Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

[Red Rick]

Let's see him on the steep climbs against the top riders first! Oops, wrong thread!

(haha)

Win some, lose some. You must have had a neutral day

 

[Jspear]

I think he could be similar to Cancellara but he'll never have the TT palmares that Cancellara does....imo

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Win some, lose some. You must have had a neutral day

Underwhelming.

I think he could be similar to Cancellara but he'll never have the TT palmares that Cancellara does....imo

If he would focus on it as much as Canc did, who knows. I also think there are more worldclass ITT'ers in his generation than in Cancellara's. Maybe that's just an impression.

 

[BlueRoads]

You guys really love to hype
The win was great, he's a great rider, but WCTT champion? Next Cancellara? ...
I will keep my expectations within P-R and Flanders for now...

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I find him to be almost like a perfect mix between Cancellara and Boonen so I see him winning more classics like De Ronde and Roubaix at least once and maybe San Remo as well.

Outside of that, a green jersey in the Tour and becoming TT World Champion seem to be within reach, although he isn't very focused on them for now.

That's funny (and true) because that's the exact same comparison i made last year. If Boonen and Cancellara made a baby, it'd be van Aert. Though not as good looking. And possibly deformed.

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[KZD]

I think he could be similar to Cancellara but he'll never have the TT palmares that Cancellara does....imo

Well to make myself clear, I am fairly sure that he won't become 4 times World Champion or 2 times Olympic Champion like Cancellara but I see him getting at least TT title if he focuses on it.

I actually think that the green jersey in the Tour could prove trickier because in a team with Dumoulin, Roglic and Groenewegen it will be difficult to get that opportunity, but maybe in a few years he will have more room for that.

 

[frisenfruitig]

You guys really love to hype
The win was great, he's a great rider, but WCTT champion? Next Cancellara? ...
I will keep my expectations within P-R and Flanders for now...

He's already shown he has a world class TT so I'm not sure why you think him becoming a TT WC isn't realistic?
And there are an awful lot of similarities between WVA and Cance if you ask me. If anything I think WVA will have more wins because of his superior sprint.

What is it that Cancellara had you think WVA doesn't have? Which races did he win that you won't see WVA winning?
I'm struggling to think of any.

 

[tobydawq]

What is it that Cancellara had you think WVA doesn't have?

Easy pickings. This era has a lot more strong riders, especially for the cobbles.

Otherwise, I fully agree with you.

 

[SafeBet]

He's already shown he has a world class TT so I'm not sure why you think him becoming a TT WC isn't realistic?
And there are an awful lot of similarities between WVA and Cance if you ask me. If anything I think WVA will have more wins because of his superior sprint.

I'm a big Van Aert fan but winning more than Cancellarla did won't be easy at all (even if we're only talking Classics).

Cancellara won 7 Monuments + 3 Strade Bianche + 3 Harelbeke. He once had a streak of 12 consecutive Monuments finished on the podium. He was a monster.

Plus, as Toby says, the competition is stiffer nowadays.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Easy pickings. This era has a lot more strong riders, especially for the cobbles.

Van Aert faces stiffer opposition in the Belgian national championship ITT than Cancellara ever faced in a world championship ITT. That may be a hyperbole but there is truth to it. Second part of his career he started to face some with Tony Martin.

And then there is Dennis, Dumoulin...

So i don't really know if what you say is really "especially for the cobbles".

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Heard from a Belgian commentator yesterday (either Sporza or Eurosport) that his nickname in the team is "het wattagebeest". Today an article on Wielerflits about him. They don't reveal his numbers, but they talk about "extraordinary" numbers for 1-3 minute efforts. Remember his effort in the "Containercup" a few months ago, where he obliterated the competition (including Van Avermaet, Evenepoel, van der Poel, Naesen, Lampaert...) in a 3k ~ 3 minute test.

Coach Marc Lamberts over Wout van Aert: "Hij trapte op stage uitzonderlijke wattages"

Interview Marc Lamberts, performance coach bij Jumbo-Visma en persoonlijke trainer van Wout van Aert, windt er geen doekjes om. “Dit is de allerbeste Wout! De wattages die hij tijdens onze stage in Tignes trapte, zijn voor een klassiekerspecialist onwaarschijnlijk hoog.” “Nee, ik ben niet aan...

www.wielerflits.nl

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Van Aert has more competition to begin with. Even in CX, he would be a big dominator, but then there was VDP. In road he is multi talented and world class in classics, tt, and sprint, but obviously there's a lot of world class riders that specialize in those fields as well.

I don't think there were that many in Cancellara/Boonen era. And I withnessed that era from beginning to end. There were less special talents as opposition as now. So it's very hard to replicate their palmares

 

[Red Rick]

Van Aert has more competition to begin with. Even in CX, he would be a big dominator, but then there was VDP. In road he is multi talented and world class in classics, tt, and sprint, but obviously there's a lot of world class riders that specialize in those fields as well.

