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

[Moose McKnuckles]

Making mistakes is human. At first glance, I thought you had written, that Remco was superior in dairy delivery.

Remcow Evenepoel.

 

[Rob5091]

Cyclocross for MvdP is like the Giro for Pogi - just a warm up ride or two.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racin...es-in-zone-2-helping-or-hindering-cyclo-cross

"Yes, it was a great victory today, but I preferred to save myself and stay in zone two throughout the race. Because I plan to do some high intensity training this week,” Van der Poel said post-race. How charming, he wasn’t even really trying, just staying in zone two. He could have had a chat, or stopped for a coffee halfway round. He went on to win at Mol in the Superprestige series on Monday, too.

Van der Poel’s main goals are not in the sand or mud of December, but on the cobbles and bergs of March, April and May. That’s not just me speculating, that’s what Van der Poel’s dad, Adrie - himself a former CX world champion - thinks too. “I think the difference is that those guys ride such a tough road program,” he told Wielerflits at the weekend. “You can also see it uphill. They can ride one, two teeth bigger and then they just ride away from the rest. That road program plays a role.”

 

[Lequack]

Cyclocross for MvdP is like the Giro for Pogi - just a warm up ride or two.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racin...es-in-zone-2-helping-or-hindering-cyclo-cross

He just shows up in his Lamborghini and wipes the floor with everyone

 

[stonerider]

He just shows up in his Lamborghini and wipes the floor with everyone

It's more mental than physical. He shows up in his Lambo and the rest of the men's field instantly loses 25 to 50 watts of power. It's a form non-violent intimidation.

 

[Lequack]

It's more mental than physical. He shows up in his Lambo and the rest of the men's field instantly loses 25 to 50 watts of power. It's a form non-violent intimidation.

I guess it worked again.

 

[Unchained]

I guess it worked again.

The team bus is so he can shower off and put on clean clothes so he doesn't get mud on the interior of his super car!! YouTube has race highlights and he looks like he is hard to beat this season. He gets the call up but even if he doesn't start in the front row, he absolutely drills it for the holeshot!! Love to see him on a motocross bike..

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Odd that some who looks so beautiful on a CX bike
has such an ugly motor to drive around in.

 

[Berniece]

I guess it worked again.

Didn’t arrive with a Lamborghini this time, but flew by private plane

 

[jono]

Mathieu van der Poel deelt zijn doelen en heeft één grote wens voor 2025: "Met z'n allen iets positiever zijn" | sporza

Afvinken is een van de hobby's van Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Ook in het nieuwe jaar heeft het multitalent enkele vinkjes in zijn hoofd. "Als ik mag kiezen, zou ik in 2025 graag wereldkampioen mountainbiken worden", vertelt de 29-jarige Nederlander in een uitgebreid interview.

sporza.be

Interesting interview. Among other things, he'd like to compete for the 2025 MTB WC "als ik mag kiezen" (if I can choose for myself). Won't ride LBL, looking to do Paris-Nice instead of Tirreno. Doesn't find much enjoyment in riding the Tour, other than doing leadouts for Philipsen.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

I wonder if he's actually seen the Crans-Montana course, as used in the World Cup last season. It's one of the most technical courses we've seen recently.........He'll need time on the MTB if he wants that title.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I heard that Wout, shortly after winning Dendemonde, rode his bike to MvdP's house and took a massive dump in his Lambo.

 

[yaco]

I wonder if he's actually seen the Crans-Montana course, as used in the World Cup last season. It's one of the most technical courses we've seen recently.........He'll need time on the MTB if he wants that title.

I imagine Pidcock will target the Mountain bike MTB's in 2025. Reckon Pidcock may have the measure of MVDP in this discipline.

 

[jono]

I imagine Pidcock will target the Mountain bike MTB's in 2025. Reckon Pidcock may have the measure of MVDP in this discipline.

A Pidcock-MVDP battle throughout the XCO season could be more interesting than what either rider might otherwise achieve on the road beyond the spring.

Also, though the messages have been mixed about his priorities with his new team, it would be ironic if Pidcock started treating MTB as an afterthought just as MVDP was reinvesting in the discipline.

 

[Rob5091]

Pidcock is focusing on road races (apparently) and if MvdP aint bothered about the Tour, then I might wager a few bob om WvA and the Green Jersey.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

A Pidcock-MVDP battle throughout the XCO season could be more interesting than what either rider might otherwise achieve on the road beyond the spring.

Yeah, we've never really seen a proper season long battle between them; 2 World Cups, and the Olympics in 2021. Then the Worlds and Olympic test event in 2023.......

 

[stonerider]

Yeah, we've never really seen a proper season long battle between them; 2 World Cups, and the Olympics in 2021. Then the Worlds and Olympic test event in 2023.......

We haven't seen a good battle because MvdP hasn't been able to finish a MTB race without crashing out in 3+ years. He will have to ride his MTB, a lot, in training if he wants to win in that discipline.

