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

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He looked "fat" during the TdF. He really came into that race under prepared. I guess he was thinking he'd using it for training for the Olympics but it did not work out for him.
True but it’s always easy to know afterwards. He needed something in between the end of the classics and the Olympics so TDF probably looked like the best choice. Still they could have aborted halfway when it really didn’t seem to go well eg after the gravel stage
 
He's in the best possible shape for the WC, with some extra lost kg's compared to spring classics. If that's enough to win, that still has to be seen, but the team is confident he'll be part of the story on sunday.

 
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After watching the local lap and with the rain I’m a bit more optimistic for him than before. He knows he has to go all in on the longer climbs to follow. The plateau is tailor made for him. Little recovery and punchy steep parts. Some slow corners in the wet.

But I’m still thinking it will be just too hard if they make him suffer every climb.
 
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After watching the local lap and with the rain I’m a bit more optimistic for him than before. He knows he has to go all in on the longer climbs to follow. The plateau is tailor made for him. Little recovery and punchy steep parts. Some slow corners in the wet.

But I’m still thinking it will be just too hard if they make him suffer every climb.
I'm seeing him losing his front wheel in "some slow corners in the wet".
 
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After watching the local lap and with the rain I’m a bit more optimistic for him than before. He knows he has to go all in on the longer climbs to follow. The plateau is tailor made for him. Little recovery and punchy steep parts. Some slow corners in the wet.

But I’m still thinking it will be just too hard if they make him suffer every climb.
Where'd you find a good course preview. The ones at Youtube show more of the riders doing the circuit than the course itself. One steep hill (18%) and then not very technical descending?
 
After watching the local lap and with the rain I’m a bit more optimistic for him than before. He knows he has to go all in on the longer climbs to follow. The plateau is tailor made for him. Little recovery and punchy steep parts. Some slow corners in the wet.

But I’m still thinking it will be just too hard if they make him suffer every climb.
But who is going to make it hard every climb? Who was the team and the tactic for that? If any other country besides Belgium/Slovenia make it too hard, they play right into the cards of Evenepoel/Pogacar. So they shouldn't be doing that, if they want a chance for gold. Slovenia doesn't have the team to make it this hard, so there's only Belgium, and I'm not sure if they want a hard race. Depends on how confident Evenepoel is. Based on interviews, and vlogs I've seen, he seems very confident though.
 
But who is going to make it hard every climb? Who was the team and the tactic for that? If any other country besides Belgium/Slovenia make it too hard, they play right into the cards of Evenepoel/Pogacar. So they shouldn't be doing that, if they want a chance for gold. Slovenia doesn't have the team to make it this hard, so there's only Belgium, and I'm not sure if they want a hard race. Depends on how confident Evenepoel is. Based on interviews, and vlogs I've seen, he seems very confident though.
That’s also what I’m thinking. Remco seems confident. Pogi as usual. I just don’t see Mathieu match them on that wall if they go all out. Not just their team to make it hard 1 or 2 times but the leaders themselves. Don’t think he can follow there.

I can’t wrap my head around it. Because more recovery time than Liege for example, and the stage he won in the Tour was a bit of the same as here I think. So it could go either way. But I’m more optimistic he can defend his jersey.
 
He's in the best possible shape for the WC, with some extra lost kg's compared to spring classics. If that's enough to win, that still has to be seen, but the team is confident he'll be part of the story on sunday.

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...believes-dutchman-can-win-world-championships
 
The kick of Mvdp is not a joke and if he is in top shape the engine is insane too like weve seen last WC and Robauix/flandern etc. This gonne be fun. One thing is shape in media though other thing is real life, it seems really nice though on paper now.