• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

Page 46 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Was it the team or his ego that dropped the ball?

Both.

Imagine placing van Aert's ambition ahead of Roglic & Vingegaard on Monday? Jesus Christ, Pogacar is apparently totally invincible ergo nothing other than total dedication to the goal of winning the Tour would work. That much should have been clear since Basque Country (where Vingegaard & Roglic worked together to beat him).

Today, a Roglic in human mummification form merely shipped 14 seconds to van Aert on a flat TT. I think that's embarrassing for quite a few people in the JV setup.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
He should try go into the break or at least attack on stage 7. Let UAE chase. I assume Ineos and Movistar are smart enough to not do anything. Or the other way around. If Porte attacks, I hope JV won't chase him. Let UAE do the work. Taking yellow by showing how good you are on stage 20 and stage 5 is quite different (although he is not in yellow yet, but you know what I mean). 15 stages where Pogi will have to defend his position.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Monte Serra
He should try go into the break or at least attack on stage 7. Let UAE chase. I assume Ineos and Movistar are smart enough to not do anything. Or the other way around. If Porte attacks, I hope JV won't chase him. Let UAE do the work. Taking yellow by showing how good you are on stage 20 and stage 5 is quite different (although he is not in yellow yet, but you know what I mean). 15 stages where Pogi will have to defend his position.
Who's going to ride with him? He'll have to do most of the work in the break by himself.
Where's he going? He's not going to (be able) ride for GC, why would any GC team bother chasing him? He's not nearly as good as last year. But i doubt Alpecin Fenix will let him go to begin with.

He should pick one or two stages and get off after the 2nd week in order to get rested and ready for the Olympics.
 
He can't get off like that since he has GC duties to perform. He is not in a similar situation as Van der Poel
We'll see how much GC there still is to fight for by that time. His GC duties had been toned down this year to begin with, and he's not in the shape he was last year due to the surgery. If Roglic never gets into podium contention due to his injuries from the crash earlier, it makes no sense for Van Aert to needlessly waste time in the Tour when he could be resting/recoverinig and doing specific training for Tokyo.
 
We'll see how much GC there still is to fight for by that time. His GC duties had been toned down this year to begin with, and he's not in the shape he was last year due to the surgery. If Roglic never gets into podium contention due to his injuries from the crash earlier, it makes no sense for Van Aert to needlessly waste time in the Tour when he could be resting/recoverinig and doing specific training for Tokyo.
Sure, it could make sense for Van Aert to DNS after the second rest day, but that doesn't excuse a lack of commitment in the stages before that.
 
Too bad he didn't wait for Roglic 3 or 4 days ago aye.

Seriously, with Roglic done, the team has no real podium contender. Maybe Vingegaard can finish top 10, but i think Van Aert should try to go for yellow tomorrow, and if that doesn't work out, that he goes for a stage next week, to get out after the second week to work towards the Olympics. Him going for GC now isn't realistic.
 
Too bad he didn't wait for Roglic 3 or 4 days ago aye.

Seriously, with Roglic done, the team has no real podium contender. Maybe Vingegaard can finish top 10, but i think Van Aert should try to go for yellow tomorrow, and if that doesn't work out, that he goes for a stage next week, to get out after the second week to work towards the Olympics. Him going for GC now isn't realistic.

i grant you, he is unlikely to be in the climbing shape of last year.

however, now he does not need to do any work at all.

he "simply" needs to TT up Grand Bornand and he should be in yellow tomorrow.

unless pog attacks early, then all bets are off.

depending on his climbing legs, I would love to see how he might do (and Jumbo have little to lose at this point). top ten is certainly possible. top five...?
 
Too bad he didn't wait for Roglic 3 or 4 days ago aye.

Seriously, with Roglic done, the team has no real podium contender. Maybe Vingegaard can finish top 10, but i think Van Aert should try to go for yellow tomorrow, and if that doesn't work out, that he goes for a stage next week, to get out after the second week to work towards the Olympics. Him going for GC now isn't realistic.
How isn't Vingegaard a podium contender? Especially if it wasn't him, but Van Aert who had waited after Roglic's crash.

