Teams & Riders Official Wout Van Aert thread

[Low is rhe new high]

His career has been this. Not good enough to win important races but a hell of rider in supporting his leaders. Time to say he doesn't have the right mentality, he is not a killer.

Beeing a teamplayer is not the same as not beeing a killer. Greatness can come in many forms it’s obvious that Pogacar is the current goat when it comes to soloing to wins. It is also obvious that he does not inspire a team culture in UAE. Wout seem to do that in Visma that is probably the reason they gave him a life time contract. This is also one of the best things with cycling as a sport. It’s an individual sport as much as a team’s.

 

[AmRacer]

Beeing a teamplayer is not the same as not beeing a killer. Greatness can come in many forms it’s obvious that Pogacar is the current goat when it comes to soloing to wins. It is also obvious that he does not inspire a team culture in UAE. Wout seem to do that in Visma that is probably the reason they gave him a life time contract. This is also one of the best things with cycling as a sport. It’s an individual sport as much as a team’s.

Pogi didn't race any one week stage race, except UAE tour. His teammates got chance to win something.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Beeing a teamplayer is not the same as not beeing a killer. Greatness can come in many forms it’s obvious that Pogacar is the current goat when it comes to soloing to wins. It is also obvious that he does not inspire a team culture in UAE. Wout seem to do that in Visma that is probably the reason they gave him a life time contract. This is also one of the best things with cycling as a sport. It’s an individual sport as much as a team’s.

Nothing can show this. The internal war we had with Roglic, Vingegaard and Kuss? Both are leaders and problems in UAE are mostly caused by Matxin being a "yes man".

 

[theyoungest]

Beeing a teamplayer is not the same as not beeing a killer. Greatness can come in many forms it’s obvious that Pogacar is the current goat when it comes to soloing to wins. It is also obvious that he does not inspire a team culture in UAE. Wout seem to do that in Visma that is probably the reason they gave him a life time contract. This is also one of the best things with cycling as a sport. It’s an individual sport as much as a team’s.

Wout is perhaps a little too nice to be a cold blooded killer, and that's exactly why he's a great team player. Meanwhile Pogacar was fanning the flames of the rivalry between Del Toro and Ayuso. That's the difference between them. I have no idea whether Wout actually likes Yates, or Vingegaard, or Roglic, or any of these guys. It doesn't matter, he's just a professional.

 

[Froome]

According to Heijboer, WVA did the best one hour effort of his career on Finestre.

 

[AmRacer]

According to Heijboer, WVA did the best one hour effort of his career on Finestre.

Cyclocross is one hour full gas.

 

[Froome]

Cyclocross is one hour full gas.

Road cycling.

 

[Rackham]

Wout is perhaps a little too nice to be a cold blooded killer, and that's exactly why he's a great team player. Meanwhile Pogacar was fanning the flames of the rivalry between Del Toro and Ayuso. That's the difference between them. I have no idea whether Wout actually likes Yates, or Vingegaard, or Roglic, or any of these guys. It doesn't matter, he's just a professional.

Narratives in cycling always suffer from recency bias.

Some of us might remember how once-upon-a-time Van Aert was accused of being selfish and not a team player (stage 2 in San Sebastian back in the 2023 TdF for example when there was a mini drama between WvA and Vingegaard).

And that's the funny thing here: Van Aert will absolutely aim for some stages in July. And then a large number of the same people dumping on him for not being ruthless enough or a killer out there will probably call him selfish.

We've seen and heard it all before. He either doesn't win enough or he's too selfish. Rinse repeat.

 

[Red Rick]

According to Heijboer, WVA did the best one hour effort of his career on Finestre.

Third time he did an important climb for an hour so it better be top 3

 

[theyoungest]

Narratives in cycling always suffer from recency bias.

Some of us might remember how once-upon-a-time Van Aert was accused of being selfish and not a team player (stage 2 in San Sebastian back in the 2023 TdF for example when there was a mini drama between WvA and Vingegaard).

And that's the funny thing here: Van Aert will absolutely aim for some stages in July. And then a large number of the same people dumping on him for not being ruthless enough or a killer out there will probably call him selfish.

We've seen and heard it all before. He either doesn't win enough or he's too selfish. Rinse repeat.

Those narratives are mainly based on nationalism though. Danish pundits thought Van Aert was selfish when he went into breaks instead of staying with Vingegaard (eventually they understood the idea behind it though, took them long enough). Conversely, Belgian media took a long time to come around to the idea that perhaps Van Aert likes working for his teammates. Nobody forces him to stay on this team, and Roglic isn't the devil incarnate (they're a lot nicer to Roglic now that he's not on a team with the great WVA anymore, they don't even notice it themselves though).

 

[Low is rhe new high]

Nothing can show this. The internal war we had with Roglic, Vingegaard and Kuss? Both are leaders and problems in UAE are mostly caused by Matxin being a "yes man".

If you take of you glasses of UAE bias it become quite clear that Pogacar is not for teams. He did not even race for his country in the Olympics because he selfishly tried to get his girlfriend on the team. In the end Kuss won the Vuelta.

