Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

[Ripper]

Stacks up on the road? 2 RVV's, SB, Amstel Gold, BBank GC, Britain GC, Yellow jersey, Pink jersey, etc. Not bad for a guy who has basically only dabbled on the road. And of course he singlehandedly blows up pretty much every race he enters. Meanwhile JV is just the latest version of Sky, DQS or whatever super team you want to name - boring. Haven't looked at the TDF route, but I'll put big money on MVDP vs. WVA on any hard classics/roller type stage and/or any stage that is hard enough to come down to a mano y mano bunch sprint.

Nice trolling

 

[Bolder]

Stacks up on the road? 2 RVV's, SB, Amstel Gold, BBank GC, Britain GC, Yellow jersey, Pink jersey, etc. Not bad for a guy who has basically only dabbled on the road. And of course he singlehandedly blows up pretty much every race he enters. Meanwhile JV is just the latest version of Sky, DQS or whatever super team you want to name - boring. Haven't looked at the TDF route, but I'll put big money on MVDP vs. WVA on any hard classics/roller type stage and/or any stage that is hard enough to come down to a mano y mano bunch sprint.

Here's a question: which of them would you want to build a team around?

I'm actually not sure. I prefer to watch VDP race, but having WvA is like getting 3 or 4 different types of riders, each world class in their specialty.

 

[tobydawq]

Think about the weight of the yellow jersey. All his best Tour performances were in white jersey (or in his teams' jersey - Peyresourde).
The only chance for him to win is to do PDBF again or to completely stomp the rest on some stage (like last year).

He did look awful on the Col du Portet and Luz-Ardiden climbs.

 

[dutchdescent]

19 race days

16x top 10
14x podium
6x win

All of them coming in WT races. Up there with 2016 Sagan. Just looking at the numbers even slightly better but Sagan managed to do what WVA couldn´t. Won a monument.

Sagan didn’t have a team like JV. Didn’t need one either.

 

[dutchdescent]

H2H is difficult to compare at the moment but the UCI an PCS rankings show a big difference between the two since 2020. While MvdP positions himself between 5 and 10, WVA is 2 or 3, battling with the Slovenians (and Remco since this year). This is of course because WVA is competitive almost everywhere while MvdP choses his battles on the terrain that suits him and fails more often when he does try it elsewhere as we have seen during last Giro.

And yet MvDP is the real people’s hero…

 

[OlavEH]

And yet MvDP is the real people’s hero…

Well, he is perhaps the most spectacular rider to watch in modern times. Along with perhaps Contador and Pog. Although Bettini, Boonen, Cancellara, Gilbert, Froome, Alaphillipe and Van Aert all were/are great riders, I can't really see anyone doing the crazy attacks and having that extreme bike handling skills and attacking punch that VdP has. The two coming closest have to be Contador and Pogacar.

Still, I would possibly prefer Van Aert if I were a sporting director. He is more versatile and seem more dedicated to road racing than Van der Poel (although this is perhaps on the verge of changing if VdP is dropping is MTB racing). In the end I would bet that VdP ends up with more monument wins, but Van Aert will have more one day races and more victories in total.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congrats for winning green at Dauphiné. As for van Aert vs. van der Poel. Rest assured we will be able to watch that at Tour the France opening classics week. And the way van Aert typically rides a GT race and on how van der Poel approached the Giro. Who knows as maybe they will end up fighting for green.

 

[noob]

Wout about what he needs in tour...

 

[Blanco]

Last year, Van Aert better than MVDP in the Tour. Winning three stages, after starting in the Tour even with training delay as a result of appendicitis. During the Giro, MVDP was strong, but not impressive. So, we'll see.

Nor Tour, nor Giro will define their careers. The biggest one-day races will determine their greatness...

 

[Reemster]

I reckon he will do better than Van der Poel in the Giro who only managed to get 1 stage win against a field where Girmay, who unfortunately had to abandon halfway through, was his only serious opposition.

Giro was training for MvdP

 

[CyclistAbi]

Giro was training for MvdP

Welcome and where have you been. Giro is training for the Tour. Tour is training for Vuelta.

 

[senna6541]

Here's a question: which of them would you want to build a team around?

I'm actually not sure. I prefer to watch VDP race, but having WvA is like getting 3 or 4 different types of riders, each world class in their specialty.

Depends on what kind of team. Wout is definitely a perfect fit for JV and their goals - can't imagine MVDP being interested in pacing GC guys up mountains. Wout's range on the road is phenomenal, and there is probably no more valuable teammate for a lesser talented, scrawny GC contender (no wonder Chris Horner loves Wout) than Wout.

