Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

[Sciatic]

Just saying… if you are gonna use existing data you are gonna have to look at it from both sides.

That’s a valid point. But I’m not trying predict whether he will, let’s say, win another monument or b not because those legends did after 30. I was responding to someone saying he’s washed up and simply won’t win big again. I was trying to show various reasons (including his performances last year) why I think he still could, including examples of past riders who performed well after 30 in the classics. If I wanted make a statistical probability model of his future success based on other riders past results then I indeed would need to take into account all riders in similar circumstances. But that wasn’t my point.
Here’s an analogy:
Someone says to me, it’s never going to snow on Christmas again.
I say, it’s true it hasn’t snowed for several years but it did snow on that day in 2019, 2015, and 2009 and once every 5 or so years before that. I don’t know if it’s going to snow again but it seems likely it still will again. The fact that it didn’t snow those many other years doesn’t change my opinion that it still could.

 

[Salvarani]

That’s a valid point. But I’m not trying predict whether he will, let’s say, win another monument or b not because those legends did after 30. I was responding to someone saying he’s washed up and simply won’t win big again. I was trying to show various reasons (including his performances last year) why I think he still could, including examples of past riders who performed well after 30 in the classics. If I wanted make a statistical probability model of his future success based on other riders past results then I indeed would need to take into account all riders in similar circumstances. But that wasn’t my point.
Here’s an analogy:
Someone says to me, it’s never going to snow on Christmas again.
I say, it’s true it hasn’t snowed for several years but it did snow on that day in 2019, 2015, and 2009 and once every 5 or so years before that. I don’t know if it’s going to snow again but it seems likely it still will again. The fact that it didn’t snow those many other years doesn’t change my opinion that it still could.

Not this again. I am over it.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Not this again. I am over it.

Thanks for letting us know?

 

[Sciatic]

Not this again. I am over it.

That’s too bad; my ski trip got cancelled (driver’s got CVd) so I have some extra time on my hands

 

[Unchained]

That’s too bad; my ski trip got cancelled (driver’s got CVd) so I gave some extra time on my hands

Is CV something that happens between 2 or more consenting adults? Sounds serious if you can't ski? Pictures? Video? Invitation?
Depending on what it is, Wout got CVd really hard and Pidcock dished some out..
Rainbow Jersey means you can CV anyone you want.. or go solo!!

 

[Berniece]

I still don't get why Visma are sending WvA to the Giro. Next year more then ever, he'll be needed at the Tour.

Because he’s a leader that also decides his own calendar. Not the personal helper of Vingegaard

 

[Sciatic]

Is CV something that happens between 2 or more consenting adults? Sounds serious if you can't ski? Pictures? Video? Invitation?
Depending on what it is, Wout got CVd really hard and Pidcock dished some out..
Rainbow Jersey means you can CV anyone you want.. or go solo!!

Ha-ha, short for COVID. Decided I didn’t want to drive 5 hrs by myself to get to area where there is now barely enough snow to groom and rain is forecast this coming week. And since I can’t ski more than ~ 30 minutes, it was’nt worth the drive time.

 

[Rob5091]

Because he’s a leader that also decides his own calendar. Not the personal helper of Vingegaard

Is n't there supposed to be some team "esprit de corps" ... never mind, as we now can read on the estemmed cycling website -
https://www.cyclingnews.com/feature...ents-mission-the-priority-despite-giro-debut/

...his long-term coach Marc Lamberts opted to follow Primoz Roglic to Bora-Hansgrohe at the end of last season. Van Aert has since begun working with Mathieu Heijboer, and he noted that the Dutchman has placed “a different emphasis” on his preparation....Everything, it seems, is built around the first two Sundays in April ... Riding the Giro in favour of the Tour also allows Van Aert to tailor his own build-up to the Olympic Games

So it's Flanders, Roubaix, Olympics and Worlds and the Giro and Tour are just distractions and training opportunites on the way. So he's gone down with the "Young Family Syndrome" (Can n't Visma organize some mobile nursery for all the wives and young ones? Just get some nappy sponsor and it's done!)

 

[scribers]

Wait. Do I know they had a velo d’or for one day riders??

he finished the year as the inaugural winner of the Vélo d’Or for one-day riders.

 

[Lequack]

Wout van Aert 🇧🇪 : "I want to do things I haven't done before" ▶️ The Belgian from @vismaleaseabike
is excited about his debut in the Giro 🇮🇹 : "I hope to win several stages. It is a very demanding route "I have already identified some exciting stages," he says.

Van Aert, ante el reto del Giro: "Quiero hacer cosas que...

