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Echoes said:and unless I missed a thing, Wout Van Aert has always hit the top3 but in Maldegem which he finished 4th, am I right?
38 crosses at age 22 is pure madness. :surprised:
Meulebeke, Maldegem and Hulst are all part of the Brico Cross series. So Van Aert must not care about these races much as the only ones he won were Geraardsbergen, and Bredene. Both of which Van der Poel wasn't in. The former because of his knee injury and the latter because of the Loenhout crash. and landing on his head. Kruibeke was won by Vanthourenhout after van Aert fumbled on an off camber and Van der Poel wasn't there either.Ricco' said:Echoes said:and unless I missed a thing, Wout Van Aert has always hit the top3 but in Maldegem which he finished 4th, am I right?
38 crosses at age 22 is pure madness. :surprised:
Also in:
Berencross - Meulebeke (9th)
Cyclocross Otegem (5th)
It's just a coincidence that most of the races he has been off the top/second step of the podium are ones that are in the same series.Echoes said:I think Wout did care about these races too, though. Tom Meeusen said that the will to win is very high for these two guys - Wout & Mathieu, that crosses like Otegem or Maldegem, they don't give it for free and that on each of them they are flying away from lap 1 on. They are so dedicated. They are better than Nys was in prime in that though Nys could reach their maximum speed on one lap, they can maintain that speed for 7 laps or more.
Also Wout wanted to shine in his rainbow jersey all season long. In summer he showed his rainbow during trainings and road criteriums. Hence his insanely heavy calendar.
His relative counter-performances in Maldegem and in Hulst also have to do with his form level at the end of an exhaustive season more than them being Brico Cross. Besides Maldegem was just after the Worlds.Echoes said:Of course ranking events and championships matter more to him than Brico Cross or other non-ranking events but still he's won his share of these non-ranking events: Ardooie, Geraardsbergen, Waterloo (Wisconsin), Boom & Bredene and 2nd to Vanthourenhout in Kruibeke and to Mathieu in Mol or in Overijse (though Overijse is a special race that is coveted by most of the top guns).
Giuseppe Magnetico said:Kind of torn after this season about what I'm watching between WvA and MvdP completely dominating. On one hand it's been amazing to watch them duke it out, but race after race it's really only one or the other. Both have been quoted saying that their 2 man battle is good for the sport, but I can't help to look back at the Nys era when there were at least a half dozen riders that could upset Sven for the win. That seemed a bit more exciting as opposed to knowing with absolute certainty these days who's going to be occupying 1st and 2nd just about every single race.
I think they say that because when one is missing the race is often a complete snoozer and it's better to see two guys going head-to-head rather than one dominating.Giuseppe Magnetico said:Kind of torn after this season about what I'm watching between WvA and MvdP completely dominating. On one hand it's been amazing to watch them duke it out, but race after race it's really only one or the other. Both have been quoted saying that their 2 man battle is good for the sport, but I can't help to look back at the Nys era when there were at least a half dozen riders that could upset Sven for the win. That seemed a bit more exciting as opposed to knowing with absolute certainty these days who's going to be occupying 1st and 2nd just about every single race.
Echoes said:Mathieu Van der Poel was still in full recovery but I think he claimed that he would also have been reluctant even if he were fit. So he seemed to have changed his mind now.