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Ronde van Vlaanderen 2025, one day monument, April 6 (men's)

Page 60 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Great stuff.

He's always pretty straight up with interviewers from what I've seen.

He definitely has some funny lines.
In an interview made a few days ago, he first pointed out that unlike last year, he still has all his skin.
Then referred to Pogacar as "a crazy guy like me".

Otoh, he seemed a little annoyed when asked after the race (by Danish tv) about Stuyven supposedly not working for him.
 
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It's weird with VdP. Even if he was on the limit from far out, he never seemed to struggle to follow Pogacar before the Kwaremont and easily distanced Van Aert and Pedersen multiple times. I was sure him being so much weaker at the end must have been a bonk, cramps or something along those lines. If he was simply spent that was an absolute disasterclass in race management.
He didn't get gapped before the last kwaremont, but before that his body language was not as imperious and facial expressions not as impassive as when he is at his best.

I think he put in extra effort to never get gapped (as opposed to letting a gap open and closing it later like the others) to hide the weakness he felt, in hopes the appearance of strength would somehow neutralize Pog's attacks, if not on the climbs then between, giving him more time to rest. Who am I kidding, mvdp doesn't have tactics he just knows hulk smash and he was just about 1-2 smashes away from another vic.
 
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Interviewer.: you sem really emotional, is that because of your performance today?

Pederson: No I'm just **cked.

Funny, but a really candid interview from him. And it was a great performance.
Must have been all the unnecessary turns he did.

Accept it and moving on seems like the most sensible option indeed. Mads gets it—what a shock!

View: https://x.com/VelonCC/status/1908903475636740378
 
Wait, what? Eheheh this forum surprises me day after day!

Pogacar dropped MVDP easily but MVDP couldn't even drop Stuyven, Pedersen and Van Aert.
So either these three improved massively and were able to match MVDP. Which I think is unlikely.
I think it is far more likely that MVDP was not at his very best.

Pogacar was obviously the best by far but something felt somewhat underwhelming.
Do we have any climbing times to compare?
 
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so a sportsman is eating spaghetti carbonara because of the protein content in the half an egg per serving? I mean technically cupcakes also contain eggs. I guess that means people mix cupcakes with eggs.
Just got back from a ride, the 14 cupcakes I consumed didn't make me faster, so it must be eggs in another form!! I don't know where people are eating carbonara were it's mostly eggs, but you need to go somewhere else!!
 
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Pogacar dropped MVDP easily but MVDP couldn't even drop Stuyven, Pedersen and Van Aert.
So either these three improved massively and were able to match MVDP. Which I think is unlikely.
I think it is far more likely that MVDP was not at his very best.

Pogacar was obviously the best by far but something felt somewhat underwhelming.
Do we have any climbing times to compare?
The whole lead group set the fastest Kwaremont cobble time by 10 seconds (2nd time up). Other climb records were set by Pogacar on Koppenberg and Oude Kruisberg, although MVDP (doesn't upload to Strava) would have set the same time in both instances. Notably he also set KOMs for some longer segments including the final 40k of the race. So the climbing was impressive but not crazy, he just never let off the gas.
 
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