Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

[toolittle]

Mr. Wout Van Aert, road racing is your destination.

 

[Jspear]

No! He needs to stick with cyclocross...sure do some road races, but he shouldn't completely make the switch.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

The conditions certainly helped his particular skill set, but clearly, if he wants to switch 100%, he can.

 

[Gigs_98]

So being good in Strade Bianche shows he is not the new Zdenek Stybar? Makes sense.

 

[Kazistuta]

So being good in Strade Bianche shows he is not the new Zdenek Stybar? Makes sense.

It's a joke (I guess). Aimed at the other rider threads comparing with another rider.

If there isn't more money in CX, Wout Van Aert should definitely switch. As much as I like the intense effort in CX, the competition is limited. He should challenge himself and get more adversaries, and we'll get a true racer with grit on the road.

 

[jflemaire]

So being good in Strade Bianche shows he is not the new Zdenek Stybar? Makes sense.

It's a joke (I guess). Aimed at the other rider threads comparing with another rider.

If there isn't more money in CX, Wout Van Aert should definitely switch. As much as I like the intense effort in CX, the competition is limited. He should challenge himself and get more adversaries, and we'll get a true racer with grit on the road.

Well, he's got a pretty good adversary in Van Der Poel. Problem his, he doesn't seem to be able to beat him outside of the worlds. So I wouldn't say he lacks adversaries.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

I'd love it if both Van Aert and Van Der Poel switch to road, both becoming amazing all rounders competing in major classics throughout the season and then Mathieu keeps edging out Van Aert everywhere and wins all the big classics, only for Van Aert to end up winning WCs all the time.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re:

I'd love it if both Van Aert and Van Der Poel switch to road, both becoming amazing all rounders competing in major classics throughout the season and then Mathieu keeps edging out Van Aert everywhere and wins all the big classics, only for Van Aert to end up winning WCs all the time.

Van Aert seems like the better climber of the two, in the most hilly cyclo-cross courses he usually wins. He also copes better with pressure (as evidenced by his 3 wins at the Worlds and today's race). He was invited for the press conference alongside Sagan and Kwiatko, and this for a guy who never even rode a WT race. That's a lot of pressure to put on someone.

 

[WheelofGear]

I'd ask the forum another question: What about Mr. Tiesj Benoot, cyclocross is your destination? Maybe it could get him more wins.

Could you imagine Benoot in Koksijde or Diegem?

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Hopefully he's not. Stybar is so boring. We don't need more of those kind of riders.

 

[Kazistuta]

So being good in Strade Bianche shows he is not the new Zdenek Stybar? Makes sense.

It's a joke (I guess). Aimed at the other rider threads comparing with another rider.

If there isn't more money in CX, Wout Van Aert should definitely switch. As much as I like the intense effort in CX, the competition is limited. He should challenge himself and get more adversaries, and we'll get a true racer with grit on the road.

Well, he's got a pretty good adversary in Van Der Poel. Problem his, he doesn't seem to be able to beat him outside of the worlds. So I wouldn't say he lacks adversaries.

Plural

As great a rivalry Van Aert vs. Van Der Poel already is, it's like watching the Scottish Premier League in the 2000's when Rangers and Celtic absolutely destroyed all opponents. Old Firm was great, the rest not so much.

Cycling where only two guys can win is not particularly riveting.

 

[fauniera]

So being good in Strade Bianche shows he is not the new Zdenek Stybar? Makes sense.

He will be better than Stybar. Maybe much better.

No! He needs to stick with cyclocross...sure do some road races, but he shouldn't completely make the switch.

He will stick to cyclocross for a while but i think that's a mistake. I also don't get why van der Poel is wasting his time with this cross niche. Do the real thing, Mathieu!

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

No! He needs to stick with cyclocross...sure do some road races, but he shouldn't completely make the switch.

He'll return to being a full-time crosser next year. Even less road racing than he is doing this season.

 

[rote_laterne]

Impressive performance today.

