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Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

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What will Belgium do, I wonder? Will they send Little Eddy up the road at some point so Wout can stalk the rest?

That's exactly what I think will happen. It will be Belgium vs rest of the world. If WVA wants to win this bike race then going on an offense can be a better strategy than marking all attacks. His team is strong but if the race is intense then at some point he may be left with little support (we know what happened at the Olympics when he was the marked man).
 
Realistically if you have Evenepoel driving a reduced group to set up Van Aert

I think every scenario with a happy ending for Wout van Aert is a "logical scenario" which would work if Evenepoel was a Jumbo Visma teammate & this was another one day race.

The "quaintness" of the worlds is the very fact national teams add some unpredictability in terms of loyalty & behavior. Imagine a small reduced bunch with Evenepoel, WvA, Colbrelli, Magnus Cort (he's someone who can win a flat bunch sprint), Pogacar, Roglic, MvdP, Alaphilippe & some others?

It'll be chaos with attacks & counter attacks. So I don't see this as a forgone conclusion for WvA at all unlike last year for example when the timing of the road race (1 week after the Tour) & the parcours made Alaphilippe pretty much unbeatable as long as he perfected his punch at the right time & no one else was up the road ahead. There's also the fact WvA can also be a bit sketchy with his sprint after a long race (like when he got beaten by Pidcock, or was close to being beaten by the same Pidcock at Amstel & Pogacar in the Olympics).

Still, WvA is the massive massive favorite & that in & of itself adds a huge amount of pressure.
 
I think every scenario with a happy ending for Wout van Aert is a "logical scenario" which would work if Evenepoel was a Jumbo Visma teammate & this was another one day race.

The "quaintness" of the worlds is the very fact national teams add some unpredictability in terms of loyalty & behavior. Imagine a small reduced bunch with Evenepoel, WvA, Colbrelli, Magnus Cort (he's someone who can win a flat bunch sprint), Pogacar, Roglic, MvdP, Alaphilippe & some others?

It'll be chaos with attacks & counter attacks. So I don't see this as a forgone conclusion for WvA at all unlike last year for example when the timing of the road race (1 week after the Tour) & the parcours made Alaphilippe pretty much unbeatable as long as he perfected his punch at the right time & no one else was up the road ahead. There's also the fact WvA can also be a bit sketchy with his sprint after a long race (like when he got beaten by Pidcock, or was close to being beaten by the same Pidcock at Amstel & Pogacar in the Olympics).

Still, WvA is the massive massive favorite & that in & of itself adds a huge amount of pressure.
It depends a lot on which sprinters survive the Flemish circuit, but Van Aert in this form should be a very heavy favorite in a reduced sprint vs the names you've put in there. When he got beaten by Pidcock it wasn't from a reduced group and he was definitely over his best shape at that point. I think Van Aert has >50% chance to win in a reduced bunch sprint.

Now I'm not saying Evenepoel can't win, but I do think that unless he goes solo there's a lottery element in if he can bamboozle the lead group he's in, and Evenepoel should beat almost nobody he can't drop.
 
Wout seems to sit a bit more upright than Ganna as well, perhaps they should lower his handlebars a bit.
Ganna's back is completely flat, Wout's isn't.

That's another 10 seconds. No problem Wout!

Edit: also disc brakes for Wout, rim brakes for Ganna. Must be another aero benefit for Ganna. They should hire me at TJV as Marginal Gain Coach.

E_uEcdtWEAQALQP


ganna-tijdrit-italie-sirotti-61478be6b8831.jpg
 
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Wout seems to sit a bit more upright than Ganna as well, perhaps they should lower his handlebars a bit.
Ganna's back is completely flat, Wout's isn't.

That's another 10 seconds. No problem Wout!

Edit: also disc brakes for Wout, rim brakes for Ganna. Must be another aero benefit for Ganna. They should hire me at TJV as Marginal Gain Coach.

E_uEcdtWEAQALQP


ganna-tijdrit-italie-sirotti-61478be6b8831.jpg
Seems like riders and their teams have to work out a balance between getting as low as possible without subtracting from the ability to produce maximum power over long distances. But Ganna has put much more into TT training than Wout, so perhaps Wout can still get more aero? Ganna’s position and pedaling are awesome to watch.
 
I think the new Cervelos are at least on par with the Pinarellos, at least the recent Jumbo results in time trials don't hint at weak equipment. And what good is a position that's faster in theory if it doesn't allow you to push your best?
I think the course suited enormous big power-houses just fine, and Ganna is such a guy; there was no up and down, and hardly anything technical which would have brought van Aert an advantage.
So, actually, van Aert did pretty well. (And Evenepoel was very strong.)
 

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