Of course, but there is a hierarchy of the sport and World Tour road comes first for a reason. Put 99% of cross guys in the World Tour and they won't be competative. With practice and committment I don't think the case is the same in the reverse.
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Yawn. Who says so? This keeps getting repeated as though it's fact. It's the same as saying F1 drivers are the best in motorsport - they're not. Both may be the biggest/ most popular discipline, but that's it.
Ok, let's put the WT in a cross season for a year (with proper prepartation) and then the cross group in the WT for a year (with proper preparation) and see who fairs better. It's like the classics versus GT argument. For stupidity sake, let's do a season of only classics and then one of only GTs and then see who fairs better. De Vlaeminck was a cross champion, but Hinault was not bad on the dirt. But in comparison, De Vlaeminck was a child compared to Hinault in the overall scheme of things. It's like apples to oranges. I realize this will piss some people off.
The Formula 1 comparison is ridiculous, as we are talking about human motors.
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he is even saving for it he said. And in this TT field? Likely...
Yates is gone. Dumo is gone. Almeida is gone. The hill makes it difficult for tt specialists like Affini. He beat Sobrero before. I think VDP can do it on a good day. But ofcourse there is always a chance someone else is quicker.
I think only Sobrero can beat him.
This one is definitely less explosive, which isn't good for MvdP
Bonimenier
BANNED
I think Affini can come close as well if he has a good day. He did look quite good today.
it's not like he can't ride fast over a 16km distance. That's like only 4 laps of CX
Hear this take out then: VdP to win tomorrow's mountain stage.Phew this last couple of pages are littered with a lot of awful takes
Not about the TT, I also think he will win that. I'll throw Cort's name into the mix too.
Mathieu van der Poel: "They say you get stronger from a Grand Tour, so I'll do two right away"
During his almost completed three-week Giro journey of discovery, Mathieu van der Poel left an indelible impression, again today. In the crowd, in the peloton and he even amazes his own coach. “I'm actually getting better and better. I feel even better than the first week.”
Stage winner, rose jersey wearer, time trialist, sprinter, sportivey loser, attacker, climber and joker. In three weeks of the Giro, Mathieu van der Poel played the leading role in various guises. He rode his first complete Grand Tour 'on his Van der Poels'. With his attacking spirit and balancing on only his rear wheel riding uphill, he turned the heads of the Italians. Only to leave them stunned with a joke about pineapple on his pizza. With Verona in sight, AD Sportwereld joined for an interview.
Do you like it in the third week?
"Yeah, I still feel really good."
Italy has fallen in love with you. ,,
And I with Italy. But I've been that way for a long time. I have always loved coming to Livigno to train at altitude. On Wednesday we passed Val di Sole, where I rode mountain bike world cups. And we also went up the Mortirolo, a climb I regularly do when I'm in Livigno. So it is a somewhat well-known region, but I have always found Italy to be a very beautiful country."
How can you stay so relaxed in a grand tour? It remains playful and frivolous, but it can't be that you don't feel anything after three weeks, can it?
,,I'm having a good time. And what I say, I keep feeling good. That's important too. My preparation was very short of course. I'm actually getting better and better. I feel even better than I felt that first week. I am very satisfied with that.”
Do you remember how that first week went?
,,I said it yesterday: 'Hungary, that seems like it was a different race.' You experience a grand tour in your own bubble. You get very little from the rest of the world, but it does have its charms. And we were really lucky with the weather this year. Or bad luck, it just depends on how you look at it."
In that bad weather on Wednesday, your team was almost late at the start. It was raining terribly, but I understood that you sat in the bus rubbing your hands, and then led the way all day in a very difficult mountain stage.
,,I've been looking forward to a day like Wednesday for a long time. That it was slightly less in terms of temperature, because until then it had been really hot. I was really happy with that rain. I can handle rain and a little colder weather just a little better than really hot weather.”
That mountain stage was not a test. You wanted to win.
,,Yes of course. I'm trying to win that stage. I played a bit of all or nothing on that last climb. But I felt it wasn't going to work. When you see that even Gijs Leemreize does not win in the end. And he rode impressively."
What were your thoughts on that last climb?
,,Not much. Just go as fast as I can. I didn't think I would survive that penultimate climb. I hoped that Gijs would really break and that I would have grown wings. That day was a real highlight for me. And of course that was the start of the Giro. Actually I went to the Giro with the big goal of getting that pink and I succeeded. Then I lost that jersey. I knew that would happen, but I still had to pull myself together or something. That's a bit like after a classic, some decompression after. But that's difficult in a Grand Tour. There's no time for that. Then I finish second in that time trial and once second behind Girmay. He was really good that day. We knew he was fast and they were well represented as a team, they just did that very well."
Another time trial tomorrow.
,,It's a bit of seeing how I feel. I don't know if that time trial in Hungary is a comparison. That was to defend a jersey and on a track that suited me 100 percent. But if I feel good, and time trials always hurt, then I'll go for it."
And then it's over. Then you have ridden three weeks in a row, for the first time a complete Grand Tour.