He is currently the 3rd favourite to win the whole thing after Pogi and Carapaz, according to the bookies. The next in line are Alaphilippe, Uran and Thomas.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
How isn't Vingegaard a podium contender? Especially if it wasn't him, but Van Aert who had waited after Roglic's crash.

He is currently the 3rd favourite to win the whole thing after Pogi and Carapaz, according to the bookies. The next in line are Alaphilippe, Uran and Thomas.
Evenepoel was 1st to win the Giro according to the bookies last year, and 2nd or 3rd this year. I thought you had your doubts about that one as well? When exactly has Vingegaard shown us that he can podium the TDF then? When has he shown us that he can fight for 3 weeks every day?

It also seems like you are insinuating i said Vingegaard should have waited, i never made that claim, just that it was the right decision not to burn Van Aert.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eeslliw
Evenepoel was 1st to win the Giro according to the bookies last year, and 2nd or 3rd this year. I thought you had your doubts about that one as well? When exactly has Vingegaard shown us that he can podium the TDF then? When has he shown us that he can fight for 3 weeks every day?

It also seems like you are insinuating i said Vingegaard should have waited, i never made that claim, just that it was the right decision not to burn Van Aert.
I asked why he isn't a podium contender. Who is? I don't think he is less likely to podium than Mas and Uran.
 
Who's going to ride with him? He'll have to do most of the work in the break by himself.
Where's he going? He's not going to (be able) ride for GC, why would any GC team bother chasing him? He's not nearly as good as last year. But i doubt Alpecin Fenix will let him go to begin with.

He should pick one or two stages and get off after the 2nd week in order to get rested and ready for the Olympics.
90% of the peloton apparently was going to ride with him.
 
I asked why he isn't a podium contender. Who is?
Plenty of guys in the race have already proven to be able to finish a GT on the podium. Mas, Lopez, Carapaz, Pogacar...
But if no prior achievement close to that magnitude is required, i guess by that logic we can count anybody in the peloton who has never remotely podiumed in a GT. That doesn't mean he can't podium, or come close, but for the time being i would personally not consider him a podium contender. That's my opinion, i hope that's ok with you. I can see him well inside the top 10, but the guys on the podium are basically the ones that will fight for victory. If it makes you feel any better, i also didn't think Pogacar was going to podium last year.
 
So you already now don't think Remco will be a podium contender for the Giro next year?

And a bit weird to only list four contenders for three spots, and then have that include Lopez who has lost plenty of time and not looked good for a single moment in the Tour so far.

And of course you don't need to have finished on the podium before to be a podium contender. Vingegaard has ridden 1 GT as a helper where he didn't ride for GC, so that's a meaningless measure to use.

EDIT: Since you don't do avatar bets, what about a signature bet (where one keeps the original but gets an added line)?
 
So you already now don't think Remco will be a podium contender for the Giro next year?

And a bit weird to only list four contenders for three spots, and then have that include Lopez who has lost plenty of time and not looked good for a single moment in the Tour so far.

And of course you don't need to have finished on the podium before to be a podium contender. Vingegaard has ridden 1 GT as a helper where he didn't ride for GC, so that's a meaningless measure to use.

EDIT: Since you don't do avatar bets, what about a signature bet (where one keeps the original but gets an added line)?
I don't do bets of any kind. Pogacar winning last year's TDF is reason enough not to.
For me Evenepoel has shown a bit more at a younger age than Vingegaard has so far. Especially as far as GC's go. Vingegaard won Coppi/Bartali against Honoré, Hermans and Vansevenant early season. Evenepoel won 6 GC's against somewhat bigger names in rather dominating fashion on different terrains, even leading up to big races. That makes Evenepoel an exception in my opinion, one i would not easily make for another rider who has never proven anything like podium'ing in a GT prior. I'll see how he bounces back before making claims though regarding the 2022 Giro.

I also don't understand why this seems to be such a big deal, but i'm glad you think my opinion is important. No one proves he can do anything, until he actually does it. It's nice you seem to think he can pull it off, i'd have no issues if he does. I just don't see him as a podium contender at this point. There are plenty of other riders who "could" potentially pull that off. If you aren't happy with the 4 names i quoted, there are also Gaudu, Kelderman, Uran... and there could also be a "Caruso" nobody expected. Or maybe Vingegaard can be the Caruso. We'll see.
 

TRENDING THREADS