Ronde van Vlaanderen 2026, monument, April 5 (men's)

[Berniece]

But is he really in devastating form? He will need it to have a chance to follow all Pogacar's attacks (and even then it will be difficult).
We will find out next week, he looked superb in Tirreno but not that great afterwards.

At first I thought he wasn't, but since he is breaking his own records, I think he is.

 

[TheKidsCallMeBoss]

MvdP was in better shape last year and wasn't even close to winning.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

MvdP was in better shape last year and wasn't even close to winning.

He had some illness setback before RVV but there's no guarantee he would've been able to stay with Pog anyway.

 

[vappa]

At first I thought he wasn't, but since he is breaking his own records, I think he is.

I think that was a powermeter misreading because the value makes no sense really

 

[TheKidsCallMeBoss]

I think that was a powermeter misreading because the value makes no sense really

Alpecin uses a Shimano random number generator

He had some illness setback before RVV but there's no guarantee he would've been able to stay with Pog anyway.

He won a race a week before and after RVV. I think he was fine.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

He won a race a week before and after RVV. I think he was fine.

Alpecin said he was ill and even took antibiotics for 3 days. It could've weakened him for RVV. Then again, there's another data point (2023: Pogacar dropping Van der Poel in peak condition) and it's also not a given that MVP would've been able to match Pog in 2025 under different circumstances (so last year's data point can't be completely discarded).

 

[jotafap]

Under normal race circumstances, Pogacar will repeat the recipe, and he has the team to take him to that same position.

 

[Pantani_lives]

It's on Easter Sunday, so we can expect a resurrection. Asgreen? Bettiol? Van Baarle?

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Will be a slaughter. MVDP looks not as strong as in previous years and Pogacar in MSR actually looked even better than usual. Also has a potential top 5 guy as his domestique.
I reckon everyone will still be happyn to work with him because whatever and then he'll once again leave Kwaremont with a 30 second gap.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Will be a slaughter. MVDP looks not as strong as in previous years and Pogacar in MSR actually looked even better than usual. Also has a potential top 5 guy as his domestique.
I reckon everyone will still be happyn to work with him because whatever and then he'll once again leave Kwaremont with a 30 second gap.

I also have a feeling that MVP was more impressive in the previous years (relative to the competition, I'm not discussing absolute watts). As for Pog, he seems at least as good as last year.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Van der Poel might be weaker than last year, but if he can be in Pogačar's wheel when he attacks rather than sitting further behind and being on the back foot all the time, then he won't necessarily have a worse chance of winning than he had 12 months ago.

 

[canina82]

Van der Poel might be weaker than last year, but if he can be in Pogačar's wheel when he attacks rather than sitting further behind and being on the back foot all the time, then he won't necessarily have a worse chance of winning than he had 12 months ago.

He was on the back foot one time (2nd time on Kwaremont). He did almost every climb in the wheel of Pogacar (specially the climb, 3rd time on Kwaremont, where he was dropped)

 

[Samu Cuenca]

He was on the back foot one time (2nd time on Kwaremont). He did almost every climb in the wheel of Pogacar (specially the climb, 3rd time on Kwaremont, where he was dropped)

I have had no reasons to rewatch the race, but I remember very well what my impression was at the time, which the quote from the thread confirms.

He did himself no favours by not being glued to Pogačar's wheel for three of the earlier attacks.