Race Thread

[AmRacer]

Is MvdP the best cyclo-crosser of all time?

If he wins his eighth world title on Sunday there will be a very strong case to say yes. He will have the highest number of world titles and world cup races by then. De Vlaeminck, Van Damme, Zweifel, Liboton and Nys also have a lot of victories, sometimes against more international competition, and generations are hard to compare, but given his sheer dominance, with more than twenty consecutive wins and a victory rate over 90%, completely overflowing the competition, one can say that he deserves the title of all-time best - if he wins on Sunday.

Mathieu races CX part time.

 

[jono]

Is MvdP the best cyclo-crosser of all time?

He will never achieve some of the counting stats of some other riders due to not riding a complete CX season, apart from his early careeer. But the duration of his dominance (nearly a decade) is substantial, and the degree (level compared to the rest of the field) of dominance is unmatched, as far as I am aware.

That makes him the GOAT, for me.

It's purely theoretical anyway, as MVDP won't quit cyclocross and Van Aert will keep wanting to win a Monument... but the question was whether he could, and that's what my answer was about.

I think even in this pure hypothetical, I'm not convinced Wout would be able to race at a level higher in cyclocross than Nys and del Grosso for at least half a decade. Those two, especially TDG, appear still to be on the way up.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Is 23 consecutive wins a record? Or how many more needed?

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Is MvdP the best cyclo-crosser of all time?

If he wins his eighth world title on Sunday there will be a very strong case to say yes. He will have the highest number of world titles and world cup races by then. De Vlaeminck, Van Damme, Zweifel, Liboton and Nys also have a lot of victories, sometimes against more international competition, and generations are hard to compare, but given his sheer dominance, with more than twenty consecutive wins and a victory rate over 90%, completely overflowing the competition, one can say that he deserves the title of all-time best - if he wins on Sunday.

Yes. As much as I hate that answer, I don't think any of the other greats could hold his wheel when he decides to go, unless the course was exceptionally muddy.

 

[Barkintheeye]

Is MvdP the best cyclo-crosser of all time?

If he wins his eighth world title on Sunday there will be a very strong case to say yes. He will have the highest number of world titles and world cup races by then. De Vlaeminck, Van Damme, Zweifel, Liboton and Nys also have a lot of victories, sometimes against more international competition, and generations are hard to compare, but given his sheer dominance, with more than twenty consecutive wins and a victory rate over 90%, completely overflowing the competition, one can say that he deserves the title of all-time best - if he wins on Sunday.

Clearly yes. He started winning races as early as the 14/15 season being only 19 years old. His dominance over a decade is massive despite coming up against generational talents like Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock. As always it's impossible to compare generations but modern cyclocross is so much faster and intense even compared to what CX was in the early 2000. When compared to De Vlaeminck CX just looks like another sport. Kind of like when comparing tennis, alpine skiing, ice skating or many other sports in the 1970s with today's performances. Surely equipment make up a large part of the enhanced performances but athletes abilities and capacities have also improved dramatically.

 

[Wyndbrook]

N

Is 23 consecutive wins a record? Or how many more needed?

I'm not sure 23 is his best run, looking at cyclocross 24 results he was unbeaten from 4/11/18 for 35 races.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

N
I'm not sure 23 is his best run, looking at cyclocross 24 results he was unbeaten from 4/11/18 for 35 races.

I had also wondered whether the current run of World Cup event wins (of events he was in) was a record, but he had 15 between being beaten at Namur 2017 and defeat at Dendermonde 2020.

 

[Spine Concept]

How is it even still a question who the CX GOAT is?

Mathieu has 7 elite CX world titles (ties the all-time record and the heavy favorite for the record-breaking 8th title), holds the all-time World Cup wins record (51), and his career win rate is absurd (around ~75% wins in many datasets, and over 95% in recent winters).
He’s doing it in the modern era while often racing only partial CX seasons and still shows up and dominates wherever he starts.
Even Sven Nys has recently called him the best to ever do it and that he's glad he wasn't born in this era. What more is there to say?
Moreover, Nys got those 50 WC wins at age 39, Mathieu is 31. What will the numbers look like 5 years from now? The absolute GOAT, full-stop.

 

[Sciatic]

How is it even still a question who the CX GOAT is?

Mathieu has 7 elite CX world titles (ties the all-time record and the heavy favorite for the record-breaking 8th title), holds the all-time World Cup wins record (51), and his career win rate is absurd (around ~75% wins in many datasets, and over 95% in recent winters).
He’s doing it in the modern era while often racing only partial CX seasons and still shows up and dominates wherever he starts.
Even Sven Nys has recently called him the best to ever do it and that he's glad he wasn't born in this era. What more is there to say?
Moreover, Nys got those 50 WC wins at age 39, Mathieu is 31. What will the numbers look like 5 years from now? The absolute GOAT, full-stop.

I agree except for one thing . . . the use of the GOAT acronym, for which I would support a word ban It's of course not a problem how you use it here, but its overuse is ubiquitous. And like a genuine goat, using GOAT tends to prod, poke, and provoke.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Van Der Poel is undoubtly the best ever based on his titles, win rate and longevity.
I would not get too hung up on wins by age and strength of opposition. The were significantly less world cups contested historically, infact less races in the last century. VDP has a much better record than Nys, but he remember in competive era he raced against Wellens, Stybar, Albert, Pontoni, De Clercq, Verckeven among others, not a bad bunch.

 

[theyoungest]

Van Der Poel is undoubtly the best ever based on his titles, win rate and longevity.
I would not get too hung up on wins by age and strength of opposition. The were significantly less world cups contested historically, infact less races in the last century. VDP has a much better record than Nys, but he remember in competive era he raced against Wellens, Stybar, Albert, Pontoni, De Clercq, Verckeven among others, not a bad bunch.

There were fewer world cups, but as Sven Nys rightly indicated, MVDP isn't racing them all so that about evens it out. Regarding the opposition, that's always difficult to compare, but there probably wasn't someone of Van Aert's talent among them.

I don't remember every cross with Sven Nys effectively being the competition racing for second, which is what is happening now with MVDP. He wasn't nearly as dominant.