“That was the plan anyway. The perception was a bit that I couldn't finish a grand tour, when I had only done one with last year's Tour. And that only happened because I was focussing on the Olympics MTB race which was straight after."
During his almost completed three-week Giro journey of discovery, Mathieu van der Poel left an indelible impression, again today. In the crowd, in the peloton and he even amazes his own coach. “I'm actually getting better and better. I feel even better than the first week.”
Stage winner, rose jersey wearer, time trialist, sprinter, sportivey loser, attacker, climber and joker. In three weeks of the Giro, Mathieu van der Poel played the leading role in various guises. He rode his first complete Grand Tour 'on his Van der Poels'. With his attacking spirit and balancing on only his rear wheel riding uphill, he turned the heads of the Italians. Only to leave them stunned with a joke about pineapple on his pizza. With Verona in sight, AD Sportwereld joined for an interview.
Do you like it in the third week?
"Yeah, I still feel really good."
Italy has fallen in love with you. ,,
And I with Italy. But I've been that way for a long time. I have always loved coming to Livigno to train at altitude. On Wednesday we passed Val di Sole, where I rode mountain bike world cups. And we also went up the Mortirolo, a climb I regularly do when I'm in Livigno. So it is a somewhat well-known region, but I have always found Italy to be a very beautiful country."
How can you stay so relaxed in a grand tour? It remains playful and frivolous, but it can't be that you don't feel anything after three weeks, can it?
,,I'm having a good time. And what I say, I keep feeling good. That's important too. My preparation was very short of course. I'm actually getting better and better. I feel even better than I felt that first week. I am very satisfied with that.”
Do you remember how that first week went?
,,I said it yesterday: 'Hungary, that seems like it was a different race.' You experience a grand tour in your own bubble. You get very little from the rest of the world, but it does have its charms. And we were really lucky with the weather this year. Or bad luck, it just depends on how you look at it."
In that bad weather on Wednesday, your team was almost late at the start. It was raining terribly, but I understood that you sat in the bus rubbing your hands, and then led the way all day in a very difficult mountain stage.
,,I've been looking forward to a day like Wednesday for a long time. That it was slightly less in terms of temperature, because until then it had been really hot. I was really happy with that rain. I can handle rain and a little colder weather just a little better than really hot weather.”
That mountain stage was not a test. You wanted to win.
,,Yes of course. I'm trying to win that stage. I played a bit of all or nothing on that last climb. But I felt it wasn't going to work. When you see that even Gijs Leemreize does not win in the end. And he rode impressively."
What were your thoughts on that last climb?
,,Not much. Just go as fast as I can. I didn't think I would survive that penultimate climb. I hoped that Gijs would really break and that I would have grown wings. That day was a real highlight for me. And of course that was the start of the Giro. Actually I went to the Giro with the big goal of getting that pink and I succeeded. Then I lost that jersey. I knew that would happen, but I still had to pull myself together or something. That's a bit like after a classic, some decompression after. But that's difficult in a Grand Tour. There's no time for that. Then I finish second in that time trial and once second behind Girmay. He was really good that day. We knew he was fast and they were well represented as a team, they just did that very well."
Another time trial tomorrow.
,,It's a bit of seeing how I feel. I don't know if that time trial in Hungary is a comparison. That was to defend a jersey and on a track that suited me 100 percent. But if I feel good, and time trials always hurt, then I'll go for it."
And then it's over. Then you have ridden three weeks in a row, for the first time a complete Grand Tour.
“That was the plan anyway. The perception was a bit that I couldn't finish a grand tour, when I had only done one with last year's Tour. And that only happened because I was focussing on the Olympics MTB race which was straight after."
This Giro would've been quite trashy without him.
He's such a light in cycling, something in the vein of the Sagan of old.
He's such a light in cycling, something in the vein of the Sagan of old.
He's also doing wheelies uphill everyday and filming with someone's selfie stick to get trough the boredom.
Will be angry that Arensman was 1s faster in a descent today, he's up for revenge tomorrow!
Will be angry that Arensman was 1s faster in a descent today, he's up for revenge tomorrow!
He maybe could have won a few more stages, but he’s been incredibly strong throughout. He seems to be closer than ever to Wout’s level on long climbs.
Great performances and attitude through the whole Giro. Would never expect that.
Chapeau!
Chapeau!
He really is an entertainer
View: https://twitter.com/bismarkazevedo/status/1530656694002393088?s=20&t=MYZ_J5zbt6kXmwCgHta4TQ
View: https://twitter.com/bismarkazevedo/status/1530656694002393088?s=20&t=MYZ_J5zbt6kXmwCgHta4TQ
Big Doopie
BANNED
I hope he wins the TT tomorrow. Nice bookends.
what a champion!
What’s next? He has to parlay the form he has from completing the three weeks!!
what a champion!
What’s next? He has to parlay the form he has from completing the three weeks!!
He has lit up the race almost every possible way. We are lucky to see someone with such an appetite to just go out hard on all terrain and not worry about holding back. His low boredom threshold makes for fantastic viewing back home for us.
Jokes on you I love me soom MacAskill
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