Yes, i know. I'm just not really sure if one victory is enough to conclude that he can (not saying he can't, just that it might be presumptuous). While i've seen enough of him as an ITT'er and classics guy to conclude he has serious options going for stagewins that way. He could very possibly burn all his matches, come second or third in the green jersey classification, and not get any stagewin.Just yesterday, he said that he wants to try to go for green some time.
Which is i guess why this year it does make sense for him to try at TDF. But i'm still not entirely convinced.This is a good year for sprinters to do the Giro/Vuelta double.
TJV also seems to go full for yellow, so I predict he will have to work a lot and won't get a lot help. So it seems pretty hard for Wout to go for green. But you'll never know. Maybe he'll be close to green after 10 days and then it may become a goal.
If he ever wants to go full for green, he should not wait too long though. There is another cyclocrosser that might go for it as well one day and he isn't too bad.
Why somebody else?Well, he said in an interview today (yesterday) that he won't be the team's sprinter, but that he'll just work for the team. Let's hope he gets his shot at a stage (be it an ITT or a sprint) if he gets a "day off". If they just brought him to pull the peloton, they could just as well have brought somebody else to do that.
Like i said, in a TDF void of sprinters, he could easily go for a few stagewins. He could go for green, he could go for an ITT... plenty of possible targets for him if you bring him specifically. If it's just to lead the peloton for 3 hours, you really don't need to bring van Aert for that, if he is constraint to that role.Why somebody else?
It's not like Van Aert has a lot of other targets in a year like this after the spring classics. They need him and Groenewegen is already doing the sprints in the Giro and Vuelta. Van Aert is a lot better than the next best option for that slot.
Tis the way of classics rider in GTs. He doesn't really have a leg to stand on to take priority for stage wins over Groenewegen in lesser races, and the only reason Groenewegen won't do the Tour is cause they want to go 100% for yellow.Like i said, in a TDF void of sprinters, he could easily go for a few stagewins. He could go for green, he could go for an ITT... plenty of possible targets for him if you bring him specifically. If it's just to lead the peloton for 3 hours, you really don't need to bring van Aert for that, if he is constraint to that role.
Groenewegen won't do the Tour because there's nothing there for him regardless of them putting all eggs in one basket for yellow. One is as much a result of the other as it is the other way around.Tis the way of classics rider in GTs. He doesn't really have a leg to stand on to take priority for stage wins over Groenewegen in lesser races, and the only reason Groenewegen won't do the Tour is cause they want to go 100% for yellow.
He's not the first big classics rider to be a helper in the Tour, and he won't be the last.
They're not on Tour winning teams.Groenewegen won't do the Tour because there's nothing there for him regardless of them putting all eggs in one basket for yellow. One is as much a result of the other as it is the other way around.
And the way of the classics rider in GT's? Like Sagan? Van Avermaet? Gilbert? You see them pulling the peloton all day often? Degenkolb, Benoot, Kristoff... as well? Or are you referring to simply Asgreen? Even Naesen has a very specific role in the team, as a luitenant to Bardet. So, no. Not really. Unless you are talking about second/third tier classics rider who don't start as a favorite anywhere and have no other business in a GT anyway. To be clear, i'm not talking about an occasional pull. I think it would be a wasted chance for not only van Aert personally, but Jumbo Visma as well, if they don't give him at least a free role in a few specific stages (and haven't burnt him by the time those opportunities arise). That's all.
Neither Sagan, nor Cancellara have wasted entire Tours pulling the peloton. Sagan has always been his own man. Doing some work, every now and then is not what is being discussed here. Cancellara was more to the Schlecks like Naesen is to Bardet. And he definitely was allowed to go all out for his own account when the stage suited him. Yes, Kwiatkowski... but that has nothing to do with "the way of the classics riders". It 's simply the way of Ineos/Sky.They're not on Tour winning teams.
Sagan worked for Contador when they rode Tours together, even when Contador was shitting the bed. Also have you seen Kwiatkowski's GT palmares? Did you see Cancellara work for the Schlecks?
Van Aert chances this year, I'd guess if it weren't an MTT he'd get to ride for his own chance in the ITT. And perhaps if the GT dudes are safe in an uphill sprint he may get a chance there. But that's it.
Had he tried/dared/been ready to jumb the barriers and the adjacent ditch (like all other riders) i'm sure he could have been 4th or maybe even 3rd. Now he wasted seconds and energy every lap, by hopping off the bike. Still much better than i expected. Maybe i shouldn't have seen Stybar as a point of reference, since he's been riding CX already for a few weeks and is nowhere near the level Wout already has in his first race after a 6 month recovery from injury. Anyway, looking very good. Let's hope there won't be a relapse (not just from the injury itself, but from months of inactivity).A very respectable fifth place in his first race back from injury today.
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I'm not sure his spring will be worse. Seems like he is training a lot for the road season and pretty little for CX.Really wonder what his level on the road will be this spring
I'm guessing slightly worse than 2019 because he is still on the way back. He'll be good again near the summer