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

[senna6541]

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.

Bingo. The fastest of the fast in any technical wheeled sport tend to crash more than the lesser guys. Watch the replay of his crash in the road WC's. Maybe he doesn't think he was "pushing it", but he was carrying a helluva lot of speed around that corner in those conditions. Nobody is even close to him in terms of his speed in and out of corners. Anyone who has watched him in CX knows that. Or just check out PR in '21 (or whatever the year Fall/rain race was).

 

[senna6541]

And of course in this year's TDF (lead outs) he demonstrated that once he gets a whiff of the finish line he's basically racing on pure instinct with zero concern for anything other than winning. No mistake that the guy has won more elite level bike races than anyone else over that past 8 years or so.

 

[proffate]

???
He doesn't need to be MVDP-level technically to point out little things that could still be improved upon.

I have no idea what level he is technically, nor did my post make any reference to it.

 

[Panda Claws]

I have no idea what level he is technically, nor did my post make any reference to it.

Fair. Though overall I still wouldn't handwave possible critique on technique just because Van der Poel is already really good at it.
It's basically what performance staff does all the time for any rider.

Seeing as how I suppose you accept that staff does this I could only assume you didn't accept it from the poster based on a supposed lack of credentials. Guess that wasn't the case.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

he had a few high profile crashes, but he doesn't crash often at all, and most of the time if he crashes they were really silly.
Plank olympics
Wet random corner glasgow
The high speed crash in Flanders was on a straight road.
Crash in nokere koerse few years back was in the middle of the pack.
even remember a crash in cx where he hit a worker on the course who accidently stepped on the road.

Almost none have been technical errors. Yeah MTB xco was one.. but they are extemely rare

 

[Axel Hangleck]

He did have a few crashes in MTB when he first raced it; the more notable ones were Albstadt 2017 & Nove Mesto 2018 - both were when he was in the red under pressure from Nino......However, by the next year he was put under similar pressure, and was mistake free.

 

[Ricco']

The World Champion schedule for the forthcoming weeks:

03.09 - Bretagne Classic
10.09 - GP de Fourmies
13.09 - GP de Wallonie
16.09 - Super 8 Classic
23.09 - Paris 2024 Test Event XCO
28.09 - Circuit Franco-Belge
08.10 - Paris-Tours

Nice to see the rainbow jersey in more races than originally planned.

 

[gavia88]

well, although it's not the "6th monument" anymore as it was in the past, but Paris - Tours would still be a nice addition to his collection of classic wins

a pity that the European Championship and the Olympic test event are in the same weekend. The route will have suited him extremely well and winning a championship in the Netherlands would give the race something extra.

What is the super 8 classic? a renaming of some belgian semi-classic or a new race?

 

[Bonimenier]

What is the super 8 classic? a renaming of some belgian semi-classic or a new race?

Primus Classic renamed.

 

[Ricco']

a pity that the European Championship and the Olympic test event are in the same weekend. The route will have suited him extremely well and winning a championship in the Netherlands would give the race something extra.

Only a 6h drive from one place to the other, less if taking a plane between Paris and Amsterdam. Should be doable but probably not worth it. Even if he wins it, it's a jersey that will be staying closed in his locker forever, as next year the ECh will probably be again before the WCh.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The World Champion schedule for the forthcoming weeks:

03.09 - Bretagne Classic
10.09 - GP de Fourmies
13.09 - GP de Wallonie
16.09 - Super 8 Classic
23.09 - Paris 2024 Test Event XCO
28.09 - Circuit Franco-Belge
08.10 - Paris-Tours

Nice to see the rainbow jersey in more races than originally planned.

Pretty much as I expected. Some one day races close to home, so either France or Belgium.

Still nice he added at least Bretagne Classic and Paris Tours.
The MTB one off is a bit weird though.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

I suppose the Paris test event is the only MTB race that fits his schedule; and while his team will be going to USA/Canada for the last 2 World Cups, he's never gone over previously for MTB World Cups, so that's no surprise. A pity he couldn't have raced Les Gets in 2 weeks though.....

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

then again it's cool to see him as World champion in at least 1 UWT event (Bretagne Classic) and some other .Pro races like PT

 

[senna6541]

Stacked field on 9/3. Something tells me he'll want to win his first race in the rainbow jersey. Who knows what his training or any other of the favorites prep has been over the last couple/three weeks. Kind've in the silly season now with no Sept WC's.

 

[Aimar16]

I doubt he'll show up in good form, he hasn't had a good record all year in races that were not specifically his intended targets. Roodhooft made it sound like if MvdP wants to participate in the MTB test event, the road races are just filler.

 

[senna6541]

I doubt he'll show up in good form, he hasn't had a good record all year in races that were not specifically his intended targets. Roodhooft made it sound like if MvdP wants to participate in the MTB test event, the road races are just filler.

Could be right. Who know though, he could have "good legs" - whatever the hell that really means. Also, there might really be something to the whole grand tour thing and his depth has gotten even better. I could see him maybe riding his way into the race and if he is around late he is tough to beat. Anything more at this point is just gravy. Looking forward to seeing him back on the MTB.

 

[KZD]

I hope Van der Poel manages to win in his rainbow jersey until the end of the season even though his shape might not be the best which is understandable after the nearly perfect season that he had.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

he said the rest period after the worlds would become too long or at least too long without races. And he rather races then a long period of only training.
Bretagne was basically used as intensity training, he knew he would not be good. But apart from the mtb-test it sounded like he does intent to be be good enough for a good result in one of the other one day races he does.

 

[senna6541]

All gravy at this point. Easy to forget that things weren't looking too good for this young man about this time last year. Lots were wondering if his career and even his life might be going a bit sideways. Shitloads of talent mixed with equal parts pride and humility make for a true champion. That WC win was truly epic.

 

[senna6541]

Nice win today - and no crashes during this silly season. Looking forward to the Paris MTB event. Can't seem to find much info on the course. Hopefully it's not too contrived but not sure what sort of terrain is available around Paris - seems quite flat.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Nice win today - and no crashes during this silly season. Looking forward to the Paris MTB event. Can't seem to find much info on the course. Hopefully it's not too contrived but not sure what sort of terrain is available around Paris - seems quite flat.

Hopefully MVDP does an extensive preride this time.

 

[Bolder]

Nice win today - and no crashes during this silly season. Looking forward to the Paris MTB event. Can't seem to find much info on the course. Hopefully it's not too contrived but not sure what sort of terrain is available around Paris - seems quite flat.

It will be on the colline d'Elancourt, à hill made from quarry debris and mine tailings. But apparently not as bad as it sounds.