Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

[Peyroteo94]

Pogacar has shown that this is just not true. Remco will do the same is my prediction.


You can, but it will not be a clean and easy comparison to draw inferences from of course. I still think it can be a fun mental play though.

Remco will not win the TdF. I'm pretty sure to be honest.

 

[Pozzovivo]

Remco will not win the TdF. I'm pretty sure to be honest.

Strongly disagree. but maybe best to discuss in the Remco thread.

 

[AmRacer]

Remco will not win the TdF. I'm pretty sure to be honest.

Bernal and G won, so...

 

[Squire]

Wout kinda the same when he was viewed as one of the big 4 in cycling until recently.

That's the Big 6. WVA was never part of any Big 4. The original Big 4 was Froome, Contador, Nibali, Quintana, and the modern version is Pog, Vingegaard, Remco, Roglic. MVDP and WVA were added to make it the Big 6, but if any combination of those riders should be reduced back to four it would be Pog, Vingegaard, Remco and MVDP now that Roglic and WVA have declined. I might have seen that foursome being mentioned together a few times already.

I hardly know anything about tennis, so I can't contribute to that part of the discussion, but it's worth remembering that WVA was seen as at least on par if not more successful than MVDP for a few years. Up until MVDP's 2nd Ronde, I'd say. And then Van der Poel went on to greatly outshine Van Aert from 2023 onwards, which was coincidentally also when WVA dropped off a bit. WVA had three seasons (2020-2022) of being a complete beast and well-deserved of his Big 6 status. As for his palmares, it's clearly a bit underwhelming. He has been such a nearly-man. If he had turned just a few of those 2nd places in major races into wins, it would look so different. But he is obviously in last place in terms of palmares among his Big 6 companions.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Bernal and G won, so...

Quintana or Roglic never won the Tour and Sastre won. Silly argument.
Remco is facing Pogacar and Vingegaard. In 2 years, Del Toro will probably be better than him in the mountains so I don't think he will a Tour.
Like I said, Roglic never won it too and he is better than multiple TdF winners.

 

[AmRacer]

Quintana or Roglic never won the Tour and Sastre won. Silly argument.
Remco is facing Pogacar and Vingegaard. In 2 years, Del Toro will probably be better than him in the mountains so I don't think he will a Tour.
Like I said, Roglic never won it too and he is better than multiple TdF winners.

Unexpected things tend to happen every now and then.

 

[fenns]

You can, but it will not be a clean and easy comparison to draw inferences from of course. I still think it can be a fun mental play though.

Maybe Monfils or Dimitrov - some nice wins but not good enough for the big ones.

 

[Davesta]

That's the Big 6. WVA was never part of any Big 4. The original Big 4 was Froome, Contador, Nibali, Quintana,

Let’s not forget that the original Big 4 actually became the Big 5, of Froome, Contador, Nibali, Quintana and…checks notes…err…rechecks notes…Tejay Van Garderen!?

The Big Four becomes The Big Five as Tejay van Garderen enters the fray

An impressive first week at the Tour de France sees the 26-year-old American insist he should be on an equal billing with Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Nairo Quintana and Vincenzo Nibali. With his performances so far, and his second place on GC, it's hard to disagree.

www.cyclingweekly.com

 

[Penninepeddler]

Maybe Monfils or Dimitrov - some nice wins but not good enough for the big ones.

I think better than that. (and Monfils is my fave ever player)

Maybe more Medvedev.

A crazy couple of years where was in contention for best in the world.
Had a big win (not the biggest, but a big one) like Wout with MSR...
Has won a lot of secondary titles.
Has so many 2nd places in big events too. (lost 5/6 hardcourt finals, his best surface)
Clearly has declined, but could still win something in the future and no-one would be that surprised given the talent.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Remco is Murray

Reading the forum one sometimes gets the impression Remco is Marat Safin...

 

[Valv.Piti]

Yes, his TdF was bad. But he still got a stage and a close 2nd, but he was not great at all. But lets not forget that he got sick just ahead of the Tour, and while a rider like WVA can do that in the Giro and still do well, its harder in TdF.

 

[Red Rick]

Reading the forum one sometimes gets the impression Remco is Marat Safin...

Old but gold

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Apparently he‘s not racing the World Championships. Really disappointing, but I guess he needs to focus on his second places in Cross.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I think he pretty much realized that it would be too hard, especially after at season like this (crash last year, chasing form, double GT, sickness) and the way these very hard one day races are being raced right now. Its not 2014 no more, and Wout knows he will be blown off the back if he's not absolutely 100%, and even then..