He missed the win because he was showing off.
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He missed the win because he was showing off.
I haven't seen him take any seconds out of Wout in well over a year. MvdP was a star that burned brightly early on but now....
wait, what?I haven't seen him take any seconds out of Wout in well over a year. MvdP was a star that burned brightly early on but now....
Yeah, it’s called Accelerated Decrepitude… a bit like what happened to this character….
Yeah...like a fire that burns hot early on in its life then runs out of fuel and fizzles out. We may have seen the best MvdP in 2019...so sad. I would love for him to prove me wrong.
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I think Toby nailed it with saying Evenepoel and only one I could think of with EVP in their name that’s prominent, I guess.
Interesting times, wondering this same thing.
Skills, they're not gone nowhere I'm sure. Verstappen crashes too and no skills gone. These guys MUST crash sometimes, that's how they and we know they absolutely lay it all to the table. Wout layed it all to the table too in July 2019, was bit pricey but came back. Life goes on.
I think it's mental mostly, he's taking the load right now and trying to say hey I'm here too, thing just being that athletes don't talk the talk but walk the walk. It's mental, margins are very small, he can't win whatever he chooses to ride from just shooting wildly from the hip.
I haven't seen him take any seconds out of Wout in well over a year. MvdP was a star that burned brightly early on but now....
Maybe because they haven't raced CX against each other in nearly a year?
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. While I agree that 2019 was MVDP's most impressive year so far if we take into account all three disciplines, he won 2 monuments since then, more than a certain WVA...
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They raced against each other December 2021. Wout trashed him in a tractor pull mud race and the next race MvdP pulled out (DNF'd) because he saw he wasn't fit enough to fight for the win. He hasn't raced CX since.
For someone with a "sore" back to choose a muddy grinder as his first race back shows MvdP isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. He doesn't make the best decisions and it's hurting him now in life and cycling.
I think it's hubris getting to him, that has cost him the race (or worse) on many an occasion. He doesn't strike me as a dimwit per se. But it's also the same hubris that has netted him some of his most stunning wins. His attack in the TDF in the penultimate lap, which earned him yellow. His win at Amstel, he attacked way too far out, got caught and got dropped because of that. But due to Alaphilippe and Fuglsang having a romantic moment, he was able to take the win with a 1km sprint. His win in the Tirreno, thinking he was Cancellara or Evenepoel, only to win with mere seconds ahead of Pogacar, losing a 4 minute lead. Same with his solo victory in the Benelux Tour, going far too early, only being able to hold of the chasers by a few seconds.
I think that's what i like most about him, he isn't afraid to try. Sometimes that results in him running into a wall, other times you get great entertainment and tense victories.
It's also quite a long track record of bad decisions.
He was genuinely surprised he couldn't do Giro-Tour on a terrible training base.
Was that entirely his decision or was it fuelled by team, sponsors...? It's also easy to overlook, but this was only his 2nd season in which he rode a GT. Last year he got out of the TDF after the first week. So he and the team aren't exactly bursting with experience. In fact due to both CX and XC throughout the year, he has relatively little experience on the road at all, for a rider his age.
He rode and finished the Giro because he was paid a fee - We are overthinking the situation.
I hope he's saving some of the dough he's been earning because he may be burned out by 30 at this rate.
What? You don't call winning RVV in year where many thought he wouldn't even be able to race in the spring "burning bright"? How many guys won Monuments in '22? Did Wout win one? MVDP hasn't been 100% right since summer '21 yet during that period he continued to deliver results where it counts - sprints for the win at PR in '21, and wins RVV in '22. He will get right again, and when he does it will be ugly for the competition. Wout can't beat him straight up in any CX other than a tractor pull, and MVDP has outclassed Wout at RVV every time they've raced it. Love everyone writing this guy off. And even better when an CN forum hack actually calls out MVDP's bike handling skills.I haven't seen him take any seconds out of Wout in well over a year. MvdP was a star that burned brightly early on but now....
If Wout hadn't caught Covid this spring, he would have wiped the floor with MvdP at RVV this year. Wout is a happy family man and trains smart...this has allowed him to pull ahead of MvdP.
I don't really know this, just my thoughts, but my feeling is that Mathieu trains and races more with feelings and Wout more with system and method. And of course, JV as a team is throughout in a different level than AD. Mathieu in another team, say QS, would imho level things more. But he likes Canyon bikes and likes to play so he's made his choises.
Some are still a bit touchy. But things started to change with Liège, then Suisse added some fuel to the fire, but after Vuelta and Worlds only idiots would deny what is in front of them.
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