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Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

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It's not about boring or not. Or defensieve vs risk taking.
It's about stupid and useless. Back in september Van Aert couldn't criticise Evenepoel enough for attacking so early. Everybody thought it was great to see and very entertaining, but also knew it was way too early. It was exciting, risky and stupid.
Fast forward 6 months. Evenepoel attacks on la Redoute. Exciting, risky and smart.
 
The strategy made sense at first: go in the break so Jumbo doesn’t have to work, thus allowing some of his teammates to recover from the cobbles stage And if you can make UAE work at the front than even better. If nobody works, then Wout gets the stage win and extends his lead.

But once it became clear that other teams were helping UAE and that the break was too small and had no chance of surviving, Wout should have sat up. Fuglsang did that and finished in the group at 5 seconds. Surely Wout would have done at least as well on that finish even after half of the stage in the break—giving him more green points and another day in yellow.
 
The strategy made sense at first: go in the break so Jumbo doesn’t have to work, thus allowing some of his teammates to recover from the cobbles stage And if you can make UAE work at the front than even better. If nobody works, then Wout gets the stage win and extends his lead.

But once it became clear that other teams were helping UAE and that the break was too small and had no chance of surviving, Wout should have sat up. Fuglsang did that and finished in the group at 5 seconds. Surely Wout would have done at least as well on that finish even after half of the stage in the break—giving him more green points and another day in yellow.

And then what?
Sure more (potential) green points is nice, but is it really needed? Everyone else already gave up anyway.
And are you sure he wanted to be one more day in yellow? I think he's actually happy he's "free" now. He'll not have to attack 30 times again to get into a break, now that he's 7 minutes down in GC.
It was fun, his team mates had a day off, and nothing was lost. For sure this wasn't the big plan at the beginning of the stage, but no harm done either.
Well done, Wout!
 
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And then what?
Sure more (potential) green points is nice, but is it really needed? Everyone else already gave up anyway.
And are you sure he wanted to be one more day in yellow? I think he's actually happy he's "free" now. He'll not have to attack 30 times again to get into a break, now that he's 7 minutes down in GC.
It was fun, his team mates had a day off, and nothing was lost. For sure this wasn't the big plan at the beginning of the stage, but no harm done either.
Well done, Wout!

I think he could have -- at worst -- chased down Pogacar at the finish, and at best, would have won the stage. Matthews, who on his best day is still not as good as Wout on that terrain, finished second. No way a relatively fresh Wout doesn't at least contest a reduced sprint there.

Silly move, waste of energy, didn't help the team. Yes, he would have lost yellow on PDBF, but no matter.
 
He is riding like he wants to be the star of the new Netflix show filmed this Tour.
Giving him more international recognition and likely some more lucrative sponsorship deals in the future.
Of course you got to have the legs and he is obviously in top, top form.
Entertaining for sure but yesterday was nonetheless, especially in hindsight, quite bizarre.
 
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He is riding like he wants to be the star of the new Netflix show filmed this Tour.
Giving him more international recognition and likely some more lucrative sponsorship deals in the future.
Of course you got to have the legs and he is obviously in top, top form.
Entertaining for sure but yesterday was nonetheless, especially in hindsight, quite bizarre.

He was going to be the star anyway, along with Pogacar I don't see who else they should be focusing on. They are head and shoulders above anyone else in this TDF so far.
 
I think he could have -- at worst -- chased down Pogacar at the finish, and at best, would have won the stage. Matthews, who on his best day is still not as good as Wout on that terrain, finished second. No way a relatively fresh Wout doesn't at least contest a reduced sprint there.

Silly move, waste of energy, didn't help the team. Yes, he would have lost yellow on PDBF, but no matter.

Yes he could have just stayed in the bunch.
Then it would have been up to TJV to control the race. And then Wout could have potentially sprinted for the win.

Or, he could go into the break himself, the rest of the team would have to do nothing, he would have gained green points and if the break would have stayed away he would have potentially sprinted for the win.

The only problem was that the break was too small and they didn't get enough time, but by the time that was clear, he decided he already invested too much energy and couldn't go back to the "sit back and relax" plan anyway.

I really don't see the problem. He made it fun, and it certainly didn't harm his team in any way.
 
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Yes he could have just stayed in the bunch.
Then it would have been up to TJV to control the race. And then Wout could have potentially sprinted for the win.

Or, he could go into the break himself, the rest of the team would have to do nothing, he would have gained green points and if the break would have stayed away he would have potentially sprinted for the win.

The only problem was that the break was too small and they didn't get enough time, but by the time that was clear, he decided he already invested too much energy and couldn't go back to the "sit back and relax" plan anyway.

I really don't see the problem. He made it fun, and it certainly didn't harm his team in any way.

Why would JV have needed to control the race when they were going to lose the yellow the day afterwards either way? They could have just let a breakaway go and put in a couple of guys to chase them along with other teams, then possibly win the stage with WVA. Or just let someone else go into the break.

It was fun to watch but a serious waste of energy. Probably doesn't matter that much though considering he seemingly has unlimited energy.
 
Why would JV have needed to control the race when they were going to lose the yellow the day afterwards either way? They could have just let a breakaway go and put in a couple of guys to chase them along with other teams, then possibly win the stage with WVA. Or just let someone else go into the break.

It was fun to watch but a serious waste of energy. Probably doesn't matter that much though considering he seemingly has unlimited energy.

Because:
  1. They would have had the favorite for the stage win.
  2. It's an unwritten rule that the yellow jersey team protects the jersey.

But sure not caring at all would have been an option as well.
 
Because:
  1. They would have had the favorite for the stage win.
  2. It's an unwritten rule that the yellow jersey team protects the jersey.
But sure not caring at all would have been an option as well.

I mean sure, put in 2-3 guys and chase the breakaway along with other teams (like Alpécin who helped for no apparent reason), but no need to sacrifice everyone to hold on to the jersey for 1 more day. I don't see what's that weird about letting the jersey go if you are going to lose it anyway. Easiest solution would have been to put Benoot or Laporte in the break imo
 
I missed a lot of yesterdays stage but have I got this right: VA went in the breakaway to get green jersey points whereas if he'd stayed in the bunch he would have probably got more? I'm off to see what Horner has to say.

JV said they did this, because they believed it would go to a break and noone would help them to bring it in and they didn't want to work after yesterday. So the solution was to get WVA in the break, but they wanted it to be a big one like 15 riders not a small one. Why they still went for it in a small break is unknown.
 
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I don't know why Van Aert is still worried with green jersey points. He can win points where Jakobsen and Groenewegen can win too, while they can't win in places where Van Aert can. And they can only gain significant points on him in flat sprint stages. How many of that are left? 1 or 2?

Only a disgrace can take the green jersey away from WVA and 19 in 20 times that disgrace forces WVA to not reach Paris.
 
What is the largest difference with 2nd place for green ever (at the end)? Relative then as point system has changed over the years.
As you say, the points system has changed quite a bit over the years. So calibrating all the historical results would require some effort. In recent years, the biggest margin was achieved by Sagan in 2016. He gathered 470 points, second place Kittel had 228 points.
 
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