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

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Blanco

Blanco

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I would prefer him to ride Tirreno first, to get some road racing feeling in his legs, but nevermind. He has done San Remo as a first race 2 years ago, and came 3rd, so that means he can of course contend for the win there. From there, program is fine, and I really hope he will do Liege.
 
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Sciatic

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KZD said:
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.
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Ah, ok thanks—that makes sense,
 
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Kwaremonster

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Interesting program. As a conservative armchair pro cyclist I would probably keep exactly the same program as last year, as he managed to be in top shape in the important moments so well. However they have ofcourse taken into account that the season will be different with the Olympics and opted for less racedays early on, plus that they probably needed to mix it up a little bit to keep it interesting.

I wonder if they added amstel so he can show his rainbow jersey in the Netherlands (outside of crits and cyclo-cross). But he doesn't seem a person for sentimentality.

My biggest worry is that he won't be as good in San remo without prior racing, butI guess we will find out.
 
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Didinho

Didinho

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Kwaremonster said:
Interesting program. As a conservative armchair pro cyclist I would probably keep exactly the same program as last year, as he managed to be in top shape in the important moments so well. However they have ofcourse taken into account that the season will be different with the Olympics and opted for less racedays early on, plus that they probably needed to mix it up a little bit to keep it interesting.

I wonder if they added amstel so he can show his rainbow jersey in the Netherlands (outside of crits and cyclo-cross). But he doesn't seem a person for sentimentality.

My biggest worry is that he won't be as good in San remo without prior racing, butI guess we will find out.
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It's because he wants to stay in form untill Liege, so starting later. That's the simple reason said by Roodhooft.
He has a good base form from the CX season and he did well before with a start in Sanremo. But I always seen him better with a hard couple of days before in a stage race.

It's also my opinion to do the same as last year because he won almost everything he wanted, but he said he was better in the Worlds race than in the classics. So I hope he can get to that form with fresher legs and doesn't regret doing no stage race before. I'm glad he will try in Liege again. He was already close in 2020, with a bad preperation the day before and not following Mohoric to the front. He's also stronger, but you got Pogi and Remco now.
 
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stonerider

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I've said before that I thought stage racing weakened MvdP instead of helped him if he raced it hard. I believe MvdP and his team have realized that as well. He probably prefers to do his base training on his own schedule and in nicer weather than they find some years in Tirreno. I'm all for less days racing if it keeps him fresh and strong for his one day races.
 
Berniece

Berniece

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stonerider said:
I've said before that I thought stage racing weakened MvdP instead of helped him if he raced it hard. I believe MvdP and his team have realized that as well. He probably prefers to do his base training on his own schedule and in nicer weather than they find some years in Tirreno. I'm all for less days racing if it keeps him fresh and strong for his one day races.
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He was at his best ever after TDF though
 
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dazaau

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Peyroteo94 said:
Don't get me wrong but I'm very disappointed with him. Seriously, he is one of the best classicomanos cycling has ever seen and he is giving monuments to his teammate? He had everything to win today and don't like this lack of champion mentality.
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Yeah, bit hard to watch. Having said that, it was probably the smart thing. No one was going to drag him to the sprint or close the gaps with pidders and mohoric most likely, and after closing them himself he would be cooked. So doing it for Jasper makes sense.

But he has the potential the be one of the greatest, so it's hard to see him give up a chance of a monument for his team mate.

If you ask me, without the mullet he was a shoe in ;)
 
Samu Cuenca

Samu Cuenca

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Didinho said:
If he was as good as last year he would’ve taken over in the descent. He needed a moment to recover after the jump and the others were not far behind.
He would’ve liked to go with Pogi alone, think he missed some freshness/race toughness.
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His problem was that he wasn't on Pogi's wheel straight away the second time. Then he wouldn't have had to dig as deep to close the gap.
 
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Kwaremonster

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Peyroteo94 said:
Don't get me wrong but I'm very disappointed with him. Seriously, he is one of the best classicomanos cycling has ever seen and he is giving monuments to his teammate? He had everything to win today and don't like this lack of champion mentality.
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Kind of agree, unless he was gassed when coming over the poggio, but if he could have ridden away from or with pogacar and he gambled on philipsen from there, that would just be incomprehensible.
 
Didinho

Didinho

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Kwaremonster said:
Kind of agree, unless he was gassed when coming over the poggio, but if he could have ridden away from or with pogacar and he gambled on philipsen from there, that would just be incomprehensible.
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He said he had to dig deep to close the last attack (didn’t expect someone to get a gap at that last part) and would’ve loved to go with Pogi alone. Didn’t knew where Philipsen was, asked if he was dropped or with the group.
 
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Kwaremonster

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Didinho said:
He said he had to dig deep to close the last attack (didn’t expect someone to get a gap at that last part) and would’ve loved to go with Pogi alone. Didn’t knew where Philipsen was, asked if he was dropped or with the group.
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I yeah saw that now. I can live with that explanation, he would have won if he played it better, but you cannot always make all the right choices I think..
 
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