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

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Wout was clearly riding on fumes by that time of the year. He's been overraced by Jumbo Vismo doing tons of domestique work in stage races for Primoz and Jonas for several years now. This year he seems to be calling the shots and backing off a little so hopefully he will be stronger for his goal races.
 
Wout was clearly riding on fumes by that time of the year. He's been overraced by Jumbo Vismo doing tons of domestique work in stage races for Primoz and Jonas for several years now. This year he seems to be calling the shots and backing off a little so hopefully he will be stronger for his goal races.
Yeah, good thing that Pogacar was able to take it easy during the Tour.
 
Really nice programme, all the big races, no wasted race days. Hopefully we see him at Liege, but I don't expect him to be competitive there if he is already strong at Ronde Vlaanderen. Happy he does Sanremo.

In an ideal world I would like to see him at Strade as well, but after such a long CX season at top form, he will need a proper rest and then a really big block of road training which makes anything before Sanremo too early.
 
Surprised to see Van der Poel starting his season in Sanremo but at least he rides it unlike Van Aert. Still, it probably increases the chance of him being a bit less strong.

Interesting to see what he can do in Gent Wevelgem as I think its his debut in the race but Flanders should be the main goal of his spring as he can equal the record there.

Amstel will probably be a test for Liège indeed but could also give us a really nice battle with Remco. Still hope he rides LBL though, won't have many more chances of adding a 4th different monument to his palmares.
 
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Surprised to see Van der Poel starting his season in Sanremo but at least he rides it unlike Van Aert. Still, it probably increases the chance of him being a bit less strong.

Interesting to see what he can do in Gent Wevelgem as I think its his debut in the race but Flanders should be the main goal of his spring as he can equal the record there.

Amstel will probably be a test for Liège indeed but could also give us a really nice battle with Remco. Still hope he rides LBL though, won't have many more chances of adding a 4th different monument to his palmares.
I guess I don’t see how riding San Remo would result in him being less strong, since he’s skipping the stage races. And he doesn’t have to be at absolute peak to be in the mix at SR, since if it comes to a select grp sprint he’ll have a good shot? Just conjecture
 
I guess I don’t see how riding San Remo would result in him being less strong, since he’s skipping the stage races. And he doesn’t have to be at absolute peak to be in the mix at SR, since if it comes to a select grp sprint he’ll have a good shot? Just conjecture

To clarify, my comment about Van der Poel being less strong was just about Sanremo itself not for the rest of the classics season. He can still win the race without being in his absolute peak as you said but it should increase the chances of other riders a bit.

Philip Roodhooft also said that the decision of riding mountainbike or not will be taken later.
 
I'm no trainer but it seems to me that it's possible to be at or near top anaerobic form while still lacking something in the aerobic and/or resistance (lately called "durability" by anglos who think they've invented a new concept).

So he could show up at MSR in peakish MSR form, while still building towards peak form for the harder classics.