 

[senna6541]

Both guys were kicking ass long before their talent kind've forced them to the Road WT. Wout has kind've gone Royal Navy whereas MVDP has gone the pirate route. Check out MVDP's "training" today on strava. Riding around on his MTB.

 

[stonerider]

Both guys were kicking ass long before their talent kind've forced them to the Road WT. Wout has kind've gone Royal Navy whereas MVDP has gone the pirate route. Check out MVDP's "training" today on strava. Riding around on his MTB.

The fact that MVDP is riding around on his MTB tells me his back is "better". Last year they blamed his back problems on him switching from the fit of his Road bike to the MTB, which I find hard to believe. I have all my bikes, Road, Gravel, and MTB set up the same (saddle, saddle height, crank length). Switching bikes should not cause back issues unless they did a piss poor job on bike fit.

 

[Ripper]

The fact that MVDP is riding around on his MTB tells me his back is "better". Last year they blamed his back problems on him switching from the fit of his Road bike to the MTB, which I find hard to believe. I have all my bikes, Road, Gravel, and MTB set up the same (saddle, saddle height, crank length). Switching bikes should not cause back issues unless they did a piss poor job on bike fit.

Switching racing disciplines all year long without effectively taking an off season and working on recovery would definitely exacerbate a disc issue. So if you are suffering from a disc injury or predisposed to having one, which obviously applies to van see Poel, then more care is needed.

 

[senna6541]

The fact that MVDP is riding around on his MTB tells me his back is "better". Last year they blamed his back problems on him switching from the fit of his Road bike to the MTB, which I find hard to believe. I have all my bikes, Road, Gravel, and MTB set up the same (saddle, saddle height, crank length). Switching bikes should not cause back issues unless they did a piss poor job on bike fit.

Good for you Stonerider. I switch between all three bikes myself quite a bit with no problems. I have 3 different saddles and don't even really worry about setting them up consistently other than saddle to pedal. Of course I'm a 56 yr old hack - pretty much a different species than MVDP or any other pro rider - and do maybe 1/3 of their volume at best.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Good for you Stonerider. I switch between all three bikes myself quite a bit with no problems. I have 3 different saddles and don't even really worry about setting them up consistently other than saddle to pedal. Of course I'm a 56 yr old hack - pretty much a different species than MVDP or any other pro rider - and do maybe 1/3 of their volume at best.

But i guess you could take Wout, right?

 

[houtdffan]

Selfish Van Aert wants dedicated green jersey support, which will take support away from Rog and Vingegaard. Yellow >> green

He needs to be used on donkey duty, like he was on the final 2 days of the Dauphine

 

[Bonimenier]

Selfish Van Aert wants dedicated green jersey support, which will take support away from Rog and Vingegaard. Yellow >> green

He needs to be used on donkey duty, like he was on the final 2 days of the Dauphine

And this is why selfish houtdffan should not discuss cycling

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

And this is why selfish houtdffan should not discuss cycling

Talking of discussing things, shouldn't he be doing this internally instead of in the media? Same story as being sole leader at last year's Worlds.
It can't be good for team morale.

 

[houtdffan]

And this is why selfish houtdffan should not discuss cycling

At least I understand cycling enough to understand yellow >> green, unless a SVA fanboy

 

[Blanco]

At least I understand cycling enough to understand yellow >> green, unless a SVA fanboy

Yellow is not >> green, but >>>>>, or even more.
I would rather go with freaking Louis Meintjes for yellow, than for green with anybody!
Oh, and by the way, I don't remember Sagan ever requested a special team for him, to chase green jersey.

 

[houtdffan]

Yellow is not >> green, but >>>>>, or even more.
I would rather go with freaking Louis Meintjes for yellow, than for green with anybody!
Oh, and by the way, I don't remember Sagan ever requested a special team for him, to chase green jersey.

In 2015, Sagan was Contador's best dom even. Was there for him on the Allos when Conta crashed. Made sure he made the split on stage 2

 

[Ripper]

Selfish Van Aert wants dedicated green jersey support, which will take support away from Rog and Vingegaard. Yellow >> green

He needs to be used on donkey duty, like he was on the final 2 days of the Dauphine

If I remember correctly it was him answering questions that were put to him at the end of the stage and talking about certain riders who could fulfill multiple roles. In other words, I don't think he was actually trying to make a case for a team to be built around him or addressing team politics.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Laporte is in my opinion a good choice and i wouldn't dedicate any more resources toward green.

P.S. If in desperate need a few 60 kilo guys can pull.