This is what i was talking about. None of the pros took it this swiftly:Unfortunately the Junior wasn't shown live.
Mathieu looked more spent, his shoulders were cramped, red face. At the finish, you would have thought it was a breeze for Iserbyt who looked a lot more comfortable... but lost.It’s tough to gauge where Mathieu stands after today’s race due to the recent passing of his grandfather.
With that being said, he still rode an incredible race having started in the 3rd row and not managing to get to the front early on.
As a result he had to fight his way back to the front on two separate occasions after he had to switch bikes when he first made contact with the trio.
What a race, kudos to Iserbyt for leaving it all on the field again today. The day will surely come. If not this season then the next. He’s younger than Mathieu so his engine is still developing.
Let’s hope for more races like this.
In previous years, the world cups have been gridded on uci points standings which roll over year round (e.g despite being suspended for her misdemaenours Denise Betsema was still top of the womens rankings until a couple of weeks ago). Therefore if a rider like Jeremy Powers (a couple of years ago) dominated the american scene, he would get loads of points and get a very high gridding, similar to someone who has done every DVV and Superprestige and come in the top 3. From this season, the UCI changed it so the first round was based on last year's world cup ranking, and then the second round onwards is gridded based on this year's standings. Therefore, those who missed the american rounds could have been at a real disadvantage and be placed on probably 3rd row back as the top riders will still get gridded due to their UCI ranking being high.
Alot of riders wear a gps watch on their wrist to record the race and to look at how far their in the race and possibly what their heart rate is if they ride with heart rateAre (some of) the riders wearing some sort of bike computer - for lack of a better word - on their arms? Would make sense; they change bikes quite often, and doesn't seem to have to time to even move a regular bike computer from one bike to another. However, they don't change arms.
Nys (and his dad, Mathieu, Meeusen...) are at one end of the spectrum. This was an UPHILL jump, and yet he flew over it. There are plenty of barriers that are placed in much easier conditions, yet even then, the women still don't jump over them. Judging by comments from Groenendael, it seems only now the junior women have started to actually train on jumping barriers (and successfully), so it has little to do with physical prowess, but with intend and with training.Nys jumping barriers is a combination of technical skill and the ability to 'muscle' a bike around. I'm not trying to offend the best women racers in the world but compare apples with apples.
p.s. Lars Van Der Har has the muscle but seems to lack that particular ability.... oddly enough.
Just looked back at what you said... you said an embarrassment to women.. I think that a bit harsh tbh. Disagree with you that any of the barriers 'are easy' on the race calender, hence Lars VDH would be flying over them too. Yesterday's barriers uphill were extremely difficult to get right which required a combination of explosive power to get the speed into the first jump and then more power, skill to jump the second. Only a handful of the male elite could manage it and having watched the women's elite race too, none of them could've carried enough speed to execute that Uphill barrier section successfully. No shame in that.Watching Thibo Nys jump over the barriers is actually a bit of an embarrassment for the women. Today the barriers are not easy (uphill) but plenty of other races they are very easy and still none of the women try to jump over them. When you see Nys jump today, you realize there is still a huge gap with even the best women purely on a technical basis.
You quite clearly missed the point. When you see how a 17 year old jumps over extremely difficult barriers with ease, it is an embarrassment to women, that NONE of them even TRY to jump over ANY other barrier in ANY race on the calendar. I wasn't expecting women to necessarily jump yesterday's barriers (which i made clear, twice).Just looked back at what you said... you said an embarrassment to women.. I think that a bit harsh tbh. Disagree with you that any of the barriers 'are easy' on the race calender, hence Lars VDH would be flying over them too. Yesterday's barriers uphill were extremely difficult to get right which required a combination of explosive power to get the speed into the first jump and then more power, skill to jump the second. Only a handful of the male elite could manage it and having watched the women's elite race too, none of them could've carried enough speed to execute that Uphill barrier section successfully. No shame in that.
Nys jr is an Exceptional case, taught by his dad, both are able to combine all the necessary qualities to jump these type of barriers. My query is why the ex gymnast with significant core strength and Sweeck, couldn't jump the uphill section yesterday, particularly when it offered precious seconds advantage over others?