El belga del Visma | Lease a Bike, ilusionado con su debut en la "corsa rosa": "Espero ganar varias etapas. Es una ruta muy exigente; ya he identificado algunas etapas emocionantes", dice.

www.ciclismoafondo.es

Also:

Van Aert looks forward to Italian adventure

Wout van Aert will ride the Giro d'Italia for the first time in his career. The 29-year-old Belgian will be chasing stage wins. As a result, his programme…

www.teamvismaleaseabike.com

 

[Andre]

Wout will bring some excitement into Il Giro

 

[Kwaremonster]

Wout will bring some excitement into Il Giro

His presence makes non-gc stages certainly more interesting..

 

[OlavEH]

His presence makes non-gc stages certainly more interesting..

Agreed. But too bad that the profile of the non GC stages are pretty lame. The potential for these kind of stages are nearly unlimited in Italy due to the topography of the country.

 

[Andre]

OMG what a race he just won!!

 

[Unchained]

OMG what a race he just won!!

The guy has special sauce!!

 

[saunaking]

The guy has special sauce!!

That was a great race, but what actually happned with mvdp?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

That was a great race, but what actually happned with mvdp?

Crashed into a cushion (somewhat deliberate from what i understood of his explanation) but the cushion was wrapped around a metal post, instead of around the usual wooden stakes that "give" a little when bumping into them. The metal post did not budge however, which he did not expect, which is why it resulted in him crashing. His own fault (he said).

Great race by Nys who finished 3rd, as well. Had he not crashed halfway the race, he could have finished 2nd. I think he was stronger than Vantourenhout. Iserbyt was probably on par with Nys, he also had some bad luck though. Two weeks ago i thought the Dutch team might finish 1-4 on the WCC. Now i'm hopeful we'll get to see an interesting race for silver and bronze between Iserbyt, Nys, Vantourenhout, Ronhaar, Nieuwenhuis and Van der Haar. Outside of those guys, only Kamp, Sweeck, Vandeputte, Wyseure... have a tiny shot at forcing an upset and sneak onto the podium.

 

[Unchained]

That was a great race, but what actually happned with mvdp?

Lots of foreshadowing, he did not say he couldn't win, but said before the race his legs were not good, and said why because he had went big the week before, don't know what his road race debut will be but he will be prepared.. And not taking anything away from Wout, a win is a win, but he has been getting his asz handed to him in sloppy conditions and MVP can run better, and get off and on the bike better than anyone right now. Van Aert not as smooth in my opinion

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

That was a great race, but what actually happned with mvdp?

This:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1749142999227871401

He is very very good, until he is very very very daft.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Lots of foreshadowing, he did not say he couldn't win, but said before the race his legs were not good, and said why because he had went big the week before, don't know what his road race debut will be but he will be prepared.. And not taking anything away from Wout, a win is a win, but he has been getting his asz handed to him in sloppy conditions and MVP can run better, and get off and on the bike better than anyone right now. Van Aert not as smooth in my opinion

Van Aert has raced this winter just as training for the classics and has not made CX a goal in itself. He wants to see if he can get better results in the spring classics by using these CX races just as prep. He is well behind the form-curve compared to MvdP currently. Let's see how he does in Flanders and Roubaix, and whether it paid off.

 

[saunaking]

This:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1749142999227871401

He is very very good, until he is very very very daft.

Oh, damn!! THat is like a telephone pole

 

[saunaking]

Crashed into a cushion (somewhat deliberate from what i understood of his explanation) but the cushion was wrapped around a metal post, instead of around the usual wooden stakes that "give" a little when bumping into them. The metal post did not budge however, which he did not expect, which is why it resulted in him crashing. His own fault (he said).

Great race by Nys who finished 3rd, as well. Had he not crashed halfway the race, he could have finished 2nd. I think he was stronger than Vantourenhout. Iserbyt was probably on par with Nys, he also had some bad luck though. Two weeks ago i thought the Dutch team might finish 1-4 on the WCC. Now i'm hopeful we'll get to see an interesting race for silver and bronze between Iserbyt, Nys, Vantourenhout, Ronhaar, Nieuwenhuis and Van der Haar. Outside of those guys, only Kamp, Sweeck, Vandeputte, Wyseure... have a tiny shot at forcing an upset and sneak onto the podium.

Surprised to see Nys perform so well. Been lagging all the CX guys this year, so to finish ahead of Jordi, Pim, Eli very impressive

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Surprised to see Nys perform so well. Been lagging all the CX guys this year, so to finish ahead of Jordi, Pim, Eli very impressive

He was great at the start of the season, now he seems to have found that level again.

 

[RobertCrawley]

The Tour will absolutely not be the same without Wout. But it would be crushing if he never won the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in his great career.

 

[Andre]

I believe he will win Paris-Roubaix this year.