He needs to set up his MTB bike like Pidcock, make the pedals and saddle contact points match his road bike or CX bikes so he doesn't injure himself while switching between bikes. Previously, when dealing with back issues, he blamed riding the MTB with aggravating the issue. Crank length, saddle height, seat setback should all match. This was a bike fit problem that could be fixed with a little attention to detail.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Yeah, he needs proper time on the MTB; training and racing it. He was pretty good when he took it seriously from 2017-2019. He improved season by season, and by 2019, was probably the best XC racer around.

 

[Barkintheeye]

I wonder if he's actually seen the Crans-Montana course, as used in the World Cup last season. It's one of the most technical courses we've seen recently.........He'll need time on the MTB if he wants that title.

Is it this course / race that you refer to?

View: https://youtu.be/6MIFWFH3tIE


Shows what a very different sport MTB is to Cyclocross. There's no easy way to transition over. I wouldn't know how much time MVDP dedicated to MTB in advance of the Olympics but given the outcome reasonable answer is too little.

Then also the consequences of riding too aggressive are more in MTB than in cyclocross. If you puncture your loss is going to be bigger and if you wipe out risks are that you're not getting up again.

I hope MVDP makes it this time but it doesn't look easy. He'll wipe the floor with Pidcock and alikes on most classic races and basically on every cyclocross course but MTB is such a different thing. In recent years has there been any really successful MTB riders going over to CX or Road?

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Understandable since he usually *** himself everytime MvdP is at the startline in all big races so only fitting.
Good for him that he wins when the king is absent. Always nice to see Van Aert win hes a warrior.

In all fairness, while MvdP has been the superior rider in the classics and cross seasons, there's no comparison between the two when it comes to overall cycling ability. Wout has won on the TT bike and the climbs. VdP disappears once the road turns upward and he's a non-factor in the TT. I've been a long-time fan of VdP, but his limitations are obvious. Of course, in one-day races, he's in a class of his own (right behind Pog).

 

[jono]

In all fairness, while MvdP has been the superior rider in the classics and cross seasons, there's no comparison between the two when it comes to overall cycling ability. Wout has won on the TT bike and the climbs. VdP disappears once the road turns upward and he's a non-factor in the TT. I've been a long-time fan of VdP, but his limitations are obvious. Of course, in one-day races, he's in a class of his own (right behind Pog).

What does overall cycling ability mean to you? If it only includes the various road disciplines, Wout obviously has more breadth of talent in the various road disciplines.

MVDP is not on Wout's level in TT, obviously, but if you look at his results he always does well enough when he is in a position to care about his result (early Giro and Tour TTs when he wants the jersey, minor Bel/Lux one week tours where he is competing for GC).

 

[Netserk]

In all fairness, while MvdP has been the superior rider in the classics and cross seasons, there's no comparison between the two when it comes to overall cycling ability. Wout has won on the TT bike and the climbs. VdP disappears once the road turns upward and he's a non-factor in the TT. I've been a long-time fan of VdP, but his limitations are obvious. Of course, in one-day races, he's in a class of his own (right behind Pog).

Overall cycling ability only has instrumental value. If it doesn't buy you success, it's not worth much.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Overall cycling ability only has instrumental value. If it doesn't buy you success, it's not worth much.

Not sure what you're saying here. His other palmares aside, WvA does have 12 GT stage wins and won the green jersey at the 2022 TdF. It's obviously "worth much", judging by the salary he commands. VdP has only 2 GT wins, I believe.

 

[Netserk]

Not sure what you're saying here. His other palmares aside, WvA does have 12 GT stage wins and won the green jersey at the 2022 TdF. It's obviously "worth much", judging by the salary he commands. VdP has only 2 GT wins, I believe.

If there's no comparison between them in overall ability (because Van Aert has so much more of it), and that translates to a higher wage for Wout, how much more does he earn than Van der Poel does?

 

[Keldergoat]

His other palmares aside,

His other palmares consists of pure cycling heritage: 6 monuments, 1 Worlds, +10 podiums in monuments, handful of semi classics like AGR, E3, SB, DdV, multiple NCs. There are no more than 3 riders currently active who have a more impressive palmares than MvdP. You could put that aside but cycling is way more than GTs.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

If there's no comparison between them in overall ability (because Van Aert has so much more of it), and that translates to a higher wage for Wout, how much more does he earn than Van der Poel does?

You're shifting the goal posts. You said "overall ability doesn't mean much." It obviously does, otherwise Wout wouldn't be paid what he makes. Does it mean as much as winning the top monuments? No. So MvdP makes more. It doesn't seem that I'm saying anything controversial here, just saying what should be obvious to anyone paying attention to cycling.
Looking more closely at the salaries, VdP is 4th, Wout is 5th, with half a million euros less (and more than Remco). So, it seems that overall ability, contrary to your claim, does mean "much" after all.

Who Earns Most in Pro Cycling? Report Ranks Salaries, from Pogačar to Van der Poel and Beyond

Report out of Gazzetta dello Sport estimates Pogačar as top earner, with a few surprises to follow in the top-10.

velo.outsideonline.com