Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

[Valv.Piti]

Nah thats obviously not disappointing, but you gotta strike when the iron is hot, particularly in a sport like cycling...

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1519584861232803840

View: https://twitter.com/OutOfCycling/status/1519584861232803840

 

[Blanco]

He's just warming up. His record is already better than Philippe Gilbert or Sean Kelly when they were the same age as Van Aert is now.

		MSR	RVV	RBX	LBL	LOM	WRR
Van Aert	Apr 2022	1	2	2	3		2
Gilbert	Feb 2010	3	3	52	4	1	6
Kelly	Dec 1983	4	8	12	10	1	3

But worse than Boonen, Cancellara and Bartoli...

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Beloki has made a bet with someone that Van Aert will win the Tour de France within the next 3 years. Also Indurain thinks he can do it.

Interviews in Spanish, no subtitels. Text in Dutch'

Contador, Indurain en Beloki geloven in Tour-zege Wout van Aert: "Maar wielersport zou verliezer zijn" | sporza

Kan Wout van Aert ooit de Tour de France winnen? Volgens de Spaanse ex-toppers Alberto Contador, Miguel Indurain en Joseba Beloki heeft hij de capaciteiten. "Maar het zou wel ten koste van zijn veelzijdigheid zijn", zegt Alberto Contador.

sporza.be

 

[Red Rick]

Man if there was anything i would have bet my kidneys against

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

Certainly he could try, but would need to focus all his training into improving in the mountains, which would not happen until he wins RVV and PR. Even then he would be fighting for borderline top ten at the best.

 

[Boes]

Beloki has made a bet with someone that Van Aert will win the Tour de France within the next 3 years. Also Indurain thinks he can do it.

Interviews in Spanish, no subtitels. Text in Dutch'

Contador, Indurain en Beloki geloven in Tour-zege Wout van Aert: "Maar wielersport zou verliezer zijn" | sporza

Kan Wout van Aert ooit de Tour de France winnen? Volgens de Spaanse ex-toppers Alberto Contador, Miguel Indurain en Joseba Beloki heeft hij de capaciteiten. "Maar het zou wel ten koste van zijn veelzijdigheid zijn", zegt Alberto Contador.

sporza.be

Read it to but I doubt it. Spanish riders are really comitted to the GC work while Flemish riders get their kicks out of one day classics. Trying to win a GC of 3 weeks would mean he has to lose muscle weight, muscle he needs to contend in one day classics.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Read it to but I doubt it. Spanish riders are really comitted to the GC work while Flemish riders get their kicks out of one day classics. Trying to win a GC of 3 weeks would mean he has to lose muscle weight, muscle he needs to contend in one day classics.

We all know he would have to make big sacrifices if he were to actually try.

 

[Boes]

We all know he would have to make big sacrifices if he were to actually try.

It depends on how much TT K's there are and how much mountaintop finishes. Mountain stages that end with a descent or on the flat he'd always take back lost time in the chase (he's kind of used to chasing other guys like MVP in the cross).

If there's f.e. 2 individual TT's and a Team TT and only 2 or 3 actual uphill mountain finishes he could easily Bradly Wiggings his way to yellow.

 

[glassmoon]

It depends on how much TT K's there are and how much mountaintop finishes. Mountain stages that end with a descent or on the flat he'd always take back lost time in the chase (he's kind of used to chasing other guys like MVP in the cross).

If there's f.e. 2 individual TT's and a Team TT and only 2 or 3 actual uphill mountain finishes he could easily Bradly Wiggings his way to yellow.

easily you say... hmm

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

easily you say... hmm

Like taking candy from a baby...faced monster.

 

[Eeslliw]

If there's f.e. 2 individual TT's and a Team TT and only 2 or 3 actual uphill mountain finishes he could easily Bradly Wiggings his way to yellow.

Not in Pogacar era. He was beaten by baby Merckx in 2 out of 3 TTs in TDF so far. Don't see why would his chances increase if he would lose a lot of weight.

 

[hayneplane]

With the right route with only 1 true multi-pass mountain stage in each of the Alps and Pyrenees plus lots of ITT and TTT kms then he might stand a chance but not while Roglic is still good enough to contend. A cobbled stage with him as clear team leader to ride for his own chances would also help.

