Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

[Pantani_lives]

Van Aert had an acute case of cipollinitis - the mysterious disease Cipollini always got during the first mountain stage of the Tour.

 

[Bakkie]

2nd again.

 

[Extinction]

2nd again.

My Got!

 

[JosefK]

Rabofaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalling.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Wout is looking VERY thin.

 

[Oldermanish]

Rabofaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalling.

Sheeeite! These guys rode cobbles, painted fan signage and every other obstacle with shiny rain on the surface. If any of them had a 10 psi variance on the optimum tire pressure they'd need to adjust pace or crash. I think it's amazing this many favorites are with 10-20 seconds after these conditions.
You certainly can't blame a team strategy on bike handling. That's BS conjecture.

Also....it's stage 1 in Denmark and no one broke a hip.

 

[Red Rick]

The good news for Van Aert is that he can get 2nd tomorrow and still take the yellow jersey

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

It was a lucky 2nd place considering Ganna's puncture (and possibly Laporte's crash)

RoboPog seemed to have more power than Van Aert. Rog was IMO up there with Van Aert.

All in all a somewhat disappointing ride even if a 2nd place was expected. Usually when he gets beaten and finishes 2nd in a TT he's well ahead of the rest. This time he seemed to lack a bit of power. He couldn't sustain his effort even though he was not out of this world fast in the first half.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Looks like Lefevere is a good masseuse.

 

[Oldermanish]

The good news for Van Aert is that he can get 2nd tomorrow and still take the yellow jersey

Very, very good prediction.

 

[KZD]

He had to get the yellow jersey in the most predictable way for him

 

[CyclistAbi]

Well hello. Mister i will go for green but can settle with yellow.

 

[YavorD]

Sorry if been discussed, but how do you compare Van Aert and prime Sagan as pure sprinters? And as riders in general?
To me, Van Aert is Sagan on steroids.

Belgian 2agan, maybe?

 

[CyclistAbi]

I don't feel that Sagan needs any defending. He can hold his own.

 

[Blanco]

Sorry if been discussed, but how do you compare Van Aert and prime Sagan as pure sprinters? And as riders in general?
To me, Van Aert is Sagan on steroids.

Belgian 2agan, maybe?

As a pure sprinters I consider Sagan being better.
As riders in general, Sagan is still way ahead.
Wout is way more versatile, he's the better TT-ist, better in mountains, but he somehow fails to convert that into really big wins.
He might catch up with Sagan eventually, but I think that will not be the case...

 

[Ilmaestro99]

As a pure sprinters I consider Sagan being better.
As riders in general, Sagan is still way ahead.
Wout is way more versatile, he's the better TT-ist, better in mountains, but he somehow fails to convert that into really big wins.
He might catch up with Sagan eventually, but I think that will not be the case...

At Wout's age, Sagan had 3 world championships, 2 monuments and 5 green jerseys.

Wout has 1 monument and a few stage wins and semi classics

With his similar palmares, taste for bright coloured bikes and lack of aggressive racings you could even say he is a Belgian Pippo Pozzato

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

At Wout's age, Sagan had 3 world championships, 2 monuments and 5 green jerseys.

Wout has 1 monument and a few stage wins and semi classics

With his similar palmares, taste for bright coloured bikes and lack of aggressive racings you could even say he is a Belgian Pippo Pozzato

He's toned it down today with no all yellow skin suit and a normal bike. Yesterday was FAF.

 

[Davesta]

As a pure sprinters I consider Sagan being better.
As riders in general, Sagan is still way ahead.
Wout is way more versatile, he's the better TT-ist, better in mountains, but he somehow fails to convert that into really big wins.
He might catch up with Sagan eventually, but I think that will not be the case...

I’d have said the opposite regarding their sprinting - perhaps I’m misremembering, but even at his best I don’t remember Sagan troubling the top sprinters in a flat sprint, but instead being a good bet for positions 3-5…whereas WvA has won on the Champs Elysee, and regularly challenges for full on bunch sprints…

I’d also say they’ve both underperformed in terms of results vs their talents…Sagan didn’t win his first world champs until his 6th year as a WT pro, didn’t win his first monument until his 7th year…and Wout currently seems to be keen on repeating Sagan’s impressive run of 2nd places from a few years ago !

 

[YavorD]

At Wout's age, Sagan had 3 world championships, 2 monuments and 5 green jerseys.

Wout has 1 monument and a few stage wins and semi classics

With his similar palmares, taste for bright coloured bikes and lack of aggressive racings you could even say he is a Belgian Pippo Pozzato

At Wout's age Sagan had his 9th full WT season on the road.
Wout has how many 5? 6?
So basically Sagan in 2014-15. Soo...similar palmares maybe?
Remains to be seen if WVA ages better than Sagan and declines at 33-4 instead of 29. Andd what will he achieve.

Any way, I didn't want to compare palmares, more like skillet and1/1 Prime sagan vs Wout.

 

[KZD]

At Wout's age Sagan had his 9th full WT season on the road.
Wout has how many 5? 6?
So basically Sagan in 2014-15. Soo...similar palmares maybe?
Remains to be seen if WVA ages better than Sagan and declines at 33-4 instead of 29. Andd what will he achieve.

Any way, I didn't want to compare palmares, more like skillet and1/1 Prime sagan vs Wout.

This is just Wout's 4th season in the World Tour although he had the chance of riding Strade Bianche, RVV and Paris Roubaix the year before. If he stays healthy and with the same level for the next 4-5 years he has plenty of time to reach or even surpass Sagan in the number of monuments or World Championships titles (road race + TT).

 

[dutchdescent]

Wout got a forum thread update mid-stage today and decided to put the discussion to rest by squeezing Sagan out of the sprint.

 

[gunara]

Despite his lesser palmares now, I see WvA has more effective skillset and better circumstance to win more than Sagan. A far better TTist, a better climber, and to me is a better sprinter too. It will take more time for him to collect big wins, but I believe he will. The only things that can keep him is the other super talents, I don't think Sagan have half that many rivalling him in term of talents at his peak, that's another plus for WvA.

He is no match for Sagan when it comes to create excitement on the road, though, and it's likely not going to change anytime soon. So until WvA wins a ton more, I think Sagan will always be remembered as the "bigger" cyclist.

 

[roundabout]

Early days, but looking good for Green so far having lost no points to Jakobsen over the last 2 stages.

 

[Oldermanish]

Wout got a forum thread update mid-stage today and decided to put the discussion to rest by squeezing Sagan out of the sprint.

Yup. And the most ridiculous experience was listening to a certain Phil Liggett who immediately claimed that Sagan purposely pinched the little Lotto guy into the barriers.
Don't the producers have any delay on Phil's feed? I think he also referred to Caleb as Robbie McEwan.

 

[Ricco']

Yup. And the most ridiculous experience was listening to a certain Phil Liggett who immediately claimed that Sagan purposely pinched the little Lotto guy into the barriers.
Don't the producers have any delay on Phil's feed? I think he also referred to Caleb as Robbie McEwan.

I don't have access to Liggett's commentaries, but if he was even 20 years ago consistently messing race information and riders names, I can't imagine how it is now.