Boonen and Cancellara were more intelligent riders than Van aert (Belgian Pozzato) and Matheiu VanderPol
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When are cycling fans going to start holding Van der Poel accountable for diminishing Van Aert's CX and Road Cycling careers?
I didn't want to be the one asking this hard question but it needs to be adressed.
I didn't want to be the one asking this hard question but it needs to be adressed.
As crazy as the Spilak and Evenepoel comparison is, this is even worse.
True though. WVA or MVP's race craft is pretty average if you remove their incredible strength out of it. Can't think of many races where they've won as the weaker rider, like you could with Boonen & Cancellera.
Yup , Pozzato was close to a one trick pony while Van Aert is the most versatile rider of this generation capable of winning big classics, Tour sprints, TTs and mountain stage
Roglic was definitely dissapointing. If I was Van Aert i would be a bit annoyed. Roglic seems bad on +250km.
Van Aert is a Belgian Pozzato. Win Sanremo and some semi classics, primadonna, race defensively, not use his attack. Will never be world champion like Ballan
I am not even a big Van Aert supporter (prefer MVDP) but let me remind you that he has 6 Tour stage wins and 4 silver medals in big Championships and that is without talking about his CX career.
Plus, Amstel and Strade are not semi-classics.
Wout seems to struggle on the communication/leadership a bit, we saw him accept it falling apart around him at Worlds and he didn't seem able to get the team on the same page even before that. Yesterday, I don't' think I ever saw him drop back to chat with Roglic or really look like he's discussing anything with the team. Admittedly Roglic never seemed to actually be part of the group surrounding Wout much of day, so maybe Roglic was simply given free role to float, but tactically Roglic did say he would be helping Wout. Still a lot of work for Wout in the race craft side of the sport, but hey, he'll win plenty without any brain, he just pulverises the win out of the others anyway haha! Similar to MVP on form,
Has anybody noticed for Wout that he tends to underperform about a week after the end of a stage race? Even though he didn't try to tear this year's PN apart, he still had to show up every day and put in the miles, and he really had to put in massive efforts on the Sunday.
Without looking at previous results and going purely by memory, I can think of last year's worlds, and the races that followed last year's TA.
I'm curious what others have seen here, because if it's obvious to us, the fact that he and his team have not figured us out is strange.
Without looking at previous results and going purely by memory, I can think of last year's worlds, and the races that followed last year's TA.
I'm curious what others have seen here, because if it's obvious to us, the fact that he and his team have not figured us out is strange.
No.
Pogacar actually attacked four times, and still finished in front of Van Aert.
When favorite attacks, other favorites responds, it's simple as that. Nobody there had a teammate...
He took one last great pull in the last km also, but then I think it was MDVP who didnt continue when Van Aert pulled aside. Turgis attacked.
Haven't they? Wasn't that a reason why he softpedalled those 2 stages during P-N?
The problem here is that Wout (or any other rider) doesn't ride only for himself but also for his team and there's sometimes a conflict of interests between the rider's and the team's objectives. If not him, TJV for example probably wouldn't have won this year's P-N. He's too much of an valuable helper who can be used in every terrain and his team can benefit from him in so many ways that I think they can't afford to let him focus solely on his own goals.
Saying that, I don't think he underperformed yesterday.
You lack clarity when it comes to WVA.
Obviously WVA rides defensivly because his sprint is his main weapon. A second reason, that is just as important, is that he is one the tightest marked riders in the final together with MVP and Pogacar. Guys like Mohoric yesterday or Ballan in the WC just aren't as marked as the real big riders.
Pogacar en WVA both did a good ride. Poggy tried to get away, Wout tried to follow Pogacar. It ended up al coming together and if it comes together after the top of the pogio there's always an oudsider that wins like Mohoric, Stuyven, Ciolek, Demare.
His sprint capabilities seem better in stage races where he still has some team mates than attritional one day classics.
Also the likes of Pogacar, Alaphillipe and MvdP have pretty decent sprints but that doesn't stop them attacking in big races..
Both points applied more so to Boonen (and to some degree Sagan), yet he took more initiative in the biggest races. Wout has the skill set to race offensively and to take more initiative, but he probably lacks a bit of explosivity. I think he's caught a bit between two positions, not quite cynical enough to race defensively and not desperate enough to race offensively. Then there's the whole self-image that is nearing the Spartacus mythos that basically begs others to lean on him.
In 10 sprints against those guys he'll win more sprints then he loses.. He has beaten both Pogacar (sprint for Olympic medail) and Alaphilippe (MSR) and lost to MVP (RVV). So I think it's logical he goes for his biggest weapon.
Btw, it's not like he never attacks. He has won classic races ending solo like Omloop and Strade.
I'm not sure if you remember Tom Boonen correctly. I can hardly imagine any real attacks on final climbs like the Muur, Paterberg or Kwaremont... he usually just tried to follow to finish in the sprint.
tbh, I only remember his first RVV where he finished solo. The roubaix he won solo he dropped his team mate Terpstra, hardly a real attack.
PS I'm a Boonen fan to, there's nothing wrong with wanting to win a classic in a sprint!
I'm talking from the perspective of sprinting after 300km. Did Van Aert win the sprint out of the group he was in?
Van Aerts's sprint reminded me of that time where Matthews blew himself up completely trying to keep Gilbert's wheel on the Cauberg and then neither of them could win.
I disagree. They just had less opposition. I remember one of first times Boonen and Cancellara went clear together at RVV, it was frickin Karsten Kroon who was closests to them. With all due respect. But Karsten Kroon is no Kasper Asgreen, or Julian Alaphilippe, etc..
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