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Teams & Riders The "MVP" Mathieu Van der Poel Road Discussion Thread

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Nice course. Everything looks to be on track. Off the top of my head I can't recall anytime in his road career when MVDP has gone into big races (get yellow at TDF and win WC's) with at least semi-ideal training/focus and completely healthy. No news continues to be good news for MVDP. Although I would still rather watch him race MTB and CX...Still, if things remain on track we could see some mind-bending type performances this summer.
 
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As I mentioned elsewhere, MvdP could well be the first man in yellow at the Tour -
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...week-i-already-expect-a-lot-from-van-der-poel
"Write it down: Van der Poel is one of the big favorites to wear the yellow on Saturday 1 July after the first stage of the Tour starting in Bilbao. On a similar course, the leader of Alpercin-Deceunink rode almost forty kilometers solo on Saturday to stage and overall victory in the Baloise Belgium Tour," writes Het Nieuwsblad full of awe.
...Unlike Van Aert, he doesn't have to take anyone into account."
 
As I mentioned elsewhere, MvdP could well be the first man in yellow at the Tour -
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...week-i-already-expect-a-lot-from-van-der-poel
"Write it down: Van der Poel is one of the big favorites to wear the yellow on Saturday 1 July after the first stage of the Tour starting in Bilbao. On a similar course, the leader of Alpercin-Deceunink rode almost forty kilometers solo on Saturday to stage and overall victory in the Baloise Belgium Tour," writes Het Nieuwsblad full of awe.
...Unlike Van Aert, he doesn't have to take anyone into account."
No way, unless it’s not paced hard.
 
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How steep is the last climb at Strade Bianche? If he’s able to do that there why not here?
Strade climb is 16% max and about 9% average. It‘s not about the steepness, but about the length of the steep part, which is a bit more than three minutes, after already getting over the 10 minute+ climb of Vivero. But I think many including me are possibly underrating MVDP‘s climbing skills, because he just hasn‘t really done climbing in shape all season.
 
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fox

Sep 29, 2021
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Not only that, its all about who is just fresher at that point in the race.

This is a 4 min 40 climbing test, not a 4 hour 30 minute attrition race
When you look at the profile it looks a bit like "La redoute" from Liege, but even a bit steeper in the middle. It looks better suited for Pogacar type of riders than for MVDP or WVA.
 
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