Agree, nothing to do with bike handling skill. Only listening skills
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Not sure what to say about that one. Probably the only racer across all levels this week to crash on that corner with a clean run at it like that. About as random as it gets - pretty similar to the one in the road WC's in that respect. Who knows if he could've competed for the win. Obviously the most powerful guy out there by a long way and on scary form, but with a guy as talented as Piddy fully engaged in the MTB thing, maybe not? The level is so high now. Sucks not to see him go after all three in one year, but my guess is he'll get the Olympic Gold next year, and if not that he'll definitely win the MTB WC before he call it a career. As for injuries, WT road racing is a helluva lot more dangerous than elite MTB. Not even close. Go back and take a look at some of those lead outs at the tour...Complete chaos at 40mph+.
Well, just watched that ugly race-winning attack at the road WC's - too bad we didn't get to see what MVDP could have done today. Still, mission accomplished and we'll see what happens next year.
Yes, possibly. Losing the front wheels would suggest there's a lack of grip/ no weight on the front - and it just washes out. A common motorcycle racing crash....
“His ability to really hurt himself more than others; he just seems to be able to go into the red, then into the dark, then into the darkness and still come out and go again. He is just phenomenal.” Adam Blythe on MVDP after the World. Well said.
I know pro cyclists are machines, but I firmly believe his ability to do this is directly correlated with the minimal amount of racing, and target races, in his schedule. The ability to tap into that extra gear and burn every last match is not just a mental thing.
You're right, if they over-race him he will lose his special qualities.
Let's ignore the insane amount of talent and just instead phrase it like "he just wants it more"
Yes. A modicum of materialist realism is injected only during periods that his lower back wants it even more.
They did a nice job on the new bike...looks great with the World Champion stripes.
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Don't you think it's a little silly to claim that you know better than MVDP how to handle a bike? Clearly his technique works extremely well for him on thousands of corners. He probably wasn't going to win worlds MTB so when did losing his front wheel ever stop him from winning a major event? The worlds RR crash wasn't even the front wheel. Rear started slipping first, and neither he nor anyone else has an explanation for it (I for one watched it many times in slomo and was mystified). The Tokyo crash and Flanders 2019 were endos.
I saw him lose a couple CX races recently due to losing his front wheel in easy corners. He's always landing on his knees which I hope doesn't cause injuries requiring more surgery. He's had a bunch of knee surgeries in his young life due to crashing on them.
They're completely different crashes, and reasons. Flanders was after he broke a front wheel and it collapsed. Tokyo was because he hadn't listened to everyone telling him there was no ramp in the race....and he tried to roll it....
He's had a bunch of knee surgeries? Hadn't known that.
I mean, he does crash now and again, but he's so damn quick that it's probably inevitable. He's lucky he hasn't had serious injuries.
Guys, he should've won the world championship by 2 minutes not 1:37. What a bum, no bike control, bad bike skills...
Gonna be a long off season.
Gonna be a long off season.
Apparently, he's added the Paris MTB test event to his program and depending on shape is going to do some races here and there until the event.
I'm guessing that the Paris test event may well be a mini World Cup......and may tell him whether it's a course for him; it's unlikely to be like Leogang or Albstadt, so it should be okay for him.
I don't know what point you think I'm making, but the fact is these crashes have nothing to do with how much he bent his elbows. If there's any "trend" you can extrapolate from two instances, it's that he's not always paying attention. But then who is paying attention every second of every race and/or conversation?
those where when he was really young and they had nothing to do with crashes iirc
The thing with Van der Poel is that he is generally going faster than most (everyone). both on road and on dirt Inevitably there will be crashes.
Addressing the WC Road it was super slippery and he was not alone to loose grip, yet he was going faster than the chasers (WVA, Pog, Pedersen).
WC MTB was a bit "bad", maybe he slightly overcooked himself by going max from start and joining the front in a very short time. The front wheel slip looks sloppy but anyone who rides will know that it can happen. The OC crash was worse and incomprehensible. Cannot really get why they didn't recce the course better? Overconfidence? Yet he won the MTB EC XCO in 2019 so in principle he can win any MTB race he choose to race.
CX is just a bad place to draw any conclusions from his crashes. He goes faster than everyone and there's always that risk of going down. "Safing" is just not a way to win. He is the most successful CX rider ever so that speak words. Some CX riders loose some (much) of their technique when in red but MVDP has consistently proved to be able to keep it together.
In the GCN interview he said he wasn't going faster or taking more risks than in previous laps because he knew he had a large advantage. IMO this crash defies easy explanations. Even if there were a slick spot on the road, you'd expect others to have found it given its position in the middle of the racing line.
The problem (famously) is that there was a ramp during the recon, which he was later informed would be removed, but was too busy visualizing success (or something) to hear it.
I think it's apparent he has a great deal of "feel" for when a tire is going to slip and is able to ride right at the edge. At WCXC we may have witnessed what happens when his habit of riding on the edge meets with a lack of recent practice with a particular tire/bike/surface combination.
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???
He doesn't need to be MVDP-level technically to point out little things that could still be improved upon.
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