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

[Froome]

Lance Armstrong believes Mathieu van der Poel can challenge Tadej Pogacar: "The man we saw win Paris-Roubaix today can certainly win Liège-Bastogne-Liège"

Mathieu van der Poel has won both Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix with relative comfort and very large gaps. Alpecin-Deceuninck has so far dominated the monuments and, with Liège-Bastogne-Liège to...

cyclinguptodate.com

Armstrong also believes in MVP for Liege.

 

[Sciatic]

I think that Van der Poel's biggest strenght is his in-race recovery. He's one of - if not the - best at repeated efforts with very little recovery in between.

Knowing that he has that would also help with his race strategy. He knows he can do early intense attacks to whittle down the field to a small selection without being as concerned about “spending all his bullets”. Of course recently the initial attacks do more than whittle—they wipe out the competition completely.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Lance Armstrong believes Mathieu van der Poel can challenge Tadej Pogacar: "The man we saw win Paris-Roubaix today can certainly win Liège-Bastogne-Liège"

Mathieu van der Poel has won both Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix with relative comfort and very large gaps. Alpecin-Deceuninck has so far dominated the monuments and, with Liège-Bastogne-Liège to...

cyclinguptodate.com

Armstrong also believes in MVP for Liege.

Froome: "Armstrong says...."
Me:

 

[proffate]

Hmm…my Garmin says I have the exact same VO2 max. Makes me wonder.

vo2 max should be fairly accurate to estimate based on 5 minute w/kg. But then 5 minute w/kg is probably more useful to know than the amount of oxygen you're consuming.

 

[senna6541]

Someone told me, but I can’t remember where he heard it, that MVDP stopped consuming dairy since this year because it was shown that this has a positive influence on his recovery.

***, I literally drink a quart of local dairy chocolate milk after every hard ride. But I'm a 58 year old hack and it's too good give up. Guessing MVDP doesn't drink 2 pints of IPA every night either?

 

[senna6541]

Okay, our man Horner has now officially "jumped the shark" with his nonsense about MVDP. He's got to be trolling at this point.

 

[scribers]

Armstrong says a horse and a girl horse made mvp

 

[Nick2413]

Was LBL always on his calendar or is it a new addition?

 

[Spine Concept]

Was LBL always on his calendar or is it a new addition?

Was there from the start AFAIK. I still kinda hope he skips Amstel in order to be better rested for it. I don’t necessarily think he can go up against an in form Pogi and Evenepoel in LBL, but I’ve learned to stop putting things past Mathieu… So I’ll just watch it without any expectations and hope for some fireworks.

 

[saunaking]

Okay, our man Horner has now officially "jumped the shark" with his nonsense about MVDP. He's got to be trolling at this point.

It seemed like an April fool's video. I mean he practically said the tailwind pushed MVDP to the win looooool.

Then he goes on some tangent about how the weather was PERFECT for MVDP and if its 30 degrees at LBL and MVDP drops Teddy, THEN he will consider bumping him in the rankings haha

Horner has a crazy crush on Van Aert and has some kind of extreme overvaluation for Tour Stages and Jonas domestique work.

A couple years ago Boonen commented that Wout has to focus on the classics and not so much on the Tour or something to that effect,
Horner went off on Boonen on in one of his vids and said Boonen has accomplished less than Wout hahaha. I'm not making this up

 

[jmdirt]

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/jqqtYgIReu4?si=X9OatHVXzkz4wg_Y

 

[Pantani_lives]

When Museeuw won PR he was always hyped as a contender for LBL. Van der Poel is now in the same situation. Both riders have a sixth place as their best result in LBL.

I like the fact that he's participating, but I don't expect him to win.

 

[Keldergoat]

Let's face it, Pogacar dropped MvdP on his 'home terrain': the Flemish cobbles, I would be very surprised if MvdP stands a chance on La Redoute. AGR could be quite an equal contention with the 1 - 1.5km max climbs, but LBL just favours the lightweights too much.

 

[tobydawq]

Was there from the start AFAIK. I still kinda hope he skips Amstel in order to be better rested for it. I don’t necessarily think he can go up against an in form Pogi and Evenepoel in LBL, but I’ve learned to stop putting things past Mathieu… So I’ll just watch it without any expectations and hope for some fireworks.

I don't think Evenepoel is going to be a problem this year.