 

[Low is rhe new high]

Narratives in cycling always suffer from recency bias.

Some of us might remember how once-upon-a-time Van Aert was accused of being selfish and not a team player (stage 2 in San Sebastian back in the 2023 TdF for example when there was a mini drama between WvA and Vingegaard).

And that's the funny thing here: Van Aert will absolutely aim for some stages in July. And then a large number of the same people dumping on him for not being ruthless enough or a killer out there will probably call him selfish.

We've seen and heard it all before. He either doesn't win enough or he's too selfish. Rinse repeat.

Hmm nobody believes in the Netflix narrative .

Edit, not even Netflix

 

[AmRacer]

If you take of you glasses of UAE bias it become quite clear that Pogacar is not for teams. He did not even race for his country in the Olympics because he selfishly tried to get his girlfriend on the team. In the end Kuss won the Vuelta.

Giro and then the Tour, he was dead and needed to rest. Look under your anti UAE hat.

 

[Low is rhe new high]

Giro and then the Tour, he was dead and needed to rest. Look under your anti UAE hat.

Ouch was that a sensitive subject? Teddy is not a teamplayer he behaves like a spoiled child when Isaks is not selected ? And I did not know that UAE had bought Slovenia yet.

 

[AmRacer]

Ouch was that a sensitive subject? Teddy is not a teamplayer he behaves like a spoiled child when Isaks is not selected ? And I did not know that UAE had bought Slovenia yet.

Ouch what a sensitive subject.

 

[Berniece]

Some of us might remember how once-upon-a-time Van Aert was accused of being selfish and not a team player (stage 2 in San Sebastian back in the 2023 TdF for example when there was a mini drama between WvA and Vingegaard).

It was the other way around, right? People expected Vingegaard to work for WVA, and he lost that stage due to it, and eventually even Vingegaard said that in hindsight he should’ve worked there.

 

[jono]

Cyclocross is one hour full gas.

The technical demands of cyclocross courses mean you are unlikely to produce your top one-hour power in that discipline.

 

[Valv.Piti]

It was the other way around, right? People expected Vingegaard to work for WVA, and he lost that stage due to it, and eventually even Vingegaard said that in hindsight he should’ve worked there.

Both I think, but in WVA absolute peak year (2022), it was unbearable for me during some of the stages to listen to the slander of how selfish Wout was on Danish TV. And it was kinda bad in 2021 and 2023 as well.

Stage 2 2023 should be obvious to anyone, that shouldn't even be a debate. Jonas should absolutely have helped Wout there and it was absolutely foolish not to IMO.

 

[Red Rick]

Giro and then the Tour, he was dead and needed to rest. Look under your anti UAE hat.

Looked very dead at the Tour, apart from the fact that he was chilling, smiling and tiktoking while like 3 guys could still ride their bike and the rest basically didn't have a pulse anymore.

 

[Red Rick]

Both I think, but in WVA absolute peak year (2022), it was unbearable for me during some of the stages to listen to the slander of how selfish Wout was on Danish TV.

I think it's basically only Van Aert who gets excused for dropping his own team leader while hunting stages. In fact his greatest value to his team is his value as a domestique.

That 2023 stage had multiple mistakes in them, including torching Benoot and Kelderman too early and should fall mainly on the DSes for not even considering that situation beforehand.

But my own main gripe about it all is that yes, you can say Vingegaard should have done something there, but it immediately turned into "Van Aert is TOO GOOD" for one of the top 2 teams in the world and "SHOULD LEAVE" immediately.

 

[Extinction]

 

[Peyroteo94]

Yates is like ""

 

[Sandisfan]

Both I think, but in WVA absolute peak year (2022), it was unbearable for me during some of the stages to listen to the slander of how selfish Wout was on Danish TV. And it was kinda bad in 2021 and 2023 as well.

Stage 2 2023 should be obvious to anyone, that shouldn't even be a debate. Jonas should absolutely have helped Wout there and it was absolutely foolish not to IMO.

If I remember correctly Vingo would only have needed to pull for less than thirty seconds or so and that wouldn't have hampered his GT, though he just may have not been thinking and missed a chance to help. He might have after the fact (Vingo) realized he could have helped enough to make a difference after all if he pulled he would have been soft peddling to the finish just close enough to the group to not lose any time on GC.

 

[Sciatic]

Slight aside from the main discussion re: Giro: after we all saw how super explosive and on-form Del Toro was the following week after that, I think it adds luster to Wout’s win in Sienna.

 

[SHAD0W93]

It was the other way around, right? People expected Vingegaard to work for WVA, and he lost that stage due to it, and eventually even Vingegaard said that in hindsight he should’ve worked there.

On that stage there were those who thought Vingegaard would waste energy helping pull even though he’d been at the front on that stage and every flat stage to avoid crashes. Vingegaard should have helped, but I can understand the caution in he didn’t want to overextend himself for fear of Pogacar.