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But worse than Boonen, Cancellara and Bartoli...
Beloki has made a bet with someone that Van Aert will win the Tour de France within the next 3 years. Also Indurain thinks he can do it.
Interviews in Spanish, no subtitels. Text in Dutch'
sporza.be
Interviews in Spanish, no subtitels. Text in Dutch'
Contador, Indurain en Beloki geloven in Tour-zege Wout van Aert: "Maar wielersport zou verliezer zijn" | sporza
Kan Wout van Aert ooit de Tour de France winnen? Volgens de Spaanse ex-toppers Alberto Contador, Miguel Indurain en Joseba Beloki heeft hij de capaciteiten. "Maar het zou wel ten koste van zijn veelzijdigheid zijn", zegt Alberto Contador.
Man if there was anything i would have bet my kidneys against
Beloki has made a bet with someone that Van Aert will win the Tour de France within the next 3 years. Also Indurain thinks he can do it.
Interviews in Spanish, no subtitels. Text in Dutch'
Contador, Indurain en Beloki geloven in Tour-zege Wout van Aert: "Maar wielersport zou verliezer zijn" | sporza
Kan Wout van Aert ooit de Tour de France winnen? Volgens de Spaanse ex-toppers Alberto Contador, Miguel Indurain en Joseba Beloki heeft hij de capaciteiten. "Maar het zou wel ten koste van zijn veelzijdigheid zijn", zegt Alberto Contador.
Read it to but I doubt it. Spanish riders are really comitted to the GC work while Flemish riders get their kicks out of one day classics. Trying to win a GC of 3 weeks would mean he has to lose muscle weight, muscle he needs to contend in one day classics.
We all know he would have to make big sacrifices if he were to actually try.
It depends on how much TT K's there are and how much mountaintop finishes. Mountain stages that end with a descent or on the flat he'd always take back lost time in the chase (he's kind of used to chasing other guys like MVP in the cross).
If there's f.e. 2 individual TT's and a Team TT and only 2 or 3 actual uphill mountain finishes he could easily Bradly Wiggings his way to yellow.
Not in Pogacar era. He was beaten by baby Merckx in 2 out of 3 TTs in TDF so far. Don't see why would his chances increase if he would lose a lot of weight.
With the right route with only 1 true multi-pass mountain stage in each of the Alps and Pyrenees plus lots of ITT and TTT kms then he might stand a chance but not while Roglic is still good enough to contend. A cobbled stage with him as clear team leader to ride for his own chances would also help.
A good Pogacar is always going to be top favourite, however there will be years where even baby poggyboy will not be 100% because of sickness, crashes or because he focusses on other targets (like Giro f.e.).
Bonimenier
BANNED
I told you of my good mate in April. He said, Kwiat and van Baarle are very weak cyclists, and won‘t have a chance in this year‘s classics.
This same mate spoke about recent TdF winners. He said something like, if „(very) weak cyclists like Pereiro, Sastre, Evans, Wiggins or Thomas can win the TdF, then every Continental Team rider possibly can.“…
Now even my friend would admit that WVA is a (very) strong cyclist. I, however, don‘t know if WVA could win the Tour.
Wout was 20th and 19th in the last two TdF, without going for GC. Normally, one says that the Top20 of the TdF GC are the twenty best cyclists (stage racers) of the world. And I believe that everyone out of the Top20 of a TdF is a potential TdF winner.
If Wout was French, they probably would make him a TdF which is tailor made for him: many and long ITTs/TTTs, few MTFs (not too long, and steady ascents, not too steep).
I, however, think that in any case, Wout will want to win RVV and Roubaix before going for TdF GC or GCs at all…
Wout van Aert could one day want to become a stage racer, and then he would be a new Indurain: a tall, heavier, powerful rider, who climbs with the best and beats them all in the ITTs.
This same mate spoke about recent TdF winners. He said something like, if „(very) weak cyclists like Pereiro, Sastre, Evans, Wiggins or Thomas can win the TdF, then every Continental Team rider possibly can.“…
Now even my friend would admit that WVA is a (very) strong cyclist. I, however, don‘t know if WVA could win the Tour.
Wout was 20th and 19th in the last two TdF, without going for GC. Normally, one says that the Top20 of the TdF GC are the twenty best cyclists (stage racers) of the world. And I believe that everyone out of the Top20 of a TdF is a potential TdF winner.
If Wout was French, they probably would make him a TdF which is tailor made for him: many and long ITTs/TTTs, few MTFs (not too long, and steady ascents, not too steep).
I, however, think that in any case, Wout will want to win RVV and Roubaix before going for TdF GC or GCs at all…
Wout van Aert could one day want to become a stage racer, and then he would be a new Indurain: a tall, heavier, powerful rider, who climbs with the best and beats them all in the ITTs.
I disagree that Top 20 in a GT means you are among the top 20 stage races. (Of course, by definition, yes they are...but I'm talking about intent.) When the gap from 1 to 20 is roughly 1 hour, that hardly means you're competitive, in Wout's case he lasted long enough in mountain stages that he could not lose much time.
That said, given the right course and being protected, Wout could probably top 10 a GT. I don't know if he could reach Indurain level; the overall level in cycling now, I think, is much higher. His weakness would be consecutive hard mountain stages or something like Loze, where he'd have to carefully manage his energy to avoid losing 5-10 minutes.
I do think it would be cool to see JV go all in for Wout in a GT with lots of TT kms.
That said, given the right course and being protected, Wout could probably top 10 a GT. I don't know if he could reach Indurain level; the overall level in cycling now, I think, is much higher. His weakness would be consecutive hard mountain stages or something like Loze, where he'd have to carefully manage his energy to avoid losing 5-10 minutes.
I do think it would be cool to see JV go all in for Wout in a GT with lots of TT kms.
I certainly hope that Van Aert prioritizes classics the coming years. Would rather see him battle Van der Poel in most races ang Pogacar, Remco and perhaps Pidcock in some races than reduces his chances to try to be a contender in GTs. Maybe in 3 or 4 years, but not now. Pog vs Rog and perhaps Evenepoel is more interesting and suited for the GTs. Perhaps also Pidcock.
I think that with modern GT routes that are based in lots of MTFs and little TT kms it will be difficult to see Van Aert winning any GT unless he sheds a couple of kilos. I also think that he will keep prioritising the cobbled classics for the next years to at least win Ronde and Roubaix once and then in the Tour he will focus on the green jersey that in better suited to him especially if there are not many sprint stages like this year.
Having said that, I would like to see him fighting for GC in stage races from time to time, the Dauphine this year as a great route for him, for example, although I think Roglić will be the leader and Van Aert will go for green like in Paris Nice.
Having said that, I would like to see him fighting for GC in stage races from time to time, the Dauphine this year as a great route for him, for example, although I think Roglić will be the leader and Van Aert will go for green like in Paris Nice.
I don't see that much improvement required from his best mountain stage efforts in recent years, to be able to contend for gc. He could probably reach Dumoulin 17-18 levels, but losing a small amount of weight to do that might make him about the 11-20th best classics riders instead of one of the best two, so it's a risk. He'd want to win another monument or two first.
Bonimenier
BANNED
Stybar still better since he won a WT stage race.
True, Dumoulin was between 72-74kg in the beginning of his career while Van Aert was always at around 77-78kg so more similar to Wiggins before 2009.
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