 

[Boes]

Not in Pogacar era. He was beaten by baby Merckx in 2 out of 3 TTs in TDF so far. Don't see why would his chances increase if he would lose a lot of weight.

A good Pogacar is always going to be top favourite, however there will be years where even baby poggyboy will not be 100% because of sickness, crashes or because he focusses on other targets (like Giro f.e.).

 

[Bonimenier]

Van Aert will skip the national TT champs for a 2nd year in a row. Giving his big (little) friend a chance to take the jersey.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

I told you of my good mate in April. He said, Kwiat and van Baarle are very weak cyclists, and won‘t have a chance in this year‘s classics.

This same mate spoke about recent TdF winners. He said something like, if „(very) weak cyclists like Pereiro, Sastre, Evans, Wiggins or Thomas can win the TdF, then every Continental Team rider possibly can.“…

Now even my friend would admit that WVA is a (very) strong cyclist. I, however, don‘t know if WVA could win the Tour.

Wout was 20th and 19th in the last two TdF, without going for GC. Normally, one says that the Top20 of the TdF GC are the twenty best cyclists (stage racers) of the world. And I believe that everyone out of the Top20 of a TdF is a potential TdF winner.

If Wout was French, they probably would make him a TdF which is tailor made for him: many and long ITTs/TTTs, few MTFs (not too long, and steady ascents, not too steep).

I, however, think that in any case, Wout will want to win RVV and Roubaix before going for TdF GC or GCs at all…

Wout van Aert could one day want to become a stage racer, and then he would be a new Indurain: a tall, heavier, powerful rider, who climbs with the best and beats them all in the ITTs.

 

[Bolder]

I disagree that Top 20 in a GT means you are among the top 20 stage races. (Of course, by definition, yes they are...but I'm talking about intent.) When the gap from 1 to 20 is roughly 1 hour, that hardly means you're competitive, in Wout's case he lasted long enough in mountain stages that he could not lose much time.

That said, given the right course and being protected, Wout could probably top 10 a GT. I don't know if he could reach Indurain level; the overall level in cycling now, I think, is much higher. His weakness would be consecutive hard mountain stages or something like Loze, where he'd have to carefully manage his energy to avoid losing 5-10 minutes.

I do think it would be cool to see JV go all in for Wout in a GT with lots of TT kms.

 

[OlavEH]

I certainly hope that Van Aert prioritizes classics the coming years. Would rather see him battle Van der Poel in most races ang Pogacar, Remco and perhaps Pidcock in some races than reduces his chances to try to be a contender in GTs. Maybe in 3 or 4 years, but not now. Pog vs Rog and perhaps Evenepoel is more interesting and suited for the GTs. Perhaps also Pidcock.

 

[KZD]

I think that with modern GT routes that are based in lots of MTFs and little TT kms it will be difficult to see Van Aert winning any GT unless he sheds a couple of kilos. I also think that he will keep prioritising the cobbled classics for the next years to at least win Ronde and Roubaix once and then in the Tour he will focus on the green jersey that in better suited to him especially if there are not many sprint stages like this year.

Having said that, I would like to see him fighting for GC in stage races from time to time, the Dauphine this year as a great route for him, for example, although I think Roglić will be the leader and Van Aert will go for green like in Paris Nice.

 

[gregrowlerson]

I don't see that much improvement required from his best mountain stage efforts in recent years, to be able to contend for gc. He could probably reach Dumoulin 17-18 levels, but losing a small amount of weight to do that might make him about the 11-20th best classics riders instead of one of the best two, so it's a risk. He'd want to win another monument or two first.

 

[Lequack]

Has Wout become the new Zdenek Stybar yet?

 

[Bonimenier]

Has Wout become the new Zdenek Stybar yet?

Stybar still better since he won a WT stage race.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't see that much improvement required from his best mountain stage efforts in recent years, to be able to contend for gc. He could probably reach Dumoulin 17-18 levels, but losing a small amount of weight to do that might make him about the 11-20th best classics riders instead of one of the best two, so it's a risk. He'd want to win another monument or two first.

Dumoulin's natural weight was a lot lower than Van Aerts.

 

[KZD]

Dumoulin's natural weight was a lot lower than Van Aerts.

True, Dumoulin was between 72-74kg in the beginning of his career while Van Aert was always at around 77-78kg so more similar to Wiggins before 2009.

 

[jmdirt]

BEAST! Congrats!