar are great TT'ers as well and likely more natural climbers. But i could see TJV slip him into Dumoulin's role as third pillar though. If guys like Roglic, Pogacar and Evenepoel are injured, and it happens to be a TT heavy route, then maybe.
 
When Rasmussen won on Aubisque I was sitting in a stupid bus on my way to a stupid football tournament in Lemvig, so I had to rely on my mom's updates. It was not a particularly fun evening when rumours suddenly began circulating about him being tossed from the race and no way to know for sure.
I was on a camp the week before the 2006 Tour, and the first day home I was told that Ullrich and Basso wouldn't start. Ugh.
Alright back to Van Aert: I was thinking during his ascent today that he could win the Tour. Then again, against Pogacar? It'll be tough but he and Roglic would be an extraordinary duo if they both set out to try.
I don't think the weak as *** Alps will expose him, but on Ventoux I think Roglic will try to mark Pogi with Aert limiting the damages (as a possible scenario).
 
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Can this please become the new header image for this thread?
 
So basically, Wout van Aert stomped every GC rider in the Tirreno, bar the TDF winner of 2020 who is a complete extra terrestial.

Damn, not a bad debut as GC rider. I mean he's 2'30 ahead of Landa, the next one in GC. That would make one of the biggest Tirreno winning margins since... ages! It's only that Pogacar is there that this didn't happen.

*** scary this man. The only, and this is really the only, point I'm starting to wonder about:
Is he at risk of becoming a jack-of-all-trades, but master of none?

Well, he's a jack of all trades of extremely high level that he'll take more than enough wins anyway. But still... it's my only doubt when I see him riding GC. His punchiness on climbs is slightly less, or maybe it's just that he isn't in top shape yet. idk. Just something i wonder
 
I think Wout still isn’t in top shape. That should be a scary thought for all of his rivals.

Wout will win a lot of races by the time his career is over, that hopefully includes a couple of GT’s. Pog or Rog won’t contest every GT every year, at least not in top shape.

His only concern might be his own compatriot who’s name shall not be mentioned; a potentially even bigger beast.
 
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So basically, Wout van Aert stomped every GC rider in the Tirreno, bar the TDF winner of 2020 who is a complete extra terrestial.

Damn, not a bad debut as GC rider. I mean he's 2'30 ahead of Landa, the next one in GC. That would make one of the biggest Tirreno winning margins since... ages! It's only that Pogacar is there that this didn't happen.

*** scary this man. The only, and this is really the only, point I'm starting to wonder about:
Is he at risk of becoming a jack-of-all-trades, but master of none?

Well, he's a jack of all trades of extremely high level that he'll take more than enough wins anyway. But still... it's my only doubt when I see him riding GC. His punchiness on climbs is slightly less, or maybe it's just that he isn't in top shape yet. idk. Just something i wonder
That's indeed the issue. If he goes the GC route, he will lose other strengths (punch, sprint, cobbles...). As a testcase, Tirreno was a huge success and maybe the plan isn't to act on it straight away. Maybe he will try competing a select few 1 week GC's like Paris Nice, Algarve etc, without having to change too much, while still doing a regular classics season for the time being. Those are GC's he could win without having to lose 8kg or completely shift his training. And in a year or two, knowing what they know now, start working towards GT's?

Our views may be somewhat skewed for the moment as well, considering Mathieu is riding around on an extraterrestrial level. But Mathieu won't keep this form the entire year or the rest of his career, and maybe Wout will improve and by the time Paris Roubaix rolls around, tables might have turned and we won't be talking about "master of none".

As for how successful he could be as a GT/GC rider... i think Dumoulin would be a fitting mold to work around. I could see him come out on top on a fitting course once or twice, but i don't think he has the potential that guys like Pogacar and Evenepoel seem to have, whom i both could see winning multiple GT's in a row.
 
Does he want to be a GT/ GC rider? Does he want to go through the sacrifice of losing weight, endless training camps, away from family, etc Only he knows that. He may take the attitude ' no regrets' - and give it a go; if it doesn't work out, then he tried.
Personally, he'd be losing a lot of his natural attributes, and the 'classics', and CX would likely have to go......
 
I thought top 5 on this parcours would probably be a reach for Wout but it's pretty exciting to think what might be possible with a full focus on GC down the line.

So basically, Wout van Aert stomped every GC rider in the Tirreno, bar the TDF winner of 2020 who is a complete extra terrestial.

Damn, not a bad debut as GC rider. I mean he's 2'30 ahead of Landa, the next one in GC. That would make one of the biggest Tirreno winning margins since... ages! It's only that Pogacar is there that this didn't happen.

*** scary this man. The only, and this is really the only, point I'm starting to wonder about:
Is he at risk of becoming a jack-of-all-trades, but master of none?

Well, he's a jack of all trades of extremely high level that he'll take more than enough wins anyway. But still... it's my only doubt when I see him riding GC. His punchiness on climbs is slightly less, or maybe it's just that he isn't in top shape yet. idk. Just something i wonder

I think we'll only see him go all-in for GC if there's a Tour route that really suits him - I'm thinking a 2012-style course.
 
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