 

[Sestriere]

What a promising performce from Wout!
However, it will be a disadvantage for him not to ride either Tirreno-Adriatico or Paris-Nice next week going into the next classics block. While all his rivals are competing at the highest level he will have to try and improve his shape to the absolute max in training.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The guy is vastly more talented than Stybar. So is Vd Poel. I expect great things from Van Aert on the road. His strongest skill in cyclocross is that he has more raw power than MvdP. So that should definitely suit him on the road.
I'm not even surprised today. I thought he'd be top 10/top 5 if form was good.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I wonder how he will handle the switch to a much more tactically sophisticated discipline. He rode today in a way that wasn’t all that different to the standard way a favorite approaches a cross race, ie trying to be off the front or at the front. That won’t work out as well very often on the road.

 

[the delgados]

Just saw the last 40 km's of the race.
Wout was mightily impressive. Guy took a long nap in the bunch before turning on the afterburners for the same amount of time it would take to win a cyclo-cross race.
No need for sophisticated tactics when you can boss it from so far out.

 

[jaylew]

Ouch! An even better view of Wout falling off the bike on the final climb:

http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/twitter/?title=Another+angle+of+the+battle+for+2nd+-+includes+crash+footage&dashboard=strade-bianche&id=LamiraudF/status/970001357242621953&yr=2018

 

[Akuryo]

So being good in Strade Bianche shows he is not the new Zdenek Stybar? Makes sense.

He will be better than Stybar. Maybe much better.

Tour and Vuelta stages, Eneco Tour, 7 Top 10s in monuments, actually winning Strade Bianche, ... a lot of people would be quite happy with those palmares on the road. "Much better" is quite a challenge. Even I as a Qs-fan am often frustrated by Stybars way of riding but it is effective and for his skillset he sure gets the most out of it!

 

[Jagartrott]

Re: Re:

No! He needs to stick with cyclocross...sure do some road races, but he shouldn't completely make the switch.

He'll return to being a full-time crosser next year. Even less road racing than he is doing this season.

That's not at all what I heard.
He first wanted to know if he has something to offer on the road. And he's clearly capable, so I'm expecting a similar or lighter cross season next year.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

No! He needs to stick with cyclocross...sure do some road races, but he shouldn't completely make the switch.

He'll return to being a full-time crosser next year. Even less road racing than he is doing this season.

That's not at all what I heard.
He first wanted to know if he has something to offer on the road. And he's clearly capable, so I'm expecting a similar or lighter cross season next year.

https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20180225_03376462

 

[Brullnux]

So being good in Strade Bianche shows he is not the new Zdenek Stybar? Makes sense.

He will be better than Stybar. Maybe much better.

No! He needs to stick with cyclocross...sure do some road races, but he shouldn't completely make the switch.

He will stick to cyclocross for a while but i think that's a mistake. I also don't get why van der Poel is wasting his time with this cross niche. Do the real thing, Mathieu!

Van der Poel is transitioning to mtb at least until 2020 probably. I think cycing fans often forget that a factor influencing a rider's choice could just be enjoyment of the sport, and VdP just enjoys cross/mtb much mroe than road cycling. Besides, the pay in cross isn't too much less. I mean, he (vdp) made at least 40k in prize money alone last year, and Wout made around 30k, not including sponsorship or salary from the team, or even continental races.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

So being good in Strade Bianche shows he is not the new Zdenek Stybar? Makes sense.

He will be better than Stybar. Maybe much better.

No! He needs to stick with cyclocross...sure do some road races, but he shouldn't completely make the switch.

He will stick to cyclocross for a while but i think that's a mistake. I also don't get why van der Poel is wasting his time with this cross niche. Do the real thing, Mathieu!

Van der Poel is transitioning to mtb at least until 2020 probably. I think cycing fans often forget that a factor influencing a rider's choice could just be enjoyment of the sport, and VdP just enjoys cross/mtb much mroe than road cycling. Besides, the pay in cross isn't too much less. I mean, he (vdp) made at least 40k in prize money alone last year, and Wout made around 30k, not including sponsorship or salary from the team, or even continental races.

That depends on where you are in the hierarchy of the two sports. There’s no real financial incentive to go from being one of the two guys who divide up all of the cross races to being a pretty good road racer. But there’s an enormous incentive if you can be Tom Boonen.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Based on the last 2 weeks, I can't see him not making the switch at some point. It'll just come down to what he wants to do more and when.