 

[Berniece]

Let's face it, Pogacar dropped MvdP on his 'home terrain': the Flemish cobbles, I would be very surprised if MvdP stands a chance on La Redoute. AGR could be quite an equal contention with the 1 - 1.5km max climbs, but LBL just favours the lightweights too much.

MVDP wasn't as strong last year at De Ronde, as he is now. But I do think that Pogacar will probably just win it easily.

 

[Froome]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1777586156151902658

View: https://twitter.com/Domestique___/status/1777586156151902658

"Als de trend van het laatste uur zich doorzet...": kan Mathieu van der Poel in Luik Tadej Pogacar kloppen? | sporza

Het zijn de harde wetten van het leven van een sporter. Je hebt met Parijs-Roubaix net een monument gewonnen en er wordt al gekeken naar wat er over 2 weken op je bord wordt gelegd. Mathieu van der Poel verschijnt op 21 april aan de start van Luik-Bastenaken-Luik. Hoe schat zijn ploeg zijn...

sporza.be

 

[Slavique Nuke]

Hmm…my Garmin says I have the exact same VO2 max. Makes me wonder.

Is your running VO2 max still increasing or steady. Since I started running regularly, every day, it has been increasing by one unit every 2-3 weeks. That's why I think it's a gimmick.

 

[Winnen]

It is a bit old news. But I came across this quote from Mathieu (https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.co...cobbles-are-meant-to-be-ridden-on-a-road-bike):

In an honest recollection, Van der Poel explained: “Last year I struggled a bit actually [in the Tour of Flanders] when Pogačar was riding wider tires. He was really flying on the cobbles.”

In this year's edition of the Tour of Flanders, Van der Poel put this knowledge to good use, admitting to stopping and lowering his tire pressures twice during the race.

“I stopped twice to change the tire pressure because I already saw it was going to rain in the final, and I know how slippery cobbles are.”

Lowering his tire pressure was a smart move, looking at how slippery Koppenberg was.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Let's face it, Pogacar dropped MvdP on his 'home terrain': the Flemish cobbles, I would be very surprised if MvdP stands a chance on La Redoute. AGR could be quite an equal contention with the 1 - 1.5km max climbs, but LBL just favours the lightweights too much.

hmm but VDP rvv 23 was not as strong as VDP worlds 23 or VDP rvv/PR/e3 24.
still think pogi easily drops him btw, i just don't think that example is the best one.

 

[Slavique Nuke]

MvdP was also overconfident in 2023. He should have just followed Pog and not attacked at Kruisberg.

 

[Blanco]

MvdP was also overconfident in 2023. He should have just followed Pog and not attacked at Kruisberg.

This isn't the way he operates. When he feels strong and think he can thin the group and drop the opponents he attacks, and that's what he did on Kruisberg with Van Aert. Pogacar was simply stronger that day.

 

[KZD]

It seemed like an April fool's video. I mean he practically said the tailwind pushed MVDP to the win looooool.

Then he goes on some tangent about how the weather was PERFECT for MVDP and if its 30 degrees at LBL and MVDP drops Teddy, THEN he will consider bumping him in the rankings haha

Horner has a crazy crush on Van Aert and has some kind of extreme overvaluation for Tour Stages and Jonas domestique work.

A couple years ago Boonen commented that Wout has to focus on the classics and not so much on the Tour or something to that effect,
Horner went off on Boonen on in one of his vids and said Boonen has accomplished less than Wout hahaha. I'm not making this up

At this point watching Horner's takes on Van der Poel and the 'big guy' Van Aert is like watching a clown perform a number in a circus, we can just laugh at his fanboyism.

 

[saunaking]

At this point watching Horner's takes on Van der Poel and the 'big guy' Van Aert is like watching a clown perform a number in a circus, we can just laugh at his fanboyism.

Horner's top 6 rankings:
4 GC guys (ok, fine, he was a GC guy)
1 - best possible GC domestique
1 - best 1 day racer

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Is your running VO2 max still increasing or steady. Since I started running regularly, every day, it has been increasing by one unit every 2-3 weeks. That's why I think it's a gimmick.

Pretty steady. I only run about 3 times per week. When I’ve taken time off it’s dropped as low as 53 and taken some time to creep back up to 57 then seems to stay there. I haven’t really committed to running enough to get better though. It sounds like your rise might be directionally accurate.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Pogacar will grind him into oblivion in Liege, but will be fun nevertheless to see how he goes. He will do that to the entire field ofc

Amstel? Huuuuge favorite. Big upset if he doesnt win like in Flanders