Well, Iserbyt clearly has problems when the race days are getting consecutive, so there might still be some challenges coming from him.Yikes. That is starting to look like the invincible Mathieu. I had hoped it would have taken him a bit longer to be in this apparent shape. He’s just too good.
That was some collapse, losing 40(?) seconds at the end.Actually Sweeck was at 2-5 seconds for 3/4th of the race. He only collapsed at the end
The exact opposite is true for Iserbyt, it seems.Yeah in the last 2,5 laps. At some point he just couldn't keep it up. He was really close for a long while
Another observation. This is the 2nd time Mathieu was much better at the 2nd day in a row then on just the first day.
well, his CX season has just started basically (after a post RR season break)Yeah in the last 2,5 laps. At some point he just couldn't keep it up. He was really close for a long while
Another observation. This is the 2nd time Mathieu was much better at the 2nd day in a row then on just the first day.
No, I don’t believe I missed your point at all. I just disagreed with your statement and let it be known... it’s the Aussie in me. You’re coming across as having difficulty in accepting someone else’s opinion and you don’t need to use CAPITALS to exaggerate your point. I had a CEO who used to do that and it was extremely annoying too.You quite clearly missed the point. When you see how a 17 year old jumps over extremely difficult barriers with ease, it is an embarrassment to women, that NONE of them even TRY to jump over ANY other barrier in ANY race on the calendar. I wasn't expecting women to necessarily jump yesterday's barriers (which i made clear, twice).
He's very young but handling the step up to Elites far better than PIdcock at present. Strange considering Pidcock was pasting him less then 9 months ago ?Well, Iserbyt clearly has problems when the race days are getting consecutive, so there might still be some challenges coming from him.
Yeah, was a very good race.It’s tough to gauge where Mathieu stands after today’s race due to the recent passing of his grandfather.
With that being said, he still rode an incredible race having started in the 3rd row and not managing to get to the front early on.
As a result he had to fight his way back to the front on two separate occasions after he had to switch bikes when he first made contact with the trio.
What a race, kudos to Iserbyt for leaving it all on the field again today. The day will surely come. If not this season then the next. He’s younger than Mathieu so his engine is still developing.
Let’s hope for more races like this.
Iserbyt is far from a chump technically. Obviously Mathieu is better, but he's better than basically everyone, except maybe Meeusen (and in the not so distant future i can see Nys jr outdoing him in that regard). Even when van Aert was on the same level as Mathieu, he couldn't beat him and needed to be clearly better physically, in order to do so. Iserbyt is a far above average CX bikehandler, but simply not as good as Mathieu, neither does he have the raw power of van Aert. But he's a nicely balanced CX rider. Far above average in every regard, but clearly that doesn't mean you can beat van der Poel.Yeah, was a very good race.
But it's a problem for Iserbyt that MvdP is so much better technically, because he has no other area where he is better than MvdP. He might be, physically, on the same level as MvdP, all else equal, but he is forced to spend extra reserves because of inferior technique.
Pidcock won the WC, but that doesn't mean he surpassed Iserbyt then and there. Pidcock did get a couple of nice results (i remember a battle for 2nd between him and Aerts) late in the season but he's still nearly 2 years younger than Iserbyt. So, i don't think it's strange that Iserbyt is handling the transition better, though i was surprised as well to see him step up like he did. There was always going to be a point where Iserbyt was going to take a next step on a physical level, and chances were that that would happen before it happened for Pidcock. Both are still developing riders and it shouldn't be forgotten that Iserbyt himself was one of the most talented CX riders in his age bracket. I don't think in the 3-4 years between him and WvA/MvdP, there was another rider of his caliber. I do expect Pidcock to take a similar step as Iserbyt maybe later in the season, or somewhere next season. When that happens, chances are he'll surpass Iserbyt indefinitely, but it still needs to play out. At the moment, i'm more curious to see what Pidcock can do on the road. He won some interesting races last year, including a stage race with plenty of climbing. As a CX rider, time will tell if he was overhyped when he was still a junior.He's very young but handling the step up to Elites far better than PIdcock at present. Strange considering Pidcock was pasting him less then 9 months ago ?