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Love watching MVDP race on the MTB. He'll do what he wants. Roadies love to bag on MVDP for the MTB, but the bigger waste IMO is Wout doing all that worthless domestique work for the likes of Roglic, etc. in GT's and other stage races.A pretty ignorant view, you may not like it, but plenty do, and regularly has big fields; And is a true 'all round' test of a cyclist. You're combining road fitness with bike handling skills of downhill/enduro rider to be the complete XC rider.
MTB is un-finished business for him; a World title and the Olympics are within his ability. We didn't see the best of him last season on the MTB. And he still has by far the most amount of XCC World Cup wins - the only one with double figure wins.
Good point re: WVALove watching MVDP race on the MTB. He'll do what he wants. Roadies love to bag on MVDP for the MTB, but the bigger waste IMO is Wout doing all that worthless domestique work for the likes of Roglic, etc. in GT's and other stage races.
Love watching MVDP race on the MTB. He'll do what he wants. Roadies love to bag on MVDP for the MTB, but the bigger waste IMO is Wout doing all that worthless domestique work for the likes of Roglic, etc. in GT's and other stage races.
The simple truth is nobody gives a *** about the green jersey and Roglic can win the Tour. And even Sagan did domestique work for Contador way back when. And it's not like he's sacrificing his precious one day races.Good point re: WVA
The simple truth is nobody gives a *** about the green jersey and Roglic can win the Tour. And even Sagan did domestique work for Contador way back when. And it's not like he's sacrificing his precious one day races.
MvdP in MTB I'm completely indifferent to.
Don't recall watching Boonen pace GC guys up high mountains - smart enough to cut loose from Postal early on. A professional team like JV seems to fit Wout, but he better be careful not to end up a glorified George Hincapie (and at least LA always had the balls - or ball - to close the deal).The simple truth is nobody gives a *** about the green jersey and Roglic can win the Tour. And even Sagan did domestique work for Contador way back when. And it's not like he's sacrificing his precious one day races.
MvdP in MTB I'm completely indifferent to.
I do agree the green jersey is only slightly less worthless than the mountain jersey at this point.The simple truth is nobody gives a *** about the green jersey and Roglic can win the Tour. And even Sagan did domestique work for Contador way back when. And it's not like he's sacrificing his precious one day races.
MvdP in MTB I'm completely indifferent to.
Hincapie won one single semi-classic. Van Aert has 5 + one monument.Don't recall watching Boonen pace GC guys up high mountains - smart enough to cut loose from Postal early on. A professional team like JV seems to fit Wout, but he better be careful not to end up a glorified George Hincapie (and at least LA always had the balls - or ball - to close the deal).
I simply do not know why hes so obsessed with MTB, even his biggest fans dont give a ***, but I guess he just loves it for some reason. Its a shame to waste time on discipline that very, very few actually care enough to watch outside the Olympics. Would it realistically add to his palmares? Not in my opinion. A win in G-W would be bigger.
Unlike cross, MTB and road fan bases don't overlap much, but there are a lot more people following MTB than cross worldwide. I wouldn't say that very few actually care. The base is growing very much, but has the handicap of being held on Sunday'i s usually at the same time as the Giro, Tour or Vuelta weekend stages.
That said, although a G-W win would be bigger than an individual World Cup, I wouldn't trade one World MTB Championships or an overall world cup for a G-W. And some of his duels with Schurter of 2019 are there on the top of some of the most spectacular performances of his career.
Yeah, but there's clearly more money to be made in CX than MTB (as a rider).From a multi discipline view, 2019 was his best year; CX Worlds, and World Tour wins, and then he finally cracked the XCO races, and was the best rider that season. Those two attacks to drop Schurter at Nove Mesto & Lenzerheide are up there with his Strada Bianchi attacks.
There's really only one country were CX is bigger than MTB; and that's Belgium.....I doubt most have heard of Martin Maes (DH/Enduro race winner). It seems for your average Belgian cycling fan, CX in the winter, and Road in the summer. It's noticeable on the CX social media accounts; CX riders in the classics get mentioned; but those riding MTB don't. There'll be 3 CX World Cup race winners riding this weekend in Brazil, plus an Elite CX World Champion.
I don't think it's strange at all. I mean, road cycling sure as hell doesn't look like it's a lot of fun to do, except in the finale. MTB on the other hand...I simply do not know why hes so obsessed with MTB, even his biggest fans dont give a ***, but I guess he just loves it for some reason.
Or more like why the *** was VdP peaking as early as Strade BiancheAccording to trainer (Kristoff de Kegel), Van der Poel values in RVV were the same/comparable to Strade 2021. So it was definitely top VDP
Back then he blew Pogacar away. So Pogacar again improved a lot compared to 2021 in classics.
Put that guy in cryo until February every eari think part of that is just because he comes straight off the CX season and peaking on the worlds?
by attacking too early, getting caught and then countered![]()
I keep starting at the Amstel parcours, thinking: how could MvdP ever lose this race?
Without Pog, WvA or Alaph, very hard.by attacking too early, getting caught and then countered
oh no wait, that's how he won it last time![]()
Yes.Without Pog, WvA or Alaph, very hard.
Guess there's a world in which the selection isn't too crazy after the Keutenberg section and he has to control too many dudes.
He's a lot better than when he won in 2019