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

[Ilmaestro99]

better known as the bingobongobangotour

Great race to snap your collarbone and miss the worlds championship

 

[tobydawq]

Great race to snap your collarbone and miss the worlds championship

Or get some racing in and win a stage and GC...

Mathieu hardly ever races, let's not chastise him for finally showing himself...

 

[Slavique Nuke]

I'm not sure about this heart rate

 

[stonerider]

I'm not sure about this heart rate

Good to see he's been running a little. Maybe he will do some CX this winter.

 

[Didinho]

28/08 Renewi Tour
15/09 EC
18/09 Skoda Tour
29/09 WC

 

[Didinho]

And the mullet is back. It’s over.

I’m gonna watch the last stage up the Muur.

 

[dazaau]

And the mullet is back. It’s over.

I’m gonna watch the last stage up the Muur.

Not the mullet

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

he says he is a bit disappointed Renewi Tour only has 1 difficult stage.
Also thinks he won't win GC because of the ITT.

 

[ppanther92]

he says he is a bit disappointed Renewi Tour only has 1 difficult stage.
Also thinks he won't win GC because of the ITT.

Only depends on his form.

He was 5th at a TdF ITT when he was well prepared.

Tour de France 2021 Stage 5 (ITT) results

Tadej PogaÄar is the winner of Tour de France 2021 Stage 5 (ITT), before Stefan Küng and Jonas Vingegaard. Mathieu van der Poel was leader in GC.

www.procyclingstats.com

 

[Froome]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1834670693801148620

View: https://x.com/TonkeBerg/status/1834670693801148620


He looks so skin.

 

[ppanther92]

He indeed looks skinny. But I hope he realized a half-assed prep like for the TdF and the Olympics is not good enough and he is back in top form. Because that was very weak. And yes, the Olympics as well. So it was not only Tour sandbagging for the greater good, he simply didn't reach the level he could.

 

[Berniece]

Evenepoel tipped him as one of the biggest competitors. He probably knows since they train together sometimes in Spain

 

[Coffeeplanter]

He indeed looks skinny. But I hope he realized a half-assed prep like for the TdF and the Olympics is not good enough and he is back in top form. Because that was very weak. And yes, the Olympics as well. So it was not only Tour sandbagging for the greater good, he simply didn't reach the level he could.

What makes you believe his prep was half assed?

 

[stonerider]

What makes you believe his prep was half assed?

Come on, we all know he partied big time after winning Flanders, PR, and then signing those big contract extensions with Alpecin and Canyon.

 

[Froome]

How about he loses significant weight and aims for new challenges in road cycling like one week races, one day races like il lombardia, liege and san sebastian or even see like wiggins how it goes in GTs? If doesn't work, he can do the same old thing.

He already won everything he had to win in the usual one day races he does, so, he could aim for new challenges.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

As a MVdP fan, I'm disappointed in how rarely he races, and how pedestrian his performances are outside the Spring Classics (and Worlds last year). Not criticizing his palmares, of course, just speaking as a fan.

 

[Coffeeplanter]

Come on, we all know he partied big time after winning Flanders, PR, and then signing those big contract extensions with Alpecin and Canyon.

Everything he and his entourage have said certainly does not suggest it was half assed, nor that he did not have a good enough level in Paris. He was in very fine form, as proven evident by his two attacks on Montmartre. He wasn’t worse (or better) than he was in Glasgow or Roubaix, he just got caught out by the niche race that is the Olympics. He did exactly what he had to do, and was in the race for about 5 minutes. Before the race everyone agreed Mathieu was the heavy favourite to win the gold. De facto that made him not a favourite to win, because it would be impossible to control and everyone would be looking at him to respond. That proved to be exactly right and is exactly what happened. Which is also why I have been critical of his decision to go all-in on the road race as well. Too much of a luck factor involved.

As far as his preparation goes, it is more of a matter of him doing a complete 180 in mentality. Young Mathieu would attack at every chance he’d get, but it wasn’t at all the most optimal strategy. He’d just get away with it because he is so much more talented than almost everyone. Nowadays he is much more calculated in his efforts, able to pinpoint goals at the finest degree. He no longer goes all in, just for the virtue of going all in. Which is why we saw so little of him in July, given that there were hardly any stages that suited him.

So in summary, quite frankly, he is just very boring nowadays. That is something different however to not having a sufficient level.