I don't think there were that many in Cancellara/Boonen era. And I withnessed that era from beginning to end. There were less special talents as opposition as now. So it's very hard to replicate their palmares

I think it tends to be a little bit that durable sprinter types tend to be just not explosive/hard enough to endure RvV and PR. You see Sagan and you think he must be able to dominate the cobbles like Boonen did, but specifically in PR and RvV he often underwhelms.

Meanwhile I think for Cancellara people underestimates his explosiveness and short bursts.

 

[BlueRoads]

He's already shown he has a world class TT so I'm not sure why you think him becoming a TT WC isn't realistic?
And there are an awful lot of similarities between WVA and Cance if you ask me. If anything I think WVA will have more wins because of his superior sprint.

What is it that Cancellara had you think WVA doesn't have? Which races did he win that you won't see WVA winning?
I'm struggling to think of any.

I don't think it is not realistic, I am just not thinking about that now. There are so many great riders. In tts I don't see him winning against evenepoel and dennis soon. I don't know. it's not against van Aert, it's more a general thing that I am a bit hype-adverse.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I don't think it is not realistic, I am just not thinking about that now. There are so many great riders. In tts I don't see him winning against evenepoel and dennis soon. I don't know. it's not against van Aert, it's more a general thing that I am a bit hype-adverse.

If he'd focus as much on ITT as Dennis, then i think he could rival him.

 

[SHAD0W93]

TA and TdS might be out of his reach.

 

[Blanco]

Boy is a massive talent, no doubt, and indeed he has lots of similarities with Cancellara. But to reach his results, don't know, it will be bloody hard...

 

[tobydawq]

TA and TdS might be out of his reach.

They should have been out of Cancellara's reach too...

But a few times, Tirreno has been really easy (I mean, once Freire even won an edition where he and Petacchi won three stages each in a race with no TT), and in 2009 the Swiss organisers wanted Fabian to win, so they shied away from the mountains but pretended they didn't by having two really mellow "mountain" stages (one of which was won by the mighty mountain goat, Tony Martin) before the final TT.

In today's circumstances, Cancellara wouldn't have a chance in either of those races, so you can't really use that as an argument.

 

[Red Rick]

They should have been out of Cancellara's reach too...

But a few times, Tirreno has been really easy (I mean, once Freire even won an edition where he and Petacchi won three stages each in a race with no TT), and in 2009 the Swiss organisers wanted Fabian to win, so they shied away from the mountains but pretended they didn't by having two really mellow "mountain" stages (one of which was won by the mighty mountain goat, Tony Martin) before the final TT.

In today's circumstances, Cancellara wouldn't have a chance in either of those races, so you can't really use that as an argument.

Cancellara is Swiss, so they dropped the most hilarious route to have him win it.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Boy is a massive talent, no doubt, and indeed he has lots of similarities with Cancellara. But to reach his results, don't know, it will be bloody hard...

Results are out of reach, but not because he is not in the same league. Remember how a young Vanmarcke was one of the only competitors Boonen and Cancellara had in the classics? Think about that for a moment. It says a lot about the quality of opposition both had/have to deal with.

 

[tobydawq]

All that said, I will admit that Cancellara was absolutely crazy. 12 consecutive monument podiums is probably my favourite cycling statistic of all. Weak opposition or not. It wasn't as if they didn't ride on him.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

It wasn't as if they didn't ride on him.

Well, to be honest... they often didn't. There have been plenty of times that they started riding for 2nd as soon as he had 20 meters.

 

[tobydawq]

Well, to be honest... they often didn't. There have been plenty of times that they started riding for 2nd as soon as he had 20 meters.

When he was gone, he was gone. No chance of reeling him in. The only time that happened was De Ronde in 2011 which was a fantastic race because of that.

But yes, he was a marked man, it's silly to pretend that he wasn't... Just think of Roubaix that same year.

It pains me to say it but he was simply just better than Sagan who has also always been a marked man but without the sheer superpower to force himself away anyway (of course he was able to a few times but not as often).

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

When he was gone, he was gone. No chance of reeling him in. The only time that happened was De Ronde in 2011 which was a fantastic race because of that.

But yes, he was a marked man, it's silly to pretend that he wasn't... Just think of Roubaix that same year.

It pains me to say it but he was simply just better than Sagan who has also always been a marked man but without the sheer superpower to force himself away anyway (of course he was able to a few times but not as often).

Sure, i didn't mean to imply any different. But many times they didn't even bother trying to get him back, you can't say that wasn't the case. Obviously that was because 9 times out of 10, it was a lost cause anyway.

 

[SHAD0W93]

They should have been out of Cancellara's reach too...

But a few times, Tirreno has been really easy (I mean, once Freire even won an edition where he and Petacchi won three stages each in a race with no TT), and in 2009 the Swiss organisers wanted Fabian to win, so they shied away from the mountains but pretended they didn't by having two really mellow "mountain" stages (one of which was won by the mighty mountain goat, Tony Martin) before the final TT.

In today's circumstances, Cancellara wouldn't have a chance in either of those races, so you can't really use that as an argument.

The question was what he can't win and unless he gets the same route as Cancellara they're out of his reach. However fair that is.