 

[dazaau]

How about he loses significant weight and aims for new challenges in road cycling like one week races, one day races like il lombardia, liege and san sebastian or even see like wiggins how it goes in GTs? If doesn't work, he can do the same old thing.

He already won everything he had to win in the usual one day races he does, so, he could aim for new challenges.

The man is huge, he towers over much of the peloton. He doesn't enjoy conservative racing. GC is not for him.

Even if he somehow could turn himself into a GC man, he would always be destroyed by Pog and Jonas and even Remco.

Id love to see him win all the monuments, but I don't think he can at the moment.

 

[Berniece]

How about he loses significant weight and aims for new challenges in road cycling like one week races, one day races like il lombardia, liege and san sebastian or even see like wiggins how it goes in GTs? If doesn't work, he can do the same old thing.

He already won everything he had to win in the usual one day races he does, so, he could aim for new challenges.

I think I've heard him say that they've already decided to never go for GT's. It's just not in him physically, and definitely not mentally.

I think he wants some records first, for example another Flanders, 1-2 more WC CX, and purely for that his build will remain similar in spring. I would like to see him lose a bit more weight to see how he fairs in Lombardia and Liege though. Hope he follows WC with Lombardia just for the experience.

 

[Coffeeplanter]

I think I've heard him say that they've already decided to never go for GT's. It's just not in him physically, and definitely not mentally.

I think he wants some records first, for example another Flanders, 1-2 more WC CX, and purely for that his build will remain similar in spring. I would like to see him lose a bit more weight to see how he fairs in Lombardia and Liege though. Hope he follows WC with Lombardia just for the experience.

His season is over after Zurich. Well, I say over, he is thinking about doing some gravel. Then again, Mathieu has been ''thinking'' about doing XCO for 3 years running without ever showing up.

Best case scenario he ends his season on a measly 41 race days. For reference, Vingegaard, almost dead and all, is sitting on 44.

 

[Berniece]

His season is over after Zurich. Well, I say over, he is thinking about doing some gravel. Then again, Mathieu has been ''thinking'' about doing XCO for 3 years running without ever showing up.

Best case scenario he ends his season on a measly 41 race days. For reference, Vingegaard, almost dead and all, is sitting on 44.

MVDP is a single day racer and Vingegaard a stage racer. Cycling has changed where it makes more sense to train then to race, so he’s just doing what results in the biggest wins, not the most.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

A few years ago we were talking about 'burn out'; his constant racing across the year in 3 disciplines and not managing his season; now he's doing that. He just needs to return to XC MTB and but I'll believe that when I see it.

 

[Netserk]

He was in very fine form, as proven evident by his two attacks on Montmartre. He wasn’t worse (or better) than he was in Glasgow or Roubaix, he just got caught out by the niche race that is the Olympics. He did exactly what he had to do, and was in the race for about 5 minutes. Before the race everyone agreed Mathieu was the heavy favourite to win the gold. De facto that made him not a favourite to win, because it would be impossible to control and everyone would be looking at him to respond.

I don't think so. First time up was too soon and even if he had dropped Van Aert, he'd have been caught again. He needed a strong ally, and I think his best bet was to lean on and cooperate with Belgium to control the race with a defensive posture on the first laps, marking Evenepoel's attacks. Then drop the hammer on the last ascent or when the moment is right on the lap until it. It's not like he'd risk Van Aert countering such an attack by Evenepoel.

 

[Coffeeplanter]

I don't think so. First time up was too soon and even if he had dropped Van Aert, he'd have been caught again. He needed a strong ally, and I think his best bet was to lean on and cooperate with Belgium to control the race with a defensive posture on the first laps, marking Evenepoel's attacks. Then drop the hammer on the last ascent or when the moment is right on the lap until it. It's not like he'd risk Van Aert countering such an attack by Evenepoel.

He had several allies the first time around, and that group probably goes all the way to the line if Pedersen had not punctured a few minutes earlier, causing him to miss the split and forcing Skjelmose to close to gap.

Anyway, it doesn't really matter. The point was that he had the form and legs to win (according to himself), and his preperation was not half-assed.

 

[ppanther92]

What makes you believe his prep was half assed?

His results. Or actually even more his showings. Ofc in the Olympics if he got super lucky, he might have sprinted for a medal but his attack that WvA countered and his total inability to close any gap and being dropped by Laporte, Alaphilippe and others that were with him in the final round, was certainly one of his weaker